In order to improve my listening skills, I listen to an English podcast almost every day in the evening before sleep. Sometimes it happens to me that I fall asleep during the listening. Then I wake up in the middle of night with earphones still wearing. Every time I reach half-sleep state, which means that I am not able to perceive the full content. I think that it is only natural process because when we listen to something, our brain is tuned to lower frekvency.

So, rarely I manage to stay fully awake untiI the very end of a podcast. Now, I was wondering what are your experience in this regard.

Are there any regular podcasts listeners? If so, when do you usualy listen to your favorite podcasts? For bedtime listeners: Do you listen to podcasts that you failed to finish due to sleep again?

I listen to English podcasts and, more often, to audiobooks at night quite often and experience exactly the same as you. Not sure if it's got anything to do with brain frequencies, but when lying in bed and listening with closed eyes, we are naturally much more likely to nod off sooner than over a book. I usually take “preventive measures” like setting auto power off and, when alone in bed, I use a wireless speaker instead of headphones to prevent waking up in the middle of the night entangled… As for your last question, yes I often do listen to the last chapter again when I fall asleep in the middle of it. It’s actually a great thing to memorize new vocabulary.

Falling asleep I usually watch a tv-show. Something short like the Simpsons or Futurama. When a tv-show begins I am able to keep my eyes open till a third of it, sometimes a half, then I close my eyes and just listen to it.

However after some time it starts irritating me. Once I get into the phase of sleep where I can still perceive “noises”, listening turns out to work the other way round. This may happen because of high-pitched voices, or various level of volume during listening.

Anyway one way or another. When it starts bothering me, I just instinctively reach my arm to press the power button