Quality sleep is comparable to a mental health superpower. It is often easier to manage your emotions when you get enough sleep. This can help you have more patience to deal with stress, such as relationships, work, or study problems. It can also help reduce your risk of future mental health issues!

Nonetheless, insomnia is extremely common. That's because many factors can interfere with your sleep, from the food you eat to feeling worried or anxious, and even using your phone before bed. When you're wide awake at 3 a.m., getting a good night's sleep may seem like an impossible goal, but you have far more control over the quality of your sleep than you probably realize. Just as how you feel during the day is often determined by how well you sleep at night, the solution to sleep problems is often found in your daily routine. Good sleep is the foundation for good health and a happier mindset. But when was the last time you awoke feeling energized, alert, and ready to face the day? Or did you fall asleep easily and without effort?

Fortunately, there is Headspace. It's the go-to app for feeling better, with guided lessons on mindfulness, sleep, and simply remembering to breathe.

Headspace helps you create life-changing habits to support your mental health and find a healthier, happier you by using science-backed meditation and mindfulness tools. In just 10 days, Headspace has been shown to reduce stress by 14%. It can also help you relax your mind in minutes, improve your focus, and sleep better than ever. Headspace, which has millions of users in over 190 countries, aims to "improve the health and happiness of the world." The app introduces fundamental techniques in its free basics course, which provides a comprehensive guide. A subscription grants users access to a library of over 2,000 guided sleep meditations. Headspace is an easy-to-use interface and guided program divided into four categories: sleep, focus, meditation, and movement. The app is subscription-based and does not provide any free content.

How does it work?

When you first download Headspace, you'll be asked to create an account so you can track your meditation progress. From there, you'll gain access to Headspace's meditation content, which includes sleep, movement, and focus meditations. Headspace sleep meditation is a more structured meditation app, with guided programs that walk you through a series of meditations and longer courses. You can, however, choose single programs if you want to meditate in a more ad hoc manner.

Headspace Standout Features:

1. Headspace categorizes its sleep aids into a few distinct categories, the most notable of which is Sleepcasts. These dreamy stories help you relax by transporting you to "a different sleepy environment, to add a little happily-ever-after to your bedtime routine." The narrators describe scenes such as a crackling campfire in the desert, a slow-moving train, and a peaceful sanctuary high in the trees over the course of about 50 minutes. After 10 minutes of hearing Puddicombe's soothing, pleasantly British-accented narration, even the busiest of minds will find themselves slowing down toward slumber.
2. Wind Downs, the following feature, is a collection of guided meditations that help users power down their minds through three-minute breathing techniques. The option to select a male or female narrator is seemingly simple but surprisingly useful, allowing individuals to personalize the experience based on the type of voice that they find most relaxing.
3. Sleep Soundscapes provide hours upon hours of nature sounds, overlapping chords, and spacey harmonies that set the mood for sleep. Headspace records the actual sounds at on-site locations, so you're never listening to a tin-can recreation of, say, the great outdoors. With 47 Soundscapes categorized by settings mostly found in nature: waterways, jungle, forest, fireside, and snow days, the Headspace library is more than enough for most. Some find that listening to sounds isn't enough to distract them, but for others, it's the perfect way to block out street noise and other nighttime sounds.
4. The fourth component, Nighttime SOS, provides 10-minute meditations for when you wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare or from unresolved work stress or other worries. You are encouraged to relax and take a few deep breaths. Following that, the audio guides you through a relaxation technique, such as visualizing sunlight filling your body, to help lull you back into a drowsy, restful state. However, after listening to them during the day and based on our positive experience with the other sleep content, we believe they are a great option to try when you need to unwind before sunrise.

Another sleep-related feature that distinguishes Headspace is its bedtime alarm, which gives users a gentle reminder that it's time to start winding down.

Headspace Cost

Headspace is available for free, with free trials and limited free features. The free version allows you to browse the library and view all of the content, but you cannot experience any of the meditations. If you want full access, you can get Headspace Plus for $12.99 per month with a free 7-day trial, or a $69.99 annual subscription for 14 days free. There are also plans for students and families.

The bottom line

Headspace is a top meditation app that focuses on making mindfulness practices more approachable, easy to follow, and accessible to the general public. The company has partnered with thousands of businesses and healthcare providers to provide employees and members with coaching, therapy, and psychiatry. The app's content is scientifically supported, and the company has focused on researching the benefits of meditation for mental health and well-being. Headspace has published 40 papers and studies to date, with more in the works.

Headspace is an excellent choice for new meditators who want some guidance, as the app provides excellent guided sleep meditations and courses. We hope this blog has helped to get out of those sleepless and restless nights.