Mindfulness and meditation have become mainstream for their range of benefits. One of meditation's key benefits is that regular practice can help make you feel more relaxed. This is especially important for when you want to get your head on the pillow and drift off to sleep.
You'll find several meditation apps that focus on helping you relax, and when the time comes, fall asleep. Here are the best meditation apps for relaxing and sleeping.
1. Headspace
Headspace is one of the most popular meditation apps and is widely credited for making app-based meditation a part of modern life. There are a couple of free meditations for you to use; anything more requires a subscription. However, with that subscription, you get access to Headspace's entire library of meditations.
These are broken down into themes like happiness, relaxation, and sleep. The app gamifies meditation, increasing your Run Streak for each consecutive day you meditate with Headspace.
The app has introduced an entire section dedicated to sleep. This feature has meditations to help you unwind before bed, along with ambient music and some audio visualizations called Sleepcasts. If you have difficulty sticking to a regular bedtime, you can ask Headspace for a gentle nudge when it's time to wind down.
Download: Headspace for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
2. Calm
Calm is another service offering app-based meditations. However, while Headspace's primary focus is meditation, Calm aims at a range of mindfulness and well-being techniques.
It was among the first of its kind to add a dedicated section devoted to sleep, where you'll find sleep meditations, sleep tools, sleep music, and the popular Sleep Stories. These are stories read by celebrities noted for their pleasing voices like Stephen Fry and ASMR artist Emma Whispers Red, alongside archival recordings of Bob Ross. It's almost like using audio therapy in your meditation routine.
Sleep Stories are updated weekly, so there should always be something new when you load up the app. If you experience ASMR, you might also want to watch some YouTube videos that'll trigger ASMR.
Calm offers a limited number of meditations for free, but if you want access to the whole library, you'll need to join Calm Premium. As part of the premium subscription, you can view Calm Body, a series of instructional videos that guide you through mindful movement---a mix between meditation and yogic stretching.
Download: Calm for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
3. Insight Timer
Insight Timer is one of the most successful free meditation apps for Android and iOS. Unlike many similar apps, Insight Timer makes its library of 15,000 guided meditations available for free. If you prefer unguided meditations, the app's Timer allows you to customize your session by length and ambient noise, along with bell type and frequency. This is important, as controlling the noise around you helps you stay focused.
While most of the content is free, Insight Timer also offers a premium subscription. This grants you access to a new meditation each day, thousands of well-being courses, and offline playback. If getting a good night's sleep is high on your priority list, you may want to invest in the premium subscription solely for access to the app's Night mode.
The over 7,000 dedicated sleep meditations come from hundreds of teachers, so you should be able to find a session that works for you. If you join Insight Premium, there is even a 10-day course on getting deeper sleep.
Download: Insight Timer for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
4. Balance
Balance is entirely dedicated to helping you get a better night's sleep. The app approaches sleep and meditation in a simple, straightforward way by breaking its sleep meditation content down into singles and plans.
The experience of using Balance is different from other meditation apps because you can choose the duration of each meditation session whether you have only 10 minutes to meditate or a full hour. There are even sleep journeys and sleep sounds that you can opt for instead of sleep meditations.
Download: Balance for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
5. BetterSleep
The BetterSleep app offers a full library of hundreds of sleep meditations that you filter through based on the category, duration, and narrator. So you can find a quick meditation session of less than 10 minutes for those busy days.
Moreover, there is a unique tool where you can create your own sound and music mixes to help you get some shuteye.
If you want to learn more about your sleep, you can use BetterSleep's sleep tracker to track and improve your sleep and learn more about your sleep phases and overall sleep quality.
Download: BetterSleep for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
6. Aura
The Aura app spotlights a wide range of different sleep content and tools, including deep sleep meditations, body scans, and yoga nidra. Besides the sleep meditations, you'll also find sleep stories, sleep music, sleep hypnosis, and sleep series on the Aura app.
What makes Aura special is its daily selection of live meditations and life coaching. Adding a live session to your calendar is as easy as hitting a button and reserving your spot.
Download: Aura for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
7. Tide
The Tide app is made up of three categories—sleep, meditation, and sound. Under the meditation category, you'll find a section dedicated to sleep meditations. The various series and singles center on topics like bedtime rituals, deep sleep, insomnia, restful sleep, and jet-lagged sleep.
Once you've found a suitable meditation session you can personalize the duration, view related meditations, and even select from several English and foreign language teachers. Do you often forget your nightly sleep meditations? Enable Tide's sleep reminder to motivate you to stick to a strict sleep schedule.
Download: Tide for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
8. Relax and Sleep Well
Created by professional hypnotherapist and meditation teacher Glenn Harrold, Relax and Sleep Well can help you get a good night's rest. Relax and Sleep Well is a hypnotherapy app that can guide you into a peaceful state with its selection of relaxing meditation recordings.
The app is free to download, and you only have to pay a small fee for the individual sessions you're interested in. Along with its sleep sessions, Relax and Sleep Well can help in other areas, like anxiety, addiction, and confidence.
Download: Relax & Sleep Well for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
9. Meditopia
Meditopia boasts over 1,000 different meditations and stories. To begin, Meditopia recommends content specifically for you based on your answers and sleep goals. So, if you have difficulties falling asleep at night, Meditopia might handpick the Sleep Voyages series for you.
This series is full of sleep journeys and adventures, where you'll be exploring the depths of the ocean or a beautiful flower garden. Additionally, to help you build better habits, Meditopia sends you daily meditation and sleep reminders at the times that work best for you.
Download: Meditopia for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
10. Slumber
From meditations and ASMR to sounds and music, Slumber has it all. The Slumber app even has bedtime stories for kids as well as bedtime stories for adults! And in terms of sleep meditations, Slumber has plenty of options.
There are an assortment of sessions ranging from 14 minutes to almost two hours, so there's something for everyone. For seamless listening, you can add meditations to a queue or download them for offline use. The only downside is that you'll have to upgrade to Slumber's paid subscription to access them all.
Download: Slumber for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
The Best Meditation App for You
In our increasingly busy world, it's essential to make time for yourself to relax and get some good quality sleep. Just a few minutes using one of these guided meditation apps should help you on your way to a more content state of mind. You might still be concerned by the quality of your slumber though. Fortunately, these are the sleep meditation apps that may be able to help.