By this point, we’re all familiar with the prevailing conventional wisdom that screens before bed are bad for us; it is one of the great sources of societal guilt, since we nevertheless still 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, well, that certainly helps 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 shows†— nothing too dynamic, or too scary, or too engrossing, lest you become invested and delay your bedtime. You want to avoid “agitation,†so no social media, or 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 endpoint (think: 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 then, 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. Below is a playlist of our TV comfort watches — episodic chunks you can throw on as a blissful backdrop to your REM cycle.
HBO Max
Selena + Chef
On Selena + Chef, Selena Gomez learns about cooking from some of the best chefs in the world. The show is fun and charmingly messy. Gomez’s signature deep monotone voice and the fact that you might learn something but not too much of anything make it the perfect background for those nights that you’re trying to get your sleep score as high as possible. –Carrie Wittmer
Julia
Enough conflict to keep it interesting but not so much that it will have any impact your mood, the delightful HBO Max series that chronicles Julia Child’s early career as a celebrity chef has everything you want in a show that will set you up for a good sleep: colorful 1960s interiors and costumes, and Frasier stars/living legends/American icons David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth. –C.W.
For the Love of Kitchens
For the Love of Kitchens follows a U.K.-based interior-design team as they renovate kitchens across the Kingdom. The series is soft, warm, and inviting like an English cottage, with an emphasis on the creative elements of kitchen design — far more soothing than the home-renovation shows on HGTV that rely on manufactured drama and horrific interior design. –C.W.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
If you often find yourself drifting in and out of sleep, Adult Swim programming is tailor-made for you — including the surreal Aqua Teen Hunger Force. With 11 seasons, ATHF (and its various other titles) provides ample ten-minute doses of self-contained irreverence through the adventures of an anthropomorphic milkshake, meatball, and French fries. The episodes are monotonous and surprisingly comforting, especially if you’re in a passive, half-dreaming state. –Reanna Cruz
Peacock
Below Deck
On Bravo’s reality series Below Deck, which follows the employees on luxury yachts, the cast rotates every season (and sometimes, within a season) so you don’t have to get to know anybody. If the drama among the rowdy and horny crew is too much, try to imagine being one of the wealthy charter guests (just not one of the bad ones). –C.W.
Columbo
Columbo — with his cigar in his mouth and his signature oversize beige trench perpetually on — is the most reliable procedural hero to follow before sleep, since you won’t need to stay up to figure out who committed a crime. Columbo solves every crime within seconds, but he will spend the next 60-plus minutes walking through it anyway. –C.W.
Frasier
Magnesium relaxes your muscles for a restful sleep, and Frasier Crane and friends will relax your brain. –C.W.
The Real Housewives of New York City
Lull yourself to sleep with the truly soothing sounds of mostly terrible middle-aged women of New York screaming at each other. If you doze off at any point, you won’t miss anything from this plotless masterwork. The extra chaotic vacation episodes are the best for sleep, according to Bravoholics. –C.W.
Hulu
Bob’s Burgers
Bob’s Burgers, the cute and butt-positive animated comedy about a family that owns a small dive-y burger joint features relatively low-stakes conflict, comforting colors, and silly (sometimes butt-themed) songs that count as lullabies for adults. –C.W.
The Bold Type
So full of plot that it is plotless, with characters so annoying that they become endearing, Freeform’s The Bold Type, which follows 20-somethings working in media, is an excellent show for when you’re half-awake, even if the premise is a nightmare. If you miss anything, it will be repeated ad nauseam so it will feel like you not only never missed it, but saw it happen multiple times. –C.W.
Bones
Bones is a reliable but creative procedural that will get you just interested enough to pay attention for a few minutes, particularly because everyone on the show is so attractive. –C.W.
Happy Endings
There’s a comforting patter to the dialogue of Happy Endings, where the jokes hit so rapidly they tend to blur together like the sound of rain falling on a rooftop. You’re inevitably going to miss a few anyway, so you might as well give in to your drowsiness and doze off. Plus, everything is wrapped up in a neat bow at the end of each episode, making the storylines feel as weightless as the fluff in your pillow. –Hershal Pandya
The Kardashians
There is no show on television more boring and less consequential than The Kardashians, which is essentially a thin behind-the-scenes special of the KarJenners’ Instagram feeds. If you miss anything after dozing off, don’t worry, because you’ve seen it already (six months ago). –C.W.
Summer Camp Island
Summer Camp Island is one you can play for your kids or watch by yourself or make your partner watch with you. They’ll scoff at first but then they’ll be totally charmed. This Cartoon Network animated series follows best friends Oscar and Hedgehog spending the summer at a magical sleepaway camp where the inanimate objects are alive, monsters are usually friendly, and the counselors are sardonic, cool-girl teenage witch slackers. The color palette is a muted pastel, which is much better for wind-downs than most other loud, bright, chaotic cartoons. Many episodes take place at night, which is rendered in soft purples, pinks, and blues. Even the theme song is soft, mumbly cuddlecore, and features the crepuscular lyric: “The moon is our friend.†This all may sound sweet and gentle, but it never comes across as cloying, thanks to its cool queer vibes (lots of nonbinary characters) and absurdist sense of humor. –Rebecca Alter
The Weather Channel
Live storm coverage. Local on the 8s. The trusty crawl cycling through hour-by-hour conditions. Jim Cantore. Field reporters getting pummeled by hurricanes. Floodwater simulations using video-game technology. Relaxing music, newscaster voices, and a dependable rhythm of forecasts. The Weather Channel is the simultaneously soothing and informative staple of airports and waiting rooms everywhere, but don’t underestimate its power at 2 a.m. when you need something to lull you over the edge to sleep. –Megh Wright
Netflix
The Crown
Wikipedia, the (very expensive) series. –C.W.
The Great British Baking Show
Nothing will make you feel safer than The Great British Baking Show, the baking competition show that will never make you hungry because you don’t understand what anything is. Just steer away from watching the latest truly dark and twisted 13th season before bed. –C.W.
New Girl
The nostalgic roommate dynamics, the slightly cringey quirkster Zooey Deschanel, and the light-as-air dialogue and plotlines make New Girl the perfect sleep show. Even if it’s been months or years since I’ve watched an episode, I can always count on Nick, Jess, Schmidt, Winston, and Winston’s sweet cat Ferguson to lull me to sleep. A delightful melatonin gummy of a TV show. –Gaby Grossman
Discovery+
Barefoot Contessa
Ina Garten always speaks at the same volume and in a way that sounds like she is reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to restless children who needed to go to bed two hours ago. Add the sizzling of olive oil on luxurious saucepans, the popping of wine corks, and the way she says “Jeffrey†and you got yourself melatonin in television form, courtesy of a wealthy woman who lives in the Hamptons full-time. –C.W.
Beat Bobby Flay
The most important time for me to sleep is during a flight. And the only way I can fall asleep on a flight is by watching Beat Bobby Flay. Fortunately, Delta has roughly seven seasons of the cooking competition show, and I will be heartbroken when they decide to sunset the predictable (Flay almost always wins) and palatable (the jokes are usually easy puns, which are relaxing to me) episodes of the Food Network classic. Thank you, Bobby, for the best in-air sleep of my life. –Morgan Baila
Guy’s Grocery Games
Guy Fieri may be loud, but he is consistent and unchallenging. The sizzling of pans contrasted with Fieri shouting things like “Winner winner chicken dinner!†produces the same effect as a white-noise machine, because the volume never does shift too much. –C.W.
Paramount+
Cheers
Cozy, quiet, sharp, and smart but undemanding at the same time, the sitcom Cheers will transport you to a simpler dimension in which United States Postal Service employees and others could afford to go to a bar in a major American city for several hours every single night, an ideal atmosphere for sleeping. On Cheers, issues are almost always resolved by the end of the episode, and the primary setting (a bar covered in wood) itself exudes coziness. –C.W.
Pluto TV
Home Movies
The stakes couldn’t be lower in a typical Home Movies episode. Brendan starts a band, Melissa joins a girl scout troupe. The show’s conversational style gives you the sense that you’re falling asleep at a slumber party while people talk around you. And the animation is so rudimentary, you can close your eyes with full confidence you’re missing nothing. –Bethy Squires
YouTube
Theme park history videos
The driest facts, presented in the dullest tones, make for delightful snoozing. From Defunctland to ReviewTyme, to Theme Park History, these theme park boys will rattle dates off to you until you’re safely on the slow boat ride to dreamland. –B.S.
Disney+
Big Shot
This adorable show in which John Stamos is a high-school girls’ basketball coach will make you feel like you’re dreaming already. There is conflict on Big Shot, but the stakes are never too high, leaving you in a curious but restful mood. –C.W.
Prime Video
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
“This cost so much money,†you’ll mumble to yourself every time you see a castle on a cliff or a waterfall on a cliff or statues on a cliff, before you eventually become as stiff as one of those cliff statues because not one thing besides the amount of money spent on this television program is interesting enough to justify being awake. –C.W.