Saying affirmations before bed is one of the oldest habits in self-improvement. For a hundred years, affirmation teachers have said the minutes before sleep matter most, and sleep science helps explain why.
Why affirmation teachers chose bedtime
Émile Coué gave his patients one sentence, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better,” and two times to say it: on waking and as they fell asleep. In “Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion” (1922), he told readers to shut their eyes each night as soon as they were in bed and repeat it twenty times, counting on a string with twenty knots.
Others who followed him chose the same moment. Joseph Murphy, in “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” (1963), told readers to get into a sleepy state and repeat an affirmation quietly, like a lullaby, for five or ten minutes night and morning. Neville Goddard called it “a state akin to sleep” and built his whole method around it. They found this timing through years of practice, and sleep science now helps explain why they chose it.
What sleep science says
Sleep science explains part of why. Matthew Walker, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Why We Sleep” (2017), has said that sleep after learning helps save and cement new information in the brain, so you are less likely to forget it.
The key words are “after learning.” The minutes before sleep are your last chance to take in something new before your brain starts that work. The phrases you read or hear then are among the last new things you learn that day.
How to use the minutes before sleep with SOMOTE
Sanctuary, part of SOMOTE Plus, is built for those minutes. It fills your screen with only your phrases and photos, so they are the last things you see before you put your phone down or close your laptop. You can also play affirmations recorded in your own voice while you get ready for bed, with the Sleep binaural beats preset underneath. Turn your screen brightness down first, because a dim screen is easier on sleep than a bright one.
Coué, Murphy and Goddard all chose the same few minutes at the end of the day. SOMOTE makes it easy to use them every night. Open Sanctuary, turn on your recorded affirmations, and make your own words the last ones you take in before sleep.