Two Podcasts About Sleep That Will Not Put You To Sleep

  The Industrial Age transformed sleep from "downtime" to "unproductive time." Driven execs tried to one-up each other with the lack of sleep they happily endured to bolster their careers and capture the American Dream. 

Thankfully, science stepped in, and research over the last 20 years has revealed that sleep has significant and numerous benefits. Sleep can recharge the brain and flush toxins that accumulate. Sleep can help with memory storage and retrieval, and spur creativity. Lack of sleep can lead to obesity, emotional disorders, and just plain crankiness.

So it's commendable and savvy that a company that offers a product that assists with a better sleep experience would use podcasting as a valuable marketing tool.

Mattress Firm has embraced the streaming audio format to provide mattress-adjacent content, such as tips on how to get a good night’s sleep. The company collaborated with Vox Creative, the branded content studio started by digital publisher Vox Media, to launch the Are You Sleeping? podcast in April 2022.

 “The brand was looking to build a community on audio and they really wanted to reach the rest-obsessed and sleep sufferers,” Annu Subramanian, executive producer of branded audio at Vox Media, told Marketing Dive. “They wanted to showcase unique stories to understand why sleep matters, and connect with this audience of people [who] are really starving to sleep better.”

Mattress Firm’s podcast consisted of six episodes that profile the sleep experiences of consumers and four interstitial segments featuring answers to listener questions. Comedian Kate Berlant hosted the series, which also includes commentary from experts like psychologist Shelby Harris, a specialist in behavioral sleep medicine.

In September 2022, Mattress Firm also partnered with iHeart Podcasts to develop a show called Chasing Sleep. The show's first season ran until November 2022, and the second season started this May with an episode called "Sleep And Love."

Interestingly, season one of Chasing Sleep featured Anahad O'Connor of the Washington Post. The tone of season one was reminiscent of the Vox podcast Are You Sleeping? with Kate Berlant.

Then, in season two of Chasing Sleep, two new hosts were introduced -- Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro, who are a married couple. The tone of the podcast changed appreciably to a more lighthearted, randier vibe, with the first episode discussing post-orgasmic sleep routines and activities.

Now, for the listener, this is all a win-win. Why? Because I recommend that you listen to Vox's Are You Sleeping? with the excellent Kate Berlant. Then, jump to the first season of Chasing Sleep with superb Anahad O'Connor. 

Finally, listen to the second and current season of Chasing Sleep with Lowes and Shapiro for a libidinous and light-hearted dive under the sheets to learn more about sleep.

The always wonderful part of podcasting? Both podcasts and all four hosts are terrific in their own way. And listeners will learn a lot more about sleep. 

Here's something I didn't know, and it mystifies me. It's from the Cleveland Clinic. Today, 75% of us dream in color. Before color television, just 15% of us did. Does that mean if I start watching Turner Classic Movies (TCM) with most films in black and white, I may start dreaming in grayscale?