Like other forms of meditation, this practice involves moving your focus away from your thoughts to sensations in your body. Regular practice of guided sleep meditation has been shown to improve sleep, meaning that this method is an important strategy that you can use to help reduce problems falling and staying asleep.

According to the International Sleep Association, around 30% of adults have short-term problems with insomnia, and about 10% have chronic difficulties with falling and/or staying asleep. What's more, around a third of adults report typically getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Given that adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep to function best, and teenagers need even more (8 to 10 hours), it's not surprising that methods for improving sleep are becoming more well-known.

Better sleep can contribute to lowering stress and an improved immune system. However, achieving restful sleep can be hard if you are battling stress and anxiety - it can be simply hard to quiet your mind. Many issues around sleep begin with your thinking processes at night. This is where guided sleep meditation can help.

Guided sleep meditation allows you to let go of the thoughts that are swirling and to rest your mind. In turn, this activates your nervous system which helps to lower your heart rate and slow down your breathing rate. All of these changes prepare you for sleep—you may even find yourself drifting off to sleep in the middle of the meditation practice.

You should also notice daytime benefits from doing guided sleep practice, since getting enough sleep at night is related to how you feel during the day.

The best guided sleep meditations will involve you following along with an audio guide that you can play on headphones or on a small speaker beside your bed. The goal is to not have to think too much about what you are doing - rather, you let yourself be guided by the voice on the recording.

Over time, you should find it easier to jump into the meditation and follow the prompts. So, don't give up too early if you find at first that you can't calm down or relax when doing the meditation.