Dr. Arthur Brooks explains how reciting a mantra before bed can improve sleep architecture. Research shows prayers and mantras across religions help, and he offers a secular alternative: "I'm grateful for this day and finish it in peace" paired with breathing cues to signal your brain it's time to sleep.
There's a bunch of pretty interesting research on having a mantra before you go to sleep. Now, maybe you're counting sheep or counting down from a hundred. That's basically a mantra like thing, but you can make it more profound. And there's a pretty interesting work that I've actually found. People actually reciting traditional Muslim prayers at night by memory as they go to sleep. And it really helps their sleep a lot, and it's really good for the sleep architecture. But people of all religions have always done that. They'll often pray as they go to sleep and have a particular passage that they like to pray. And your brain will get used to it. This will become a habit and it will say to your brain, now it's time for me to go to sleep now. If you're not religious, you can create your own under the circumstances. And one that I recommend is for you, if you're completely secular, is to say, I'm grateful for this day and finish it in peace. I'm grateful for this day and finish it in peace. Do the first part in your head as you breathe in. I'm grateful for this day and on the exhale, and I finish it in peace. And you will finish it in peace.
