Trouble Sleeping? Why Midday Meditation Can Save Your Day

I’ve been having a tough time falling asleep lately. And it’s not for lack of trying. My sleep hygiene is solid: I head to bed around 11, I shower beforehand, I give myself time to unwind, I read while listening to music. By midnight I start to feel drowsy. I turn off the light, put on rain sounds, and wait for sleep to arrive.

I’ve even built out a set of sleep rituals that usually help improve my quality of rest. But even with those in place, some nights I’ll lie there until 3 or 4 in the morning before finally nodding off. And then the next day, I wake up groggy, headachey, and stuck in that fog where you feel like you’re moving through the day on half-batteries. It’s not just frustrating—it feels like your body has betrayed you.

That’s the part I find hardest about sleep struggles. With dieting or exercise, you feel like you have more control. You can choose what you eat, how much you eat, when you exercise. With sleep, there’s no on/off switch. You can want it, you can prepare for it, you can follow all the “rules,” and still find yourself staring at the ceiling. It’s one of those moments where I’ve had to learn to create a little space between frustration and reaction—something I wrote more about in this Chautauqua on creating space in your life.

And yet—I’ve found one thing that helps.

Around 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon, right when I hit that predictable crash, I carve out 10–15 minutes to meditate. I sit down, close my eyes, and focus on my breathing. Sometimes I’ll doze off for a couple of minutes, but often I don’t. What happens almost every time, though, is the headache—the one that creeps in above my ears when I’m exhausted—starts to fade.

It’s not that meditation replaces sleep. It doesn’t. But it does something important: it resets me just enough. When I open my eyes after that brief pause, I feel steadier. Clearer. Ready to push through the rest of the day.

If you’re someone who struggles with sleep, I know how maddening it can be. You can’t always control the night. But you can give yourself a way to recover during the day.

My advice? Try a midday reset. Right after lunch, take 15 minutes to slow your breathing, quiet your thoughts, and let your body recharge. Even if sleep doesn’t come easily, recovery still can.

Meditation won’t cure insomnia. But on those days when the night takes more from you than it gives, it might just be the thing that helps you finish the day strong.

If you want more details on the specific rituals I’ve built to improve rest, I wrote about them here.
And if you’re interested in the mindset behind slowing down and making room to breathe, check out Creating Space in Your Life.