27 Positive Affirmations for Sleep (Plus Sleep Hacks!)

Working in corporate America for nearly 20 years will teach you a lot about people. One of the things it has taught me is that even though sleep is the most important thing to keep productivity and health in peak shape, it is often the first thing people give up when they are short on time.

Need more time to meet a project deadline? Just sleep less and drink more coffee. Decide you are going to train for a marathon? Just sleep less and hope the endorphins keep you going. Want to be Room Mom while working a demanding job? Just sleep less and loose your mind.

Increasing your waking hours by giving up sleep time works in the short term, of course, but the problems come when it is our go-to to solve any time related problem. Lack of sleep causes issues with memory, mood, thinking, concentration and more. If you need more convincing that sleep is important read this bestseller: Why We Sleep: Unlocking The Power of Sleep and Dreams.

Use the positive sleep affirmations below to fall asleep quickly and to maintain a focus on the importance of sleep.

27 Positive Affirmations for Sleep

  1. I am thankful for this time to rest my body and my mind.
  2. I have solved all the problems I can solve for today.
  3. I can rest knowing I did my best.
  4. I am loved, valued and safe.
  5. My body is relaxed and my mind is at peace.
  6. I breathe in good and calm energy and breathe out the stresses of this day.
  7. I am thankful for this day and excited for what tomorrow may bring.
  8. With each breath, my body is more relaxed.
  9. I welcome peace into my heart.
  1. I forgive myself for any poor decisions, lack of self control, or undesirable behavior today.
  2. I release the worries of the day.
  3. I am fully present in this moment and feel gratitude for this day.
  4. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.
  5. I will not worry about things I cannot control.
  6. I choose my thoughts and actions. I choose rest and recovery.
  7. I will take care of myself first so that I can be there for those who need me.
  8. My brain and body need this time to get stronger.
  9. I welcome sleep.
  1. My mind is turned off and my body is still.
  2. I know that what is meant to be will be.
  3. I deserve this time to care for myself regardless of anything left unfinished.
  4. I am more creative with the right amount of rest.
  5. I can feel relaxation coming to each part of my body, from the top of my head to my toes.
  6. Rest is valuable.
  7. I will enjoy deep and restorative sleep tonight.
  8. The world is calm and sound asleep.
  9. I matter.

Sleep Meditation

While I have never had much difficulty falling asleep, I have two kids who have a hard time on a regular basis. Their doctor suggested we do sleep meditation before bed each night, and it works! They are typically asleep within 10 minutes or less.

My favorite guided sleep meditations are by The Honest Guys. They have over 346 million YouTube views, and it is because their videos are incredible.

Other Sleep Tips

After reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking The Power of Sleep and Dreams, along with a few other books on peak performance that emphasized the importance of sleep, I purchased an Oura Ring to understand my sleep better.

First, what is an Oura Ring? It is a ring you wear both day and night that tracks a variety of things, including how many hours you sleep, how much deep sleep and REM sleep you get, your heart rate, your heart rate variability, how long it takes you to get to sleep and more. It also tracks your activity for the day, but most people have a separate activity tracker, so that is not overly helpful.

The Oura Ring app assigns a sleep and readiness score every day and allows you to tag certain activities to see what is affecting your sleep. For example, you can tag that you drank alcohol, had a heavy meal, exercised late or anything else you think may be contributing to good or bad sleep.

I’ve learned so much from the Oura Ring, but here are my top 5 findings:

1. Do not eat within 3 hours of bed time

I’ve tested this over and over. My deep sleep takes a nose dive every time I eat close to bed time. I love to eat late at night, so this was a hard one to give up. However, since I am also doing intermittent fasting quite often now, this has become more normal and I have gotten in the routine of not eating after dinner.

I’d read that eating close to bed time causes sleep disruption as your body is still digesting and cannot get into a deep sleep state early in the night, however I didn’t realize how harmful it is until I saw the evidence with my Oura Ring.

2. Eat organic raw honey right before bed

I was skeptical about this one, but again, I have tested this many times and found it to be incredibly effective to increase the amount of deep sleep I get. Experts say eating a small amount of raw organic honey at night provides an easy-to-access food supply for your brain and also helps your brain release melatonin.

Raw honey is not the same as the honey I put on my oatmeal or peanut butter toast. It is thick and grainy and seems less sweet. It was hard to get it down at first (it was gross!) But now, I eat a small spoonful at night before going to bed and get the benefits of more deep sleep and feeling well rested the next day.

3. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule

Oura Ring suggests keeping a consistent sleep schedule, and recommends you go to sleep and wake up within a consistent one hour span each day of the week. For example, it tells me I should go to sleep between 9:30 PM and 10:30 PM each night based on my historical bed time.

I don’t necessarily see improved sleep stats on my Oura Ring when being consistent with my bed time and wake up time, but I do feel significantly more energized during the day. Also, I think my body knows when bed time is coming, so I typically start feeling calm and relaxed close to bed time.

4. Block blue light from your phone and TV before bed

Electronics really screw up your brain by making it think it’s daytime when in fact it should be getting ready for sleep. I use electronics at night, and especially love to read books on my iPad before bed.

I wasn’t interested in giving this up in order to improve my sleep quality, so I invested in TrueDark sleep glasses that block out the disruptive blue light. I can tell they work because I feel more relaxed when I wear them, and I notice I also fall asleep much faster.

As I mentioned above, two of my kids struggle with sleep. They like to read before bed, so I bought them both amber book lights, which are 99.95% free of blue spectrum light, and they have worked wonders in allowing them to read at night but also get to sleep quickly.

5. No alcohol near bedtime

I like to have a glass of wine before bed, and assumed it really wasn’t that harmful. However the Oura Ring results are clear. Drinking wine before bed raises my heart rate substantially through the first half of the night. I also get less REM sleep and deep sleep after a glass of wine.

If I choose to enjoy a glass of wine, I now do it with dinner, which is at least 3 hours before bed.

Enjoy Amazing Sleep!

I hope you try doing positive affirmations for sleep, the sleep meditation, and/or the other sleep hacks I have found to be effective. High quality sleep is so important to being your best each day.

Want more sleep hacks? The Sleep Cycle offers some interesting methods for getting to sleep quickly.

About the author

Nina Sheridan is a seasoned author at Latterly.org, a blog renowned for its insightful exploration of the increasingly interconnected worlds of business, technology, and lifestyle. With a keen eye for the dynamic interplay between these sectors, Nina brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her writing. Her expertise lies in dissecting complex topics and presenting them in an accessible, engaging manner that resonates with a diverse audience.