Bedtime Stories to Help you Sleep Better

Eight hours of sleep, albeit a well-established norm, can be challenging to adhere to. And Indians are particularly bad at it. A survey conducted by electronics and fitness company Fitbit in 2016 showed that the country clocked in the worst figure of sleep time - six hours and 55 minutes - right after Japan. These aren't facts we can easily ignore; research has shown that healthy sleep habits may lower the risk of heart failure and improve mindfulness.

While there are a slew of sleep-tracking and meditation apps in the market, a new feature by mental wellness start-up Mindhouse is designed to help you sleep. It's called Sleep Stories and features a set of relaxing tales - A Night in the Forest or A Swiss Adventure - that are narrated by actors Rahul Bose, Konkona Sen Sharma and Amol Parashar.

The stories, narrated by Konkona Sen Sharma and Rahul Bose range from 30 to 40 minutes

The app comes with a two-week free trial; post that an annual plan costs R699. The stories range from 30 to 40 minutes. Pooja Khanna, co-founder of Mindhouse, tells us that sleep has been a major focus area for them from the beginning. "When a user logs into our app for the first time, we ask them to choose from five different goals, and over 25 per cent choose improving sleep as one of their key goals; so, we know that people are looking for such solutions," she says. Khanna informs that the feature was launched, after six months of work, as a beginner's gateway to meditation, stemming from the fact that stories are linked to fond memories of bedtime tales during childhood.

Two aspects had to be kept in mind to craft a sleep-inducing story: relatable and interesting storylines, and incorporating meditation in them. "The time we spent on research led us to create an exciting mix of stories - from familiar fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel' and Rumpelstiltskin, to journeys through known destinations like the Maldives and the European countryside. We then brought in in-house meditation experts to curate the language, tonality, sound effects and music, to ensure that we have an accurate and effective visualisation meditation exercise," says Mridul Anand, VP, courses and content.

Pooja Khanna

Nature sounds like chirping birds and the gentle crashing of waves have also been incorporated. "Ultimately, the true sign of a sleep story done right, is if you fall asleep halfway through or not," Anand quips, and Khanna shares that the decision to rope in celebrities was to instil a sense of familiarity and reach more people. The team plans to explore more languages, starting with Hindi, and create separate sections with stories for children and young adults, too.

Log on to mindhouse.com

Tales worth listening to

Tales worth listening to

For the last six years, businesswoman Varsha Rajadhyaksha, 54, hasn't slept for more than three hours per night. The Andheri resident has tried apps, full moon meditation and yoga nidra, with no avail. So, we invited her to give Sleep Stories a go.

After giving the app a workout for five days, she shares, "Now I get four to five hours of sleep per day. When I'm sleeping, I don't wake up in the middle to check my phone. Even when I wake up to go to the loo, it is easier to fall back to sleep." What worked for her was that the stories were about mindfulness and had no element of sadness. Initially, it was also difficult to not pay too much attention to the narrator. "Bose's pronunciation was so good that I was focusing on how I would pronounce some words the wrong way. But I really liked Sharma's storytelling. I will consider buying the app after the free trial expires," she adds.

Expert speak

When you're trying to get someone to sleep, you have to get them to be relaxed. If the storytelling is verbal, there are two things that matter: the content and voice modulation. The content has to be peaceful and shouldn't make the listener think much. Even if there are morals, the story doesn't have to be gory. At the same time, the storyteller's voice needs to have a soft, soothing tone. So, if the character in the story is getting angry, don't raise your voice or get excited.

The ambience of the room also has an impact; you don't want the eyes to be stimulated with light and be exposed to loud sound. That's why we suggest avoiding screen time an hour before sleeping. The idea of the app's storytelling feature is a positive one.

Dr Seemab Shaikh, founder and national president of IASSA (Indian Association of Surgeons for Sleep Apnea)

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