Worst Audio Book Ever...

My daughter has a sleep disorder. She has been through several sleep tests and clinics. So if you will allow me to offer some suggestions:

A terrible audio book will not produce healthy sleep. A terribly written book may be boring, but being bored doesn't produce restful sleep. Sure, a lot of people can doze off when listening to a boring speech or while watching a really bad movie, but that's not the kind of restorative sleep pattern that should occur during the night.

Sleep specialists have procedures that they call "sleep hygiene". Sleep hygiene consists of certain practices to follow before bedtime. They include: limiting alcohol and caffeine drinks (stop drinking coffee, tea, alcohol, energy drinks about 2 hours or more before bedtime; drink cool water or a soothing caffeine-free tea that is good for relaxation); eliminating all screen time an hour before bed (screens emit a blue light that we don't really perceive that stimulates the brain, so even reading a book of calming poetry on an e-reader isn't helpful); practicing relaxation breathing (lots of examples online); making sure the bedroom is cool and quiet and dark; and using the bed for sleep only (and not for lying on to watch tv for example).

Then, a white noise machine can be helpful. There are sound machines online that can produce brown or pink noise too. Those are deeper, more complex sounds. Plenty available very inexpensively on Amazon. We use a pink noise machine.

There are CDs available that help people feel rested and fall asleep. A great source is the Mayo Clinic. Just google Mayo Clinic sleep cd and you can purchase one online. These sort of CDs don't just play soothing music. They contain "guided" sleep techniques, where a trained sleep specialist guides the person through a series of steps, and breathing, etc. Then there will be specialized musical tones that are created, well, there's a whole bunch of sleep science there that is kind of beyond me, but the tones really do help.

If the person you're writing about really is experiencing sleep problems that are affecting his or her life and health, consider consulting a sleep specialist. Major hospitals have sleep clinics. Don't mess around with something as important as good sleep by buying a terrible audio book.

While reading relaxes me before bed - listening to an audio book would keep me awake.
I would keep wanting to know what happens next.
How about you try listening to a white noise app?
There are many and quite a few are free but my current fave is Rain Rain.
I love listening to rain and distant thunder when I'm falling asleep.

Other than that try:
limiting caffeine intake (I've become more sensitive to it as I age and I've had to cut most of it out)

get some aerobic activity in during the day - morning or early afternoon is good but not within several hours before bedtime - I sleep really well if I've sweated earlier in the day

get out in bright sunshine in the morning - it seems to stimulate melatonine production when you need it later on for bedtime

keep a cool bedroom (in the winter I'll keep the heat lowered in the bedroom to about 62 - can't do that in the summer but being in a cool room under a warm blanket is ideal sleeping environment for me

I don't have a suggestion for an audio book, but I turn my tv on to Forensic Files every night to go to sleep. That narrator's voice does it for me every night!

Why not try a sleep meditation app?

There is an app called Head Space. I think it was $70 for the year. They have all different relaxation/meditation things to listen to. I used it when I had leg surgery and was in severe pain and didn’t know what to do with myself. My daughter uses it to help her go to sleep though.

Anything read by Ben Stein. Seriously, I don't see how his monotone voice wouldn't put anyone to sleep! In reality though, if you're tired, you'll fall asleep through anything, even hurricanes. I know I have embarrassingly slept through Star Wars and some action-filled movies, to my daughter's disappointment and my surprise. Every night, while in bed, I use a white noise machine, and when I travel, I use a white noise app on my phone (called Relax Sea) or if my battery needs to be conserved, I also have a YouTube link saved on my laptop with 12 hours of relaxing sounds of waves (I don't have my laptop handy but this may be the link I saved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU3KTa5mKDY&feature=y....

Give it a try. I close my eyes and focus, kind of like daydreaming but with eyes closed. I pretend I am lying on the sand or on a hammock by the shore and this is what I am hearing and eventually, I fall asleep. It helps that my a/c is nice and cool and I imagine it being the ocean breeze blowing on me. Pick whatever sound you like. Some people like thunder. It startles me. I don't like high pitched sounds either so the cicada setting on the white noise machine is out, and I don't like tapping sounds so the rain sound is out, but I do like the lulling sound of ocean waves. I also like the sound of creaking bamboo at times, it seems to relax me, though I haven't tried sleeping with that sound. I read Elena's response and this is the first time I hear of "pink noise", I have no idea what that is, but will check it out!

I don't ... however my son falls to sleep with a fan, and I have relatives who find this works too. Just a thought.

When they travel, they have an app on their phones that produces fan noise.