Do you want to know how to sleep when your mind is racing? Sometimes your mind gets anxious about a particular problem and loops over the same thoughts. It can run in circles for hours, leaving you feeling drained and overwhelmed in the morning.
The rise of cortisol levels can activate the sympathetic nervous system, causing sleep deprivation and emotional distress. Somatic sleep meditation is an alternative practice that uses body awareness and somatic self-care to increase relaxation and regulate the nervous system (1).
This practice teaches you to calm down and process your emotions more effectively. If you’ve never tried somatic meditation for restorative sleep, then you’re in the right place. This guide covers all the secrets for using somatic practice, visualization, and positive affirmations before bed.
Somatic sleep meditation is a method that empowers you to listen to your body and create a deeper connection with your mind. It allows you to safely explore unprocessed emotions and sensations that overwhelm the nervous system (2). You perform it before bed, preferably in a lying down position.
There are a couple of elements to somatic sleep meditation. These include:
It helps to let go of judgment as you focus on what you are experiencing in your body and mind. Whenever you encounter a difficult or painful emotion, acknowledge it without judging or attaching yourself to it. Allow yourself to sit with the feelings, instead of pushing them away.
Read more: Somatic Movement: A Journey to Mind-Body Connection
Somatic therapists often use many forms of meditation to help clients regulate their nervous systems. While not all meditation is a form of somatic therapy, both modalities share techniques that can help decrease stress and increase body awareness. For example, mindfulness and body scan meditations are frequently used in somatic therapy due to their focus on internal sensations (6).
The main difference between somatic meditation and regular meditation is that somatic sleep meditation focuses on body-based awareness and nervous system regulation, while regular meditation concentrates on mindfulness, or some other point of focus. Somatic techniques help release physical tension in the body and promote trauma healing, which makes them ideal for deep rest and emotional integration (7).
Somatic meditation uses the “bottom-up” approach, which means you start with the physical body to influence the mind. You use body scans to bring awareness to each part of the body and release tension, often through conscious breathing and muscle relaxation by observing your emotions without judgment (8).
Regular meditation uses the “top-down” approach, where the mind influences the body. You create a comfortable, non-judgmental space to observe your thoughts or direct your attention to your breath or a mantra. However, it also uses a “bottom-up” approach. For example, by focusing on your breath, you can directly influence your nervous system and mental state. It’s a mental discipline that uses meditation and breathing techniques as anchors and observes the thoughts as they come and go (9).
Meditation often uses mantras, which are words, phrases, or sounds that you repeat during your practice. Mantras ground you and help you focus on the present moment rather than react, even when the mind is active or agitated (10). If you’re curious about somatic exercise for sleep, check out our earlier article.
| Somatic sleep meditation | Regular meditation |
|---|---|
| Calms the nervous system and releases physical tension to promote sleep. | Trains the mind to improve overall awareness to process emotions. |
| Uses a "bottom-up" approach, starting with the body to calm the mind. | Uses the "top-down" and "bottom-up" approach, training the mind to influence the body. |
| Utilizes body scans, conscious breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. | Observes thoughts, breaths, and sounds through mantras. |
| Relaxes the muscles in the body, so you can fall asleep. | Creates a more mindful, less reactive state of mind in daily life. |
Somatic meditation for sleep can be helpful for people whose sleep difficulties come from an overactive mind or dysregulated nervous system (11).
This often includes people with:
Although somatic meditation is an alternative practice that can lead to restorative sleep, it can’t replace the effects of sleep medication. It teaches you how to notice and release physical tension, not to replace specialized sleep therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) or other evidence-based treatments (12).
It’s best to practice somatic meditation for 30 to 60 minutes just before you go to bed. These evening sessions can lower your stress hormone (cortisol), calm the nervous system, and set the stage for a deeper, more restful sleep (13).
The more you practice, the better the results. It takes consistency, time, and effort to turn this practice into a daily habit. Over time, your emotions can feel more balanced and in tune with your body. If you want to practice meditation, but don’t know where to start, the BetterMe app has specific kinds of programs that are accessible at all levels. You can use it for short, medium, and long guided meditations, alongside exercises, and dietary planning. For more details about somatic exercises in bed, take a look at our prior publication.
Somatic meditation helps you relax as it gets you out of your head and into your body. Through slow breathing, small movements, and body awareness, it tells your nervous system that it’s safe to let go, easing stress and helping you unwind.
Here are the main somatic sleep meditation techniques for deep, restful sleep.
Body scanning is a form of mindful meditation (14). You use it to pay attention to different parts of your body and notice any tension, discomfort, or other sensations. This method shifts your focus away from racing thoughts and into how your body feels. Start with short 10-minute sessions and slowly increase the duration.
How to do it:
Deep belly breathing can slow your heart rate, lower blood pressure, and relax the mind. In somatic meditation, you use intentional breathing to allow the body to feel safe. Make each exhale a bit longer than your inhale (15). Our previous post goes into great detail about the meditation breathing techniques.
How to do it:
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Sometimes you don’t even realize how much tension you hold in your body. This simple practice helps you spot where you’re tight and ease that tension, stiffness, and discomfort (16).
How to do it:
Read more: 10 Somatic Exercises To Release Pent-Up Emotions
You’ve probably heard a popular saying that “15 minutes of meditation can feel like 1 to 2 hours of sleep”, but that’s just a myth. Meditation and sleep are two completely different concepts.
Meditation can create a state of deep rest, reduce stress, and refresh you, similar to how you would feel after a short nap. It can reset the mind, particularly when you need a break from racing thoughts, anxiety, or stress.
However, meditation can’t replace the restorative processes that happen while you sleep, such as hormone regulation and tissue repair. The body needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep to function normally, boost cognition, and regulate emotional responses (17).
People who meditate consistently may find it easier to fall asleep, as meditation can calm the mind and produce more melatonin. Higher levels of melatonin can improve sleep quality and duration (18). No. Meditation and sleep are two different things, which is why you cannot use meditation to measure the amount of sleep. By meditating for 10 minutes, you can feel like you had a short nap – relaxed and rejuvenated. No, meditation cannot reverse sleep deprivation. However, it can offer short-term effects, such as stress reduction and mood regulation, which can improve the overall quality of sleep (19). Meditating for 2 hours a day helps you develop a routine that can regulate emotions and stress and provide better mental clarity. Most relaxing sleep meditation techniques can positively affect your mental health and aid with sleep. Frequently Asked Questions
Do meditators sleep better?
Is 10 minutes of meditation equal to 4 hours of sleep?
Can meditation reverse sleep deprivation?
What happens if you meditate 2 hours a day?
When your nervous system feels dysregulated and you’re stressed and overwhelmed, somatic meditation for sleep may come in handy. This alternative practice is a powerful tool for emotional and physical regulation, which can help ease tension and ensure you get a good night’s sleep.
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