Sleep meditation or sleep sounds?

Choosing for tonight

• “My mind keeps going round one thing.” A sleep story, or a meditation that gives your mind small things to picture, like Shuffled Asleep.
• “My body is tense.” A guided meditation that moves through the body, such as Night Weight.
• “Trying to sleep is the problem.” Something that stops asking for sleep, such as Allowed to Stay Awake.
• “I woke at 3am and my mind switched on.” A short voice, then sound. Morning Can Wait was made for this.
• “I like company all night.” A long talk-down, or a story that keeps going.
• “Any voice keeps me awake.” Sound alone: myNoise, Endel, rain, or quiet.

If following a voice starts to feel like a task, switch to sound or quiet. You don’t have to finish a recording.

Kind	What it does	You might like it if…
Guided sleep meditation	A voice helps you settle your body and mind	Your mind is busy, or your body is wound up
Sleep story	A calm story gives your mind something gentle to follow	You fall asleep to audiobooks
Long talk-down	Voice, affirmations or music for hours	You want something on until morning
Sound	Rain, noise or music, with no words	Words keep you awake, or you want to mask noise

Guided sleep meditation

A voice guides you to relax: feeling the weight of your body, slowing down, letting the day go. Recordings end in different ways. Some go quiet, some fade into music, some keep talking. Which suits you is a matter of taste. Some people want the voice to stop so nothing wakes them. Others like company.

Our Sleep playlist. The Sleep playlist has twelve meditations, from 4 to 44 minutes. Most end in sleep music or rain, with no voice to wake you. Each one’s page shows its chapters to scale, so you can see how long the voice continues before the music or rain carries on alone. In Morning Can Wait, for example, the voice keeps you company for about 18 minutes, then rain carries on for the rest of its 44.

They’re free, with nothing to sign up for, and the player has a sleep timer that fades out gently. You can save them to play offline, or follow them as a podcast, where most episodes keep the voice and natural sound without the music.

Sleep stories

A sleep story is a slow, calm story, told so that your mind has something to rest on. It works like a bedtime story for adults.

Calm made the format famous, with stories read by well-known voices. Its free tier includes a few sleep sessions, and the full library comes with a subscription. There are podcasts in the same spirit too, such as Nothing Much Happens.

They may suit you if a story holds your attention more kindly than instructions do.

Long talk-downs on YouTube

Some of the most-watched sleep audio is on YouTube. Jason Stephenson, for example, publishes sleep meditations, guided “sleep talk downs”, affirmations and sleep music every week. Some of his recordings run for hours, and they’re free to watch.

At night on YouTube, free viewing shows ads, and Autoplay can start another video when one ends. You can turn Autoplay off. Our guide to where to listen to guided meditation looks at YouTube, Spotify and podcast apps in more detail.

Sound with no words

myNoise makes adjustable sound generators: rain, waterfalls, noise colours and many more. Each has ten sliders, so you can shape the sound, and a calibration test tunes it to your hearing and headphones. It says it has no ads. It’s supported by donations, and its app, a one-time purchase, plays offline.

Endel makes “soundscapes” that its app generates as you listen. They’re shaped by things like the time of day, the weather and, with an Apple Watch, your heart rate. It has a free edition and a paid Premium tier. The study it cites for focus tested its own audio.

Simple rain or nature sound. You don’t need an app. Many streaming services have rain and white noise playlists. Our rain sounds page gathers our meditations with rain in them, from a passing shower to rain on a roof.

Sound may suit you if words keep you awake, or you want the same sound every night.

When audio isn’t enough

Good bedtime audio can help you wind down. It can’t treat a sleep disorder. If you’ve slept badly for weeks, or you snore loudly and wake gasping, talk to a doctor. For long-term insomnia, the treatment doctors recommend first is a form of talking therapy called CBT-I, which teaches new habits around sleep.

Try one tonight

Pick the line above that sounds like your night, and play that one. Set a sleep timer, and let yourself stop it whenever you like. Our sleep meditation guide goes further into choosing for the night you’re having.