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Mindful meditation could be your pathway to better sleep. We explore the science behind how it works, share a simple bedtime practice, and get top tips from wellness guru Joy Bauer on two easy techniques to help you drift off.
6 Min Read | By Anna Ashbarry
Last Modified 17 September 2025 First Added 29 October 2019
Reviewed for Accuracy by Dr Jason Ellis
Our 2024 Sleep Survey revealed that 37% of us struggle to sleep due to stress, while only 6% enjoy consistent, quality rest. Meditation, proven to improve sleep quality, can help reduce anxiety and calm the mind for a peaceful night. In this article, we walk you through a step-by-step mindful meditation for sleep routine and share top resources to help you drift off with ease.
Before heading to bed, make sure that all distractions are out of reach. Put your phone on silent or away in another room and either turn your lights off or dim them so they’re conducive to relaxation. Finally, you won’t want to move out of bed after you’ve meditated, so make sure you’re wearing what you would normally snooze in.
Stretch out and take time to assess your body, taking note of any tension you may be holding. Work from your toes right up to your head, thinking about relaxing each muscle, especially in your jaw and shoulders. If you feel any tension, take time to do some simple stretches to loosen it.
Now, we’ll start what’s classically considered meditation. Take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. Ensure each in-breath reaches your diaphragm. It can help to place your hand on your stomach and feel the rise and fall to ensure you are breathing deeply enough.
Once you’ve taken the first three deep breaths, close your eyes and begin to breathe naturally.
Follow your breath by focusing your mind on inhaling and exhaling. Notice your belly rise and fall with each breath and clear your mind of any thoughts and distractions. Don’t feel concerned if your mind starts to wander; simply redirect your attention back to the breath and allow those thoughts to pass. Meditation is all about becoming more aware of how the body and mind feel, so awareness thoughts creeping in are absolutely normal.
Quietly move your attention from your breath to your surroundings. Keep your eyes closed but switch your focus to the sounds, smells and feel of your environment. Concentrate on how your body connects to the bed and the feeling of gravity pulling you down. Become aware of how your clothing and bed covers feel against your skin. While going through this process, keep your breathing natural and don’t worry about any thoughts which may stray into your consciousness.
Being mindful is often the hardest stage for most people when meditating. However, this stage is simply about letting go and allowing our body to reach its natural state. Breathe normally and allow thoughts to come and go. When you recognise that you’re focusing on a specific thought, note it and then allow it to pass. It can help to turn your attention back to your breath if you find this difficult.
Now’s the time to stop consciously meditating and reflect upon how the body feels. Before you drift off to sleep, become aware of how calm you feel. Granted, if you’re meditating right before sleep, you may have already drifted off at this stage! If not, simply become grateful for the relaxation you have now achieved.
If you’re still finding yourself lying awake after trying the above classic technique, Health and well-being expert Joy Bauer shares two other simple meditation techniques for sleep that help to calm the mind and body for rest.
This technique involves repeating a particular sound to calm your body and quieten the thoughts buzzing about in your mind. Repetition of the mantra is thought to help you disconnect from distracting or stressful thoughts so that you can tune into your mind’s stillness and peace.
The word mantra has two parts: ‘man’, which is from a Sanskrit word for mind; and ‘tra’, the root of the word for instrument. Literally, mantra means ‘instrument of the mind’. Figuratively speaking, it means ‘revealed sound’. The most well-known mantra is, of course, ‘Om’ (or aum).
Not feeling ‘Om’? No problem. Let your mind decide which sound is most pleasing to you. Then repeat it until your thoughts seem quieter and you feel more at peace (and sleepy).
In the Buddhist tradition, the word Vipassana means ‘insight into the true nature of reality’. Essentially, this form of meditation consists of using self-observation to see things as they truly are. This means recognising both the desirable and undesirable elements of your true nature without passing judgement on yourself.
To try it, think about the activities of the day that may have been off-putting. Ask yourself: what about that occurrence made me uncomfortable or upset? What steps should I take to reconcile this occurrence within myself? How can I shed this feeling so that I can ‘leave it’ in today and not carry it over into tomorrow? Or, how can I react differently so as to not let it affect me as severely?
Being mindful and honest about your thoughts before you go to bed may allow you to release that stress and bring less of it into your sleep and the days that follow. This will help you both to get to sleep and stay asleep throughout the night, making you more able to effectively deal with stressful situations in the future, too.
Follow Joy Bauer on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. For general health information and delicious recipes, visit Joy’s website at JoyBauer.com.
Read our article for more tips on how to fall asleep faster.
Yes, meditating in bed is not only possible, it’s so popular it even has its own nickname, ‘beditation’. Meditation doesn’t require a specific posture or location. It’s all about finding what works for you. For morning meditation, we recommend sitting up against your headboard or wall, so you aren’t at risk of falling back asleep. If you’re practicing meditation before sleep, lying down in a comfortable position is absolutely fine. However, as meditation centres around focusing on your breath, it’s best to lie in a position where you can breathe both deeply and comfortably.
Meditating has been shown to aid the quality of your sleep and can also combat some sleeping disorders. Meditation works in several ways to support falling asleep more easily and achieving deeper sleep throughout the night. One of the key mechanisms is that it helps calm the nervous system: meditation encourages the shift from the “fight-or-flight” mode to the “rest-and-digest” mode, which slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and reduces stress hormones like cortisol. Studies have also found that mindfulness-based meditation significantly improves sleep quality, limiting disturbances throughout the night.
Meditating before sleep can have both immediate and long-term benefits. Research shows it not only helps you relax in the moment but also improves overall sleep quality over time.
Calms a busy mind: Reduces racing thoughts, calming feelings of anxiety and making it easier to drift off.
Discover more tips to help reduce feelings of anxiety for better sleep.
Reduces night-time waking: The same study also showed participants spent fewer minutes awake after falling asleep.
Improves sleep quality long-term: Regular meditation has been shown to boost overall sleep quality, with benefits lasting months after starting practice.
Supports daytime wellbeing: In older adults, studies have shown that mindful meditation improved sleep disturbance, reduced fatigue, and eased insomnia symptoms more effectively than sleep hygiene education alone.
Meditation can be a powerful tool for easing insomnia. By helping to quiet racing thoughts, lower stress levels, and relax the body, it tackles some of the key barriers that keep people awake at night. Research has found that a mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia reduced the time participants spent awake during the night and improve overall sleep efficiency. Over time, regular meditation practice can help retrain the mind to wind down more naturally at bedtime, making it easier to both fall asleep and stay asleep.
The Mindfulness App – This app is suitable for both experienced and beginner meditators. The app offers a free trial and two premium subscription plans.
Calm – This free app offers a simple 30-day programme including the use of meditation sessions and sleep stories.
Headspace – Headspace is a free app that guides you to create the ideal conditions to get a good night’s sleep.
Sleep Meditation Podcast – Relaxing sounds of nature and ambient music.
Guided Sleep Meditations – A soothing resource that uses a countdown method from 10 to 1.
Sleep With Me – A podcast that rambles boring stories to send you off to sleep.
Guided Sleep Meditation – A haven of peace for an ultra-deep relaxation.
Sleep Hypnosis for Floating Relaxation – A technique to calm your mind for a night of deep sleep.
Deep Sleep Meditation to Calm an Overactive Mind – Mindful movement to reduce anxious and worried thoughts.
Meditation is a simple yet powerful way to calm the mind at the end of a busy day. Whether you follow a step-by-step mindful sleep meditation routine, try repeating a soothing mantra, or reflect with a Vipassana practice, each technique offers a gentle pathway into rest. With regular practice, you may find that bedtime feels less like a struggle and more like a welcome opportunity to recharge. So the next time you slip under the covers, take a few moments to pause, breathe, and let meditation guide you towards a more peaceful night’s sleep.
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