Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries

Most sleep podcasts give you fiction or meditation. Lights Out Library takes a different approach: documentary-style episodes about real subjects — the history of ceramics, world mythology, the science behind auroras — read in a voice so measured and warm that the information washes over you like a slow tide. You might absorb a few interesting facts before sleep takes over, and honestly, that is part of the appeal. Olimpia Perez hosts and writes every script herself, and she is vocal about the fact that nothing on the show is AI-generated. That personal touch comes through in the research quality and the gentle pacing. Episodes typically run about an hour, with some compilations stretching past five hours for nights when you want zero chance of running out of audio. The show publishes biweekly and has built up about 111 episodes since launching in late 2023. One smart production choice: mid-roll ads are disabled entirely, so there is no sudden jolt from a mattress commercial at 2 AM. If you want ad-free episodes, the Patreon handles that. With a 4.5-star rating from nearly 600 reviews, Lights Out Library has found an audience that wants to learn something while falling asleep. Perez also runs a Spanish-language sister show called La Biblioteca de los Suenos. If you have ever wished you could fall asleep to a nature documentary narrated by someone who genuinely cares about the subject, this scratches that exact itch.