You finally lie down, turn off the light, and your mind starts running through the to-do list for the day, the week and even the next few months: the uniform that didn’t dry, the text you never answered, the pediatrician appointment you still haven’t booked. Your body is begging for bed and your mind acts like it just had a cup of coffee. I don’t know if this happens to you too, but if you’re reading this article, you probably have trouble falling asleep as well.
Meditation for sleep is made for exactly this moment, because instead of fighting your thoughts, you give your attention a calmer place to rest, your breath and your body, until sleep arrives. I put together a 10-minute script to do lying down, without an app, adapted from the body scan practice published by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. I’m not a meditation teacher: I gathered what these sources explain and turned it into the simplest format I could find for bedtime.
Sleep meditation isn’t about emptying your mind
A lot of people give up on the first night because they think they were supposed to stop thinking altogether. But no technique asks for that. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health, describes some types of meditation as keeping your focus on a particular sensation, such as your breathing. In other words, thoughts will show up, and the exercise is to notice they showed up and come back.
Does it actually help with sleep? On the same page, the NCCIH cites a 2019 analysis of 18 studies, with 1,654 participants in total, in which mindfulness meditation improved sleep quality more than education-based treatments and had effects no different from evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise. The NCCIH also notes, though, that much of this research is still preliminary, so think of the script as an ally, not a cure.
The idea is the same as mindfulness in everyday life, just lying down and with the goal of switching off.
The 10-minute script, minute by minute
Start once everything is done: teeth brushed, alarm set and phone out of reach (if it’s your alarm, leave it face down). Also keep a piece of paper and a pen next to the bed, because you’ll need them later.
You don’t need to sit cross-legged or keep your back straight, as some scripts suggest, since the whole point is to fall asleep at the end. Lie on your back, if that’s comfortable, with your arms loose or your hands on your belly. The times are approximate: if sleep shows up at minute 6, the script did its job.
Don’t underestimate the power of this technique. When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I had terrible insomnia. Even though it wasn’t my first time as a mom, a lot of things scared me. So, for many nights I couldn’t sleep, and sleep only came close to dawn. I started meditating to fall asleep because I remembered the childbirth classes I took when I was pregnant with my first daughter. That’s how I managed to sleep again, when I was already more than 7 months pregnant.
Minutes 1 and 2: settle into bed
Close your eyes and notice where your body touches the mattress, from your head on the pillow down to your heels. The Berkeley script starts this way, reminding you that, in this moment, you are safe. Then take three breaths a little longer than usual, as far as feels comfortable, letting the air out slowly.
Minutes 3 and 4: let your breath find its own rhythm
Now stop controlling it and just follow along. Pick a spot where you can feel the air, like your belly rising and falling under your hands or the air moving through your nose, and count your exhales from 1 to 10. When you reach 10, start again at 1. Lost count halfway? It will happen, so just go back to 1 without being hard on yourself.
If you prefer breathing with a fixed count, the 4-7-8 method is explained in the article on how to fall asleep fast. Here the approach is looser, with no breath-holding, for anyone who doesn’t get along with counting seconds.
Minutes 5 to 8: move through your body from your feet to your face
This is the heart of the script, the body scan. Bring your attention to your feet and notice whatever there is to feel, whether it’s weight, the warmth of the blanket or a tingling. Then move up slowly, one area at a time:
- Legs and hips: feel the weight sinking into the mattress.
- Belly: if it’s tight, see whether it softens a little with each exhale.
- Hands and arms, with your fingers loose, not gripping the sheet.
- Shoulders: they’re often hiked up near your ears without you noticing.
- Neck, jaw and forehead. Unclench your teeth and relax the space between your eyebrows.
About a minute for every one or two areas is enough. If a part hurts or feels uncomfortable, just notice it and move on, without trying to fix it, especially since the Berkeley practice reminds you that you won’t always notice sensations in every part of your body, and that’s okay.
Minutes 9 and 10: let go of the script
At the end, stop guiding your attention. Feel your whole body at once, heavy and supported, and let your breath and the sounds of the room just be there, without doing anything with them. If you like, turn onto the side you usually sleep on. The original exercise ends by opening your eyes and returning to your day, and here the ending is the opposite: letting sleep come.
When your mind wanders or someone calls for you
Your mind will wander, and that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. When you notice you’re thinking about the grocery list, say “thinking” in your head and go back to the part of your body where you left off. Ten wanderings, ten returns: that’s exactly the practice.
Some nights, though, the thought is a task that just won’t go away, and that’s what the paper by the bed is for. For example: at minute 4, you remember that tomorrow it’s your turn to send snacks for the class. Turn on the dimmest light, write “class snacks”, switch it off and start again from minute 3. With the task on paper, your mind doesn’t have to hold on to it until morning.
And what if a child calls for you? Go, sort it out and, when you come back, don’t start from scratch. Do a short version, about 3 minutes, with three long breaths and a quick pass over your shoulders, jaw and forehead. Just don’t lie awake forcing yourself through the whole script, because then it becomes one more chore of the night.
If you drift off before minute 8, it worked, since the goal was never to finish the meditation. If, on the other hand, about 20 minutes go by and sleep doesn’t come, follow the rule explained in the article on techniques to fall asleep fast: get out of bed, do something calm in dim light and come back when you feel sleepy.
How to make the script a habit without making it a chore
The simplest way is to fit the script in right after brushing your teeth, so it’s tied to something you already do every day. The Greater Good body scan page, from Berkeley, suggests practicing three to six days a week and says research suggests that people who practice for longer reap more benefits.
If 10 minutes feels like a lot the first week, start with the short 3-minute version and build up. And here’s a challenge: do the script on five nights in the same week before deciding whether it’s for you.
Do you need an app? No. Guided audio helps beginners, but it brings your phone into bed, notifications included. One alternative is to record this script in your own voice, nice and slow, and let it play with the screen face down. Meditation for sleep also works better alongside the basics of sleep hygiene, like a similar bedtime every day and a dark bedroom.
When meditation isn’t enough on its own
Meditation is generally safe, but it doesn’t work the same way for everyone. The NCCIH cites a 2020 review in which about 8 percent of participants had a negative effect from the practice, mostly anxiety and depression, a share similar to that reported for psychological therapies. If paying attention to your body makes you more restless or distressed, stop and switch to something more neutral, like listening to calm music.
And when trouble sleeping happens almost every night, lasts for weeks or comes with tiredness that gets in the way of your day, see a doctor, because the NCCIH itself advises against using meditation as a reason to postpone seeing a health care provider. The good news is that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute notes that doctors may recommend meditation to help you relax, and that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), a 6- to 8-week treatment, is usually the first option for long-term insomnia. If the tiredness feels more mental than physical, the article on signs of mental exhaustion can help you recognize what’s going on.
Tonight, just the first minute
You don’t need to memorize anything: lie down, feel the mattress, breathe and move up from your feet to your face. If your meditation for sleep ends halfway because you fell asleep, it did exactly what it was supposed to do.
This content is for information only and does not replace advice from a doctor or other health professional.
