By this point, we’re all familiar with the prevailing conventional wisdom that looking at screens before bed is bad for us; it is one of the great sources of societal guilt since we nevertheless all use our devices before bed. However, on further exploration of that notion, we’ve learned that things aren’t so cut and dried — there are a variety of perspectives on devices before bed, including the straightforward idea that if using a screen before bed relaxes you, that will certainly help with the quality of your sleep.
With that in mind, we’ve created a set of entertainment recommendations that align with what we’ve learned from sleep scientists: Anything you watch before bed should be “low-challenge showsâ€: nothing too dynamic, too scary, or too engrossing, lest you become invested and delay your bedtime. You want to avoid “agitation,†so no social media, porn, or anything that would otherwise contribute to “performance anxiety,†in the words of sleep doctor Dr. Janet Kennedy, and nothing with lots of characters or intricate plots to follow. Media that doesn’t contain a clean end point (anything highly serialized, plus basically all social media) is bad. We made three lists (for TV shows, movies, and documentaries) that meet that criteria — and since we keep hearing about people consuming horror media before bed, despite it running counter to every scientific recommendation, we also put together a list of good scary stuff. Almost more than almost any single category, though, documentaries can prove ideal for falling asleep to. Here are some of our favorites. Don’t forget to watch them in your waking hours too.
Hulu
30 for 30
The wonderful thing about the ESPN docuseries 30 for 30 is its vast breadth of offerings about American and international sports, often profiling individuals or teams, with episodes ranging from 30 minutes to full-movie length. And most of them actually include said athletes playing said sports, which are very fun and also very tiring to watch! They put forth all the athletic effort while I become exhausted. It’s a real win-win. — Roxana Hadadi
The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story
Fall asleep reminiscing about the days of Rugrats, Figure It Out, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and sliming. If your sleep score is higher than usual, it’s probably the nostalgia. — Carrie Wittmer
Victoria’s Secret: Angels & Demons
At night and during the day, we are all too tired to care about Victoria’s Secret. This Hulu doc dives deep into the controversial lingerie brand’s dark past and downfall. — C.W.
HBO Max
JuliaÂ
There’s something about archival footage that puts the mind to rest, and Julia Child is nothing if not a matron of comfort. Child’s charm and one-of-a-kind voice make this doc warm, delightful, and a perfect setup for a sleep score in the 90s. — C.W.
The Last Movie Stars
An excited and enthusiastic but extremely soothing Ethan Hawke explores the romance between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. — C.W.
Music Box: Listening to Kenny G
In this doc, Kenny G talks about his life, career, and, surprisingly, why so many people hate him. While the Schadenfreude is funny, it’s old news. — C.W.
The PrincessÂ
At this point, there are as many Princess Diana documentaries as there are Marvel shows and films. Most of them don’t reveal anything new, but this one uses archival footage, one of the best things to help you doze off. — C.W.
Netflix
The Chef Show
The warmth of Jon Favreau and Roy Choi’s friendship, on display in the four volumes of this cooking show, feels like curling up with a bowl of hot soup. The episodes can be hit or miss depending on the featured guest, especially if you’re not a Disney–MCU–Star Wars fan. But Choi’s calmly authoritative voice when instructing Favreau on how to chop, dice, or sauté, coupled with the rhythmic noises of those kitchen tasks — a knife hitting a cutting board, the snap-crackle-pop of frying chicken — makes for a solidly ASMR experience (and might inspire a strong desire for munchies). — R.H.
Chef’s Table
Presented more in the style of a documentary than a cooking show, Chef’s Table explores the lives, purpose, and inspiration of the world’s greatest chefs. If you fall asleep with this playing in the background, you might accidentally learn something. — C.W.
Gaga: Five Foot Two
This documentary follows a simple “Italian girl from New York City named Stefani Germanotta as she prepares to perform at a little unknown show called the Super Bowl†story line. But it’s surprisingly cozy: Gaga’s signature smoky voice will ease you to sleep like ocean-wave sounds. — C.W.
The Last Dance
Ah, basketball, the most beautiful sport on Earth. The Last Dance, an impressive docuseries that focuses on Michael Jordan’s career, particularly his 1997–98 season with the Chicago Bulls, is long so that, if you start it late enough, it will usher you to sleep. — C.W.
Salt Fat Acid Heat
Chef and food writer Samin Nosrat guides you through the essential elements of cooking, and even more important, her kind soul will put you in an optimistic mood before you fall asleep. — C.W.
Apple TV+
Prehistoric Planet
This visually stunning series provides a never-before-seen glimpse at the real lives of dinosaurs. Narrator David Attenborough has one of those (very British) voices that can keep you engaged but also sing you to sleep. Watching this before bed, you’ll learn impressive facts about dinos that you can tell someone tomorrow. — C.W.
Amazon Prime Video
Meerkat Manor
If you fall asleep while Bill Nighy narrates the day-to-day life of the Whiskers, a quirky, sprawling gang of meerkats at the center of the nature series Meerkat Manor (one of Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite shows), you’ll miss the biggest, most harrowing dramas, including snake bites, birds of prey, and daughters getting kicked out of the family by their alpha mom, Flower, for getting pregnant. The meerkats live a hard life, but this show, especially thanks to its soundtrack (which can be described only as clown music) manages to make it seem soothing and, in a way, enviable, perhaps because of their burrowing skills. — C.W.
Peacock
Meddling
This doc, subtitled The Olympic Skating Scandal That Shocked the World, tells the story of the scandalous pair-skating scoring at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002. It has a cast of eccentric characters but goes so in depth into figure-skating scoring that you are bound to fall asleep at some point. — C.W.
Discovery+
Searching for Italy
Stanley Tucci in Italy. That’s all! — C.W.
Disney+
The Beatles: Get Back
Anyone who is not a modern-day stan of the Beatles could easily drift off watching Peter Jackson’s impressive but incredibly long documentary that is mostly the band rehearsing the same songs over and over and over again. — C.W.