Scooter’s Insomnia Struggles and the Science-Backed Practice That Helped Him Snooze

In this episode, Drew Ackerman, also known as Scooter from the Sleep With Me Podcast, shares his struggles with insomnia and how he tried a science-backed practice to help ease his stress and get to sleep. As a child, he always found it difficult to fall asleep due to his anxious thoughts keeping his mind active at night. He experimented with listening to recordings of birdsong, which reminded him of peaceful summer afternoons and helped transport him to a calmer state of mind. Research shows that different sounds can have varying effects on our stress levels, with birdsong often triggering relaxation responses in the body.

Drew Ackerman, or “Dearest Scooter,” hosts the popular Sleep With Me podcast, which helps people fall asleep with his meandering bedtime stories. Despite his own history of sleep troubles, Drew has a talent for lulling others to sleep through his soothing voice and storytelling. Emil Stobbe, a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany, Jesper Alvarsson, a professor of Psychology at Södertörn University in Sweden, and Eleanor Ratcliffe, a professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey in the UK, also share their expertise on the effects of sounds on human behavior and well-being.

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