A 30-second body scan for when you can’t switch off
Can’t switch off? This Short walks your attention slowly down the body, from your forehead to your feet, softening each part on the way.
Watch on YouTube · SleepBetter channel · Guided Meditations
Made with AI. Parts of this video are AI-generated (see “How this was made” below).
Headphones needed. The binaural part works only with headphones: a binaural beat only exists when each ear gets its own tone. On a speaker you will just hear a soft hum. Keep the volume low, and don’t listen while driving.
What it is
A miniature body scan. The voice names one area at a time, forehead, eyes, jaw, shoulders, arms, chest, belly, hips, legs, feet, and invites it to soften. It moves top to bottom so your attention keeps travelling away from your busy head and toward the heavy, still parts of you.
How to use it for sleep
Lie on your back if that’s comfortable, arms by your sides. Don’t try to make anything relax; just notice each place as it’s named and let it be as heavy as it already is. When the Short ends, keep going on your own, more slowly, and spend a few breaths on wherever you usually hold tension. The full body scan in our longer guided meditation takes about five minutes.
Best for
Restless legs that won’t settle, nights after a long day on your feet, and anyone who finds breathing exercises fiddly. A body scan asks nothing of the breath at all.
Sound design note
Under the voice is a soft 3.5 Hz binaural tone (200 Hz left, 203.5 Hz right) with warm brown noise, generated by SleepBetter. 3.5 Hz is in the delta range, but here it is simply a slow, low sound to relax to; research on binaural beats is mixed, and we don’t claim it changes your brain state. Our binaural beats guide explains what the studies found. Headphones needed for the binaural part: a binaural beat only exists when each ear gets its own tone. On a speaker you will just hear a soft hum. Keep the volume low, and don’t listen while driving.
Keep it going
Once the Short ends, you can keep the same calm going without a voice. The binaural beats guide explains how to play a binaural bed safely all night, and the brown noise page covers the warm noise layer on its own, which works on a speaker too. If you want a scene as well, our cabin window rain runs for eight hours with a dark screen.
Transcript
The full narration, as spoken. Pauses are left out.
Can’t switch off? Let’s scan the body, slowly, from the top down.
Soften your forehead… your eyes… your jaw.
Let your shoulders sink. Your arms grow heavy… all the way to your fingertips.
Your chest rises and falls on its own. Your belly softens.
Your hips, your legs, your feet… heavy, warm, and still.
Nothing left to hold. Full sleep sessions… on Sleep Better.
How this was made
The narration is an AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs, voice “Solomon” from the ElevenLabs voice library), reading an original script written by SleepBetter. The binaural tones and noise are generated by SleepBetter. The pictures are AI-generated still images, slowly animated.
Keep watching
Video · 8 hoursRain on a cabin window, 8 hours with a dark screen
Close raindrops on glass and soft rain on the roof. No thunder, dark by 5:00.
ShortTry the 4-7-8 breath tonight
In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, counted out loud with you.
ShortRacing thoughts? Let them drift past
Set each thought on a leaf and let the water carry it away. You don’t push.
SoundBinaural beats for sleep
A real hearing effect with mixed evidence. How they work and how to try them.
Free tool4-7-8 breathing exercise
A calm, on-screen pacer for 4-7-8, box breathing, cyclic sighing and slow breathing before bed.
Sleep videos and guided relaxation are for general wellness, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.