History

History For Sleep with the Drowsy Historian

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

History For Sleep delivers slow, calm, and slightly unsettling historical storytelling that makes dozing off educationally depressing.

Brought to you by the Drowsy Historian, each episode is 1–2 hours of immersive bedtime history with just enough absurd detail to keep you listening — until you aren’t.

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Latest Episodes:

Fall Asleep as a Bangkok Laborer During Thailand’s Yaba Crisis in the 1990s Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Fall asleep in 1990s Bangkok as you step into the life of a working-class laborer during a period of rapid economic growth, exhausting work, and a growing methamphetamine crisis.

Your days are spent carrying materials through dusty construction sites, navigating crowded streets, stretching wages, and trying to get enough rest before the next shift begins. Around you, methamphetamine pills once commonly called ya ma, and increasingly known as yaba, become more visible among workers and drivers struggling with long hours and relentless fatigue.

As the decade progresses, addiction affects families and workplaces, police enforcement becomes increasingly visible, and Thailand's economic boom gives way to the financial crisis of 1997. Through it all, ordinary life continues beneath Bangkok's humid skies.

Get comfortable, close your eyes, and experience another quiet journey into the lives of ordinary people from the past.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

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• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

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Fall Asleep as a Factory Worker Surrounded by Dangerous Chemicals in 19th Century Europe Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Step inside a 19th-century chemical factory, where industrial progress comes with a sharp smell, stained hands, and a persistent headache.

In this immersive sleep history, you work long shifts among bubbling vats, synthetic dyes, acids, metallic compounds, smoke, and fumes. Burns are minor incidents, coughing is simply part of the background noise, and management remains reassuringly confident that better ventilation is being considered.

As the months pass, headaches, irritated skin, breathing problems, and exhaustion gradually become ordinary parts of earning a wage. Meanwhile, inspectors take notes, supervisors offer explanations, and the machinery keeps moving.

Get comfortable, close your eyes, and fall asleep to the strangely colorful, deeply unpleasant world of a chemical factory worker during the Industrial Revolution.