For Sleep, Anxiety, & More

Numerous studies have shown the positive effects that meditation apps can have on various aspects of physical and mental health. One study used an app designed for mindfulness training which “includes a variety of contemplative practices aimed at promoting intentional awareness of experience, coupled with attitudes of nonjudgment and curiosity” (Walsh et al., 2019). After just three weeks of practice, participants noticed a multitude of benefits. 

Benefits of mindfulness app training:

• Improved mood
• Reduced stress
• Improvements in attentional control
• Greater self-acceptance (Walsh et al., 2019)

Another study looked at a meditation app called the Healthy Minds Program which was delivered to participants via smartphone. This self-guided, 8-week program emphasized mindfulness, connection, and insight. In a randomized controlled trial, people who interacted with the app saw several benefits compared to people who were not given access to the app. These benefits included reduced distress and increased social connectedness (Goldberg et al., 2020).
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Meditation, and even meditation apps in particular, has been shown to have many physical and mental benefits. Beginning a meditation practice could be as easy as pushing the download button on your phone. However, this brings up a problem—which app out of the thousands available should you choose? This article will highlight apps that are catered to what you want to achieve, such as reducing anxiety or getting better sleep. There are also meditation apps designed to be used through pregnancy or for journaling. Keep reading to find the meditation app that best fits your goals.

Free apps are a great place to start if you aren’t sure what you want in your meditation practice just yet. This gives you the chance to try different things without the financial commitment of a subscription. There are some really good free options, discussed in more detail below.

Aura is a free, personalized mental well-being platform. They offer a multitude of resources including breathwork, coaching, and guided meditation. You take a quiz when you download the app and they will tailor their recommendations based on your goals. The app states that it has over 13,000 wellness tracks and over 30,000 5-star reviews.

Transcendental Meditation is a type of meditation practice that focuses on repeating a single, simple mantra to yourself. This type of meditation is practiced twice a day for twenty minutes and can help alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety and improve negative moods (Ren et al., 2013). The free transcendental meditation app has helpful features such as a meditation log to help keep you motivated in your practice.

Getting adequate amounts of sleep is an essential piece to your overall well-being. Getting 7-8 hours of restful sleep per night has many beneficial functions for your body including enhancing learning and memory, strengthening physical health, and clearing inflammatory neurochemicals that lead to cognitive decline (Z Assefa et al., 2015). Meditation Nest is an app that has a dedicated section for sleep resources. These resources include meditation sessions, bedtime stories, and nature sounds to help you drift off to sleep.

• Download Meditation Nest from the Apple Store. Not currently available on the Google Play Store.

Pzizz is an app customized with three themes: sleep, nap, and focus. The nap setting is helpful because it provides spoken instructions along with sounds and music to help you get some rest. The focus mode plays music designed to boost productivity. The app learns what your preferences are over time and can personalize playlists accordingly.

Meditation & Relaxation Pro is a great app for people who aren’t sure where to get started. This app offers a free 7-day trial which is a perfect opportunity to try one of their week-long guided programs. The programs focus on topics such as self-love and stress relief. The 7-day introduction to mindfulness techniques is a good place to start.
 
Buddhify is another app that is helpful for beginners. The meditation sessions on this app are as short as 3 minutes and are designed to fit into a busy day. There are themed meditations on a variety of topics to help you face your life more mindfully. For example, one meditation session on how to face stressful situations is a practical way to incorporate more mindfulness into your everyday life. Try choosing a meditation that will help bring you closer to your goals.

Practicing meditation habits while children are still young may help them carry those habits into adulthood. It is never too early to start learning skills on how to regulate and manage your own emotions. When children practice meditation, they learn to take deep breaths, reflect before responding, and calm themselves in high-stimulus situations. Practicing meditation with your child is an opportunity for your to model healthy habits as well as spend some quality time together. 
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Dreamy Kid is an app that is used for children by families and schools across the world. The app provides resources such as age-appropriate meditations, affirmations, and sleep stories. Try using the app with your child and you may see some benefits as well. 

• Download Dreamy Kid from the Apple Store. Not currently available from the Google Play Store.

​While most meditation practices call for you to close your eyes, you can also practice visual meditation. Mesmerize is an app that has guided meditations for a variety of topics such as increasing focus, enhancing self-awareness, and relieving stress. The audio meditation guides are accompanied by beautiful visuals that you can watch on your phone. The background music is a bit psychedelic making this app a unique experience. 

• Pascoe, M. C., de Manincor, M., Tseberja, J., Hallgren, M., Baldwin, P. A., & Parker, A. G. (2021). Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the mood benefits of meditation: A narrative review. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 6, 100037.
• Goldberg, S. B., Imhoff-Smith, T., Bolt, D. M., Wilson-Mendenhall, C. D., Dahl, C. J., Davidson, R. J., & Rosenkranz, M. A. (2020). Testing the efficacy of a multicomponent, self-guided, smartphone-based meditation app: Three-armed randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health, 7(11). https://doi.org/10.2196/23825 
• O’Daffer, A., Colt, S. F., Wasil, A. R., & Lau, N. (2022). Efficacy and conflicts of interest in randomized controlled trials evaluating headspace and calm apps: Systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 9(9). https://doi.org/10.2196/40924 
• Ren, J., Huang, L., & Zhang, Z.-X. (2013). Meditation makes a peaceful state of mind: People’s positive and negative emotional response can be reduced by meditation training. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 44(10), 1339–1348. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2012.01339 
• Walsh, K. M., Saab, B. J., & Farb, N. A. S. (2019). Effects of a mindfulness meditation app on subjective well-being: Active randomized controlled trial and experience sampling study. JMIR Mental Health, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.2196/10844  
• Z Assefa, S., Diaz-Abad, M., M Wickwire, E., & M Scharf, S. (2015). The Functions of Sleep. AIMS Neuroscience, 2(3), 155–171. ​