Whether you practice for a minute a day or much longer, meditation of any length of time has excellent benefits for sleep, mental health, and overall wellness. Meditation may seem like a luxury for those with a busy schedule, but it should be an essential part of your day. If you think you have no time to meditate, start with 60 seconds.

The Benefits of Meditation – Even if It’s Short

Science continues to show the benefits of logging mindfulness minutes. Even if you have no time for meditation, just one minute of effort makes a difference:

• Manage stress. You may not be able to eliminate stress from your life, but meditation can help you cope with it more effectively and mitigate its worst effect. It relaxes the mind and body and helps you control stressful thoughts.
• Get better sleep. Probably partly because of the effect on stress,meditation reduces insomnia and improves sleep quality.
• Improved mood. Meditation is proven toreduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
• Control pain. Pain varies depending on how you perceive it. Meditation can help you change your perspective and manage physical pain. Large studies show thatmeditation is associated with less pain.
• Lower blood pressure. Mediation is good for physical health too. A review of studies that involved more than 1,000 people found thatmeditation reduces blood pressure, especially in older adults and those with high blood pressure.

How to Create a Lasting Meditation Routine

Starting a new habit isn’t easy. It takes time and repetition to make a new behavior stick. It’s best to start small and with reasonable, achievable goals. A big, overreaching, or vague goal, like vowing to meditate more or for an hour a day, is too easy to break.

A one-minute meditation for beginners or a short meditation for sleep is a great jumping-off point. If you can find one minute in your day, most days, you can start a meditation practice. One minute is better than nothing, but more is best. Start with one minute per day and build it into a longer practice.

To keep your new habit going, try committing to a meditation streak. Get out a calendar and mark each day you meditate for at least one minute. Look at the calendar daily for motivation to keep the streak going. Another good habit is to work with a buddy. Keep each other accountable to start and keepmeditating for better sleep and health.

Where to Start – 1-Minute Grounding Meditation

Find the best time to meditate for you, a time when you have 60 seconds of uninterrupted peace, and begin with this short, guided meditation. Find a spot where you can be alone without any sounds and where you can sit comfortably. The great thing about a short meditation is that you can do it nearly anywhere: your bathroom, a supply closet at work, wherever you can get 60 seconds alone.

Start Better Sleep’s 1-Minute Grounding Meditation This meditation will guide you through just one minute of deep breathing and muscle relaxation. By the end of it, you’ll feel more relaxed, more focused, and grounded in the moment. It’s an easy, doable springboard to a regular meditation habit that will improve most aspects of your life.