Should I Meditate in the Morning or at Night?
I was going through my emails and answering questions from students as I often do on Fridays and noticed I had three separate emails with the same question: Should I meditate in the morning or at night? It was asked in various ways, but people wanted to know when the right time of day was to meditate for them.
Before jumping into some thoughts on this, I think the most important thing needs to come first: If you want to meditate regularly, choose the time that works for you. It is that simple. We’ll cover the benefits of meditation as well as what may be the best time. We’ll also talk about how to choose the right time for you. But when it comes down to it, the answer is to meditate when you have time and space to meditate!
The Benefits of Meditation
This could probably be its own post, but I wanted to cover a few of the benefits of meditation. I will steer clear of my personal experience here as that is anecdotal evidence but I do want to state it. I meditate because it serves me, has supported my wellbeing and happiness, improved my relationship with myself and others, and given me a new perspective and understanding on both the joyful moments and difficult experiences in life.
I’m going to keep it as brief as possible, listing some of the benefits of meditation we’ve seen suggested by research. If you want to read the study or learn more, you can click the link in each.
Physical Benefits of Meditation
Pain Reduction - Multiple studes have found that meditation practice can significantly reduce the sensation of pain in the body. Interestingly, this study found that meditation reduced pain without engaging the opioid receptors, perhaps opening the door for more non-addictive pain management techniques.
Blood Pressure Reduction - A 2013 study suggests mindfulness practice can reduce blood pressure. Following people for two years, researchers found that those who meditated experienced a significant reduction in blood pressure.
Postoperative Stress and Wound Healing - A study from 1988 found that guided imagery meditation improved postoperative stress and wound healing. Researchers believe this is related to meditation’s effect on anxiety in the mind and body.
Better Digestion - This study was done specifically on those with IBD, but it found that a mindfulness-based intervention resulted in better digestion, less anxiety, and an increase in quality of life.
Easing of Premenstrual and Menopausal Symptoms - A 2006 meta-analysis suggests mindfulness meditation improved symptoms of both premenstrual syndrome and menopause in women.
Psychological Benefits of Meditation
Before getting into the psychological benefits of meditation, I want to encourage you to not use meditation as a substitute for proper medical or psychological care. If you feel you need support from trained professionals, there are mindfulness-based counselors out there. Please reach out and I will be happy to connect you with someone!
Better Sleep - As Harvard Health reports, meditation can help you both fall asleep more easily and stay asleep better. As I’ll discuss in a bit, this effect was true regardless of the time of day the individuals meditated.
Anxiety and Stress Reduction - I could link a lot of studies here as it is well-documented. Hofmann, et al. found decreases in anxiety levels among participants who meditated, regardless of whether or not they had a clinical anxiety disorder.
Regulating Mood Disorders - In the same study by Hofmann and his research team, they found a significant decrease in depression and other mood disturbances among those who meditated. Like the anxiety, this was true for those with or without clinical depression.
Improved Self-Esteem - Several studies have found a link between meditation and self-esteem and body image. One study from 2005 looked aat women with breast cancer who practiced tai chi, a form of moving meditation. It found that those who practiced tai chi had significantly more self-esteem than the control group.
Anger Reduction - Research has suggested that meditations, especially with the heart practices, can decrease the stress and immune response in difficult situations, including anger.
Improved Focus - A 2013 study found just a two week meditation course improved focus and working memory. This is one of many studies to find the same.
As a bonus, you can check out our post 16 Science-Backed Benefits of Loving-Kindness Meditation for specific research into the heart practices.
The Best Time for Meditation
So, what do we know about the best time of day to meditate? There isn’t a ton of research on this, but there are a few pieces worth noting. First, as mentioned above in the sleep section, multiple studies have found participants experience the benefits of meditation regardless of the time of day they practice. This goes to how I started: Meditate! Don’t worry too much about the time of day.
On the other hand, a huge study of almost 900,000 users of a meditation app looked at the time of day people meditated and the effects it had. From 2023, this study found a couple of very interesting things in my opinion:
Morning Meditators Stuck With It - Of all the participants who used the app over the time, those who meditated in the morning were significantly more likely to stick with it and meditate regularly over the short and medium term. Late night meditators were the least likely to meditate regularly.
Flexibility Was Key - For long-term continuity, those who had what researched call “low temporal consistency” kept with it longest and most regularly. This means that those who meditated at different times of the day were actually most likely to continue meditating.
The researchers in this study hypothesized that morning meditation was more effective at building a new habit for a few reasons: circadian rhythm, morning routines, and and cortisol. There is plenty of research to suggest morning is the best time to build new habits due to these factors.
So what does this study tell us? First, it tells us that if you’re new to meditation, morning may be the best time to meditate. On the other hand, if you want to build a long-term habit, be flexible.
Choosing Your Meditation Time
So, with all of this out of the way, how do you choose a meditation time? If you’re new to meditation, morning certainly may be the way to go. But only if you’re able. If you have to stress or move a bunch of things around to create time in the morning, it may not be right for you. Here are a few suggestions I have to help you choose the best time of day to meditate:
Meditate in the morning if you can. There is enough research in my opinion to suggest morning meditation is the way to go, especially for newcomers to meditation practice. If you have time in the mornings, incorporate a few minutes of meditation. This is how I built a daily meditation practice. I meditated immediately after waking. Now, with kids, I get up, make breakfast and coffee, feed the kids, get them to school, and then meditate. I still do morning meditation, but I had to adjust slightly as life changes.
Find/create a rountine. I know this goes against the flexibility point in the section above in a sense. But in general, people are more successful at creating new habits when they have a routine. It may not be morning, it may not be evening. Maybe it’s a lunchtime meditation or mid-afternoon meditation. But set a meditation schedule and try to incorporate it regularly.
Meditate when you can. If you can’t stick to your schedule, remember that flexibility is key. Meditate when you can! You can do an as-needed mini-meditation any time during your day. Maybe you can find a peaceful space and put on a guided meditation for five minutes during your day. You can also incorporate mindfulness reminders to help you come back to mindfulness during daily life. I have meditated in my car for a few minutes before going into meetings or while waiting for something. Be flexible if you can’t hit your regular scheduled meditation. I don’t often shamelessly plug my book, but my book Practicing Mindfulness has a lot of great practices to throw into your daily life.
Be mindful of what works. I don’t have the technical ability to extra bold this point. But it is probably the most important one on this list. Be mindful of what works for you. Research looks at large groups of people, but you have to pay attention to your present moment experience. Does a lunchtime meditation put you right to sleep? It does for me. Do you forget to meditate if you try to do it at night, or feel too tired to meditate? Maybe meditation before bedtime helps you sleep! Be mindful of your experience, note what’s working for you and not working, and be open to trying something new. Investigate with curiosity.
Different Meditation Techniques
Finally, something worth noting is different meditation techniques may be appropriate for different times of day. As covered in the fourth point above, this may vary depending on the individual meditating. I can only share my experience and that of the students I work with.
In my experience, heart practices like equanimity, loving-kindness, appreciative joy, and compassion are great ways to start the day. When I start the day with a heart practice, it sets the tone for my day in a sense. I like to think when I practice metta in the morning, it puts metta-tinted glasses on me all day. You don’t have to ONLY sit with heart practices in the morning. You can incorporate mindfulness practices as well, but starting a meditation period with a few minutes of heart practices in the morning can be lovely.
Personally, I tend to practice more concentration-based practices like breath counting and mindfulness practices in the afternoon or evening. I find that after the day is rolling, so is my mind. Mindfulness and concentration during the day or in the evening help me settle the mind, watch my thoughts more closely without being dragged along, and find some relief from the stress created by the thinking mind.
We also do some mindfulness activities for couples every week. Specifically, we do the Beginning Anew practice mentioned in that article. This is a practice that may not need to be done every day, but is a great way to engage with mindfulness with a partner.
For short little mindfulness-based thoughts, follow me on Tiktok or Instagram. You can also find my podcast, Guided Meditations & Talks, on your favorite podcast player or YouTube!