Why ghost stories are a great sleeping pill when we need to rest
‘You are watching, listening to a scary clip from THE GHOST RADIO, supported by…. Hello, Brother Jack. First of all, I would like to say hello to Brother Jack and all the members of The Ghoster gang.’
Many people are probably familiar with this greeting with a haunting soundtrack from a famous Thai horror show. This show has been popular and trusted by listeners for a long time, becoming a close friend who stays by your side on a quiet night.
But it is interesting that many people choose to listen to this ghost story show to lull themselves to sleep.
Many people use the stories told by the hosts and storytellers as sleeping pills to help them fall into a trance. The whispers of horror stories become lullabies that make the listener immerse themselves in sweet dreams and sometimes forget that this is a ghost story show.
What is even more thought-provoking is that listening to horror stories in the middle of the night should induce fear to the point of not being able to sleep. But why does it make many people feel drowsy and fall asleep easier than sleeping in silence?
Similar questions arise among podcast listeners in the US. According to a 2019 Edison Research survey, more than half of nearly 6,000 respondents choose to lull themselves to sleep by listening to their favorite podcasts. The soft conversations and familiar voices of the hosts become a lullaby that slowly lulls the listener to sleep.
Refinery29 has an explanation from Dr. Lindsay Browning, a clinical psychologist and author of the เล่นเกมคาสิโน UFABET ทันสมัย ฝากถอนง่าย book Navigating Sleeplessness, who talks about listening to podcasts. She says that listening to podcasts can help distract you from what you’re thinking or stressed about at the time, allowing you to let go of your worries for a while. This is why listening to podcasts before bed often helps you fall asleep easier.
Lindsay Browning goes on to say that focusing on what a ghost might look like or what events might have happened while listening to a ghost story can distract us from the complaints from our boss or the problems at work that have been piling up throughout the day. When our minds are distracted from these things, this quiet time can help us fall asleep more easily.
There is also another interesting reason: podcasts tend to tell stories in a warm and intimate tone, like a friend telling a friend, rather than in a formal or heavy tone. When we close our eyes and listen to the stories, our body and mind gradually relax to the rhythm of the sounds, until our brain begins to realize that this is the time when we are about to enter a state of relaxation.
The next interesting question is, in a world of diverse podcasts, whether they be science, psychology, politics, business, or even podcasts that specifically focus on helping you sleep, why are ‘ghost stories’ still a popular podcast to listen to before bed?
The answer is that consuming horror media can help reduce cortisol levels, the body’s stress hormone. A study titled Pandemic practice: Horror fans and morbidly curious individuals are more psychologically resilient during the COVID -19 pandemic, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, found that:
People who enjoy horror stories tend to be more emotionally resilient and have lower stress levels than those who dislike them, as the fear experienced when listening to or watching horror stories triggers physiological responses in the body, such as:
A rapid heart rate, sweating or dilated pupils then enter negative emotion management mode to cope with the fear. Once the episode is over, the body begins its process of calming down. The heart rate slows and the production of the hormone cortisol stops, which helps the brain relax and prepare for the peaceful state of sleep.
While listening to podcasts before bed has its benefits in terms of lulling us to sleep, that doesn’t mean there are no downsides to listening to podcasts before bed.
Many experts have expressed concern that listening to podcasts before bed may be a bad habit for rest, as the “noise” can unknowingly disrupt sleep. Dr. Lindsay Browning further explains that consuming media before bed is like stuffing your brain with information, which keeps your brain alert to process the information it receives.
If the content of a podcast is so engaging that it keeps us focused or overly excited, the stories that were intended to be lullabies can become like hot black coffee, spurring us on, keeping our minds engaged instead of slowly letting ourselves relax.
While there are pros and cons to listening to podcasts before bed, trust me, relaxing with ghost stories is definitely better than relying on sleeping pills. After all, if listening to these stories doesn’t interfere with your sleep, it’s much more beneficial than lying in the silence for two hours without falling asleep.