If you’re an insomniac who desperately needs a good night’s Sleep, you’re in luck. Napflix is a new video platform designed specifically to help people sleep by showing the dullest, most boring videos from the Internet. We’re talking about the quietest, slowest selection of videos that help your mind relax, leading you into a long, beautiful, much-needed slumber. Read on to learn more about Napflix and how it can help you enjoy the greatest sleep in a long time.

How does Napflix work?

You might be asking: But I thought looking at screens before bed is actually counterproductive to falling asleep? And you’re right — to an extent. Looking at bright colors on screens right before bedtime has been shown to keep our brains active longer and therefore keep us awake longer. Blue light is actually the shade that keeps people awake the most. But with Napflix, all videos use a dark theme to avoid bright light, as well as add some kind of white noise to help our brains shut down.

Napflix Plus Points

The website has two handy features that could help in your quest for slumber:

• It has a sleep timer that can be set to 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Use 10 minutes only if you’re sure you will sleep quickly – nothing is as irritating as realizing the video has stopped playing, you’re still awake and you have to set the timer again.
• Also there is a siesta mode that can rotate the screen 90 degrees so you can watch NapFlix while lying on your side.

Drawbacks

Since this site links back to Youtube videos, you will unfortunately have to contend with some ways that Google monetizes your Youtube watching experience. This means that while you might be on the verge of dropping off, Youtube might switch to a loud commercial – thereby losing all the ground you covered on your way to cloud cuckoo land.

Featured Napflix Videos

Napflix offers a huge variety of videos to help people sleep. We look at some examples below. Some worked – some did not.

I have tested these videos on my 11-year old daughter(let’s call her E). E has problems falling asleep at night. She does not have a TV in her bedroom. She falls asleep in the TV room and we “sleepwalk” her to her room some time after she is sleeping soundly.

Don Quixote Audiobook 

Nothing puts one to sleep faster than a relaxing, slow-paced audio book. Whereas a reading of Game of Thrones or Ender’s Game might not get you there fast, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s classic piece from 1605 might knock you out cold in no time at all.

Daughter sleep time: 30 minutes. Since my daughter (E) is not that into classic writings from the 17th century, there was no initial hook to capture her attention. It seems that to fall asleep with one of these videos, there needs to be some slight degree of interest in the subject matter (but not too much), after which the length and monotony of the video delivers the knock-out punch. If there is no initial interest and just a voice droning, sleep just does not come.

Cricket Match 2016

The classic game that fathered baseball is played by 11 gentlemen players over the span of 6-8 hours, and even that is only is the shortened one-day version of the game. Test matches are played over (gasp) 5 days and will have you sleeping faster than you can say “Out for a Duck” (seriously that is a cricket term meaning out without making a run).

Daughter sleep time: 35 minutes. E has no interest in cricket (or any sports for that matter) so no hook to capture that initial bit of interest.

Klingon 

Unless you are the absolutely greatest Star Trek fan, you will find this 20 minute description by Marc Okrand on how he designed Klingon languages intoxicating (in a getting to sleep sense). Marc describes in great detail how he constructed subjects, verbs, prefixes…

Daughter sleep time: Did not work. E has little interest in Star Trek linguistics (Voyager episodes with an initial story hook has in the past delivered the knockout sleep punch in 10 minutes). We had to put on another video.

Guided Meditation by coach Ajahn Brahm

It takes the monk nearly 15 minutes to get going with his meditation, so you can skip to forward (you’ll still have an hour of meditation left), and boy, when this guy got going my daughter fell asleep quickly.

Daughter sleep time: 7 minutes. E likes meditation, so the initial interest hook is there. This is a brilliant video and achieves exactly what it sets out to do – total relaxation in a couple of minutes.

The Sound of Rain 

For 2 glorious hours you can listen to the sound of rain in trees outside a window. Beware of this one – blue light is not conducive for sleep so rather have a look at the next one.

Daughter sleep time: 45 minutes. No initial interest hook and is the blue light keeping her awake?

Burning Fireplace

This is more like it. A soft yellow glow, the sound of cracking logs. For thousands of years humans have fallen asleep next to a crackling fire (which also served to keep the saber-toothed tigers away), thereby contributing towards an instinctive feeling of security and confidence.

Daughter sleep time: 35 minutes. No initial interest hook.

Super Mario World Complete WalkThrough

Originally released in 1990, Super Mario World was produced by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. Important to note is that this is the first game where Mario rides a dinosaur. While listening to 90’s synthesized music you get to watch three and a half hours worth of game play of Mario jumping, flying, ducking and such what.

Daughter sleep time: 6 minutes. Super Mario! E was hooked! Showed good interest for the first 5 minutes and then fell over. Viewings number 2, 3 and 4 produced similar favorable results. This one is a keeper.

Conclusion

If you find yourself staring at the ceiling at the ceiling for hours on end, it might not hurt to give this medium a go to get you to sleep.

I myself have found the following useful to get to sleep:

• Presidential debates and other political podcasts,
• Scrapping podcasts,
• and Lifestyle improvement podcasts.

Please let me know if this works for you, it sure does for my daughter.

PIN It

Note that we are by no means medical experts. Consult your physician before following any advice from this page.

The post NapFlix Review – Is it a Solution for Insomnia appeared first on TectoGizmo.