Your guide to guided sleep meditation
If you're looking for a way to get better sleep, guided sleep meditation might be the answer.
Meditation is practised by many people all around the world to help them achieve a mentally clear, emotionally stable and calm state. In the context of sleep, guided sleep meditation can help a person get to sleep faster and have better quality sleep by creating calm inner conditions. Because when your mind becomes settled, you can fully rest your body too.
In this guide, we’ll explain what guided sleep meditation is, why it can help with sleep, and how to incorporate it into your routine.
What is guided meditation?
Guided meditation is a form of mindfulness meditation that involves following a voice or audio guide to help you focus on your breath and relax your mind. Guided sleep meditation is similar to regular guided meditation, but it is specifically designed to promote relaxation and help you fall asleep.
What are the benefits of guided meditation for sleep?
Similar to how you might lie down to rest your body, you can meditate to rest your mind. After a long day, it can be difficult to relax because your mind begins to swirl with thoughts and ideas that you might have suppressed throughout the day.
Guided sleep meditation allows you to clear your mind, setting you up for restful sleep.
Guided meditation can also activate your parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system helps slow down your heart rate and breathing. These changes in your body better prepare you for sleep, with many people falling asleep before the guided meditation has even finished.
Mindfulness meditation can help improve sleep in a few different ways:
Slowed breathing: Guided sleep meditation can help slow your breathing and lower your heart rate, which can promote relaxation and help you fall asleep faster.
Reduced stress and anxiety: Guided meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety, which can interfere with sleep.
Improved insomnia: Guided meditation has been shown to be an effective treatment for insomnia, and can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
Reduced rumination: Guided meditation can help you focus on the present moment instead of ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. This can help you relax and fall asleep faster.
How does guided sleep meditation work?
There are a number of different techniques and exercises that can be used during guided sleep meditation. The goal is to bring your mind away from your thoughts, and to focus on your body or breath. This not only helps quiet active minds, but can also send signals to your mind and body that it is time to sleep. Some of these techniques include:
Breathing
A popular exercise in guided sleep meditation is to focus on your breath. This can help you relax and clear your mind. Focus on your breath (try counting them), and start to slow your breath to signal to your body that it's time to sleep.
Visualisation
Visualisation is one of the most common techniques used in guided meditation. In guided sleep meditation, visualisation can be helpful for relaxing the mind and easing stress and anxiety. Visualise a scene that makes you feel happy and calm. Look around the scene slowly and carefully and take in every single detail.
Body scanning
Body scanning is a technique that can be used to help focus the mind and relax the body. During guided sleep meditation, you can scan your body from head to toe, noticing any areas of tension or stress. Once you've identified any areas of tension, focus on releasing that tension and relaxing the area. You can also use body scanning to focus on your breath and the sensations it creates throughout your body. Some of these sensations you could be thinking about could be temperature, heaviness, tingling, or tightness.
Counting
Just like counting sheep can help you drift off to sleep, counting in guided meditation can also be helpful. To slow your mind down in preparation for sleep, count backwards from 100 to one. When you get to one, count up to 100 again.
How to do guided sleep meditation
While there’s no one right way to do guided sleep meditation, here are some general tips:
Find a comfortable place to sit, recline or lie down in. Your bed is an obvious choice!
Close your eyes and focus on your breath.
When you feel relaxed, begin to focus on the guided meditation audio. Follow the instructions and allow yourself to relax.
If you find your mind wandering, simply bring your attention back to your breath or the audio guide.
When you're finished, if you’re still awake, switch off the audio (use a remote and try not to get out of bed for this) and try to hold on to that feeling of relaxation. Many people will drift off during the meditation. Turn off auto-play and switch on any sleep timers so you don't get startled when a new video or audio file comes on!
How to find the best guided sleep meditation for you
Guided sleep meditations come in many different forms, from podcasts, videos and Spotify playlists, to online and in-person classes. It’s easier than ever to find a huge variety of guided sleep meditations.
Spotify or Apple Music
Subscription-based music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music allow you to access hundreds of different guided sleep meditations that vary in length, style and feel. Using these services will also let you make use of the ‘sleep timer’ function so that your phone will stop playing the meditation and become silent as soon as you want it to, whether that's when the meditation finishes or after a certain amount of time.
YouTube
There are a lot of great guided sleep meditation videos on YouTube (just remember to switch off auto-play). Calm.com’s channel has many great guided sleep meditations that are perfect for beginners.
Apps
There are many different apps available that can help you participate in guided sleep meditation. It’s a good idea to do a bit of research on each app or just try a few out to see which app will be most beneficial for you. Some of the most popular apps include Headspace, Calm, and Balance.
Yoga studios
If you enjoy an in-person and group setting, then a yoga studio may be best suited to you. A quick google search of ‘guided meditation class near me’ will bring up an extensive list of locations that offer this practice. A class may be beneficial for you if you’re just starting out and want to learn more about it. Once you have a grasp on how it all works, you could then start meditating from the comfort of your own bed.
Key takeaways
Guided meditation for sleep is a great way to clear your mind and relax your body to try and maximise the quality of sleep you’re getting each night. Getting consistently good sleep is a big factor in maintaining your overall health.
There are many apps, Spotify playlists and Youtube channels that offer guided meditations specifically for sleep, so there's sure to be one that fits your needs. You could also try an in-person class if that’s more to your liking. Give guided sleep meditation a try and see how you feel after using it for a while.
IF YOU’RE EXPERIENCING PERSISTENT DISRUPTIONS TO YOUR SLEEP, CONSULT WITH A PHARMACIST OR TRUSTED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS.
Any advice provided in this content is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, health or needs. The information in this post is not intended to substitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and should not be exclusively relied on to diagnose or manage a medical condition. You need to consider the appropriateness of any information or general advice we give you, having regard to your personal situation, before acting on our advice or purchasing any over-the-counter sleep product.