What Is Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)?

NSDR is a combination of guided deep breathing, visualization, and focus techniques that help your nervous system relax while you’re still awake. While research is limited, studies suggest it can help with relaxation, memory, and mood.

What’s consistent in the practice of all types of NSDR is that it aims to reduce the sensory load from electronic screens, office chatter, and the constant environmental buzz you experience while awake.

"When we fall asleep, one of the most dramatic changes is that sensory input is muted," says Jonathan Fisher, PhD, an associate professor of physiology and the director of the neurosensory engineering lab at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. In other words, the brain turns down outside noise and lets your body power down. NSDR re-creates that effect, helping your nervous system relax during the day.

While sleep has unique effects that NSDR can’t replicate, including deep-cleaning the brain, NSDR can still help you relax and reset, Dr. Fisher says.

Most research focuses on practices similar to NSDR, including yoga nidra, meditation, and body scan (a mindfulness exercise that involves scanning the body for pain, stiffness, or other sensations). Because NSDR is a relatively new term that rarely appears in clinical research, findings from these related practices provide the best available evidence. "NSDR is more of an umbrella term, but yoga nidra and meditation studies are, more or less, the strongest quantitative evidence in the field," says Fisher. Research on these techniques suggests NSDR may offer several benefits.

May Reduce Stress

May Improve Cognitive Function and Learning

Rest can also help the brain sort important details from mental noise so later recall comes easier. That’s similar to how sleep strengthens memories, just in a lighter, awake form, says Fisher.

May Support Sleep

NSDR practices such as yoga nidra encourage slow breathing and muscle relaxation, which signal to your body that it’s safe to rest. With regular practice, you can teach your body to intentionally switch from an alert state to a restful state, making it easier to quiet racing thoughts and drift off to sleep.

While these findings are promising, Christina S. McCrae, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the director of the McCrae Sleep Research Lab at the University of South Florida in Tampa, notes that the study was short and included only 41 people. Larger, longer-term studies are needed to assess whether NSDR can improve sleep. In the meantime, chronic behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) remains the gold-standard treatment for chronic insomnia.

May Provide Emotional and Mental Health Benefits

Slow breathing, body scanning, and guided attention during NSDR help lower arousal, creating space to notice negative feelings without getting swept up in them. That pause can reduce rumination (dwelling on negative thoughts and emotions) and make difficult emotions easier to handle, so you can respond more calmly in the moment.

This kind of guided rest is an effective way to build emotion-regulation skills, though research is still in the early stages, says Fink.

“There is no comparison between NSDR and sleep,” Dr. McCrae says. NSDR is a relaxation practice, while sleep is a biological state that triggers complex processes that NSDR cannot.

NSDR, by contrast, keeps you in a wakeful state in which you’re relaxed. Your brain and body don’t undergo the deep biological maintenance that sleep provides. “Human beings need actual sleep to support restoration and recovery,” says McCrae.

To practice NSDR, select an audio guide that best addresses your needs, whether you want to improve sleep quality, enhance memory and concentration, or adjust to shift work. Huberman offers many free NSDR audio guides, though you can find guides from other experts, too. Fink notes there’s no standard qualification for NSDR practitioners, and recommends trying different guides until you find one that meets your needs.

Once you’ve selected your audio guide:

• Find a quiet spot where you won't be interrupted. Lie on your back or sit with good support. Dim the lights and silence the notifications on your phone.
• Close your eyes and breathe through your nose, taking a slightly longer exhalation than inhalation.
• Don't worry about "turning off" your thoughts. Let them come and go without effort, as if you're watching clouds pass. Fighting them makes relaxing harder, says Fink.
• Aim to remain awake but deeply relaxed. But it’s okay if you doze off — you'll still get a restorative effect.
• Practice for 10 to 30 minutes. If you're especially tired, you can extend it to 30 to 60 minutes.

If you’re using NSDR to improve sleep, perform one NSDR session during the day for one to two weeks. Then, add a bedtime session once the skill becomes natural, Fink recommends.

To reduce stress, practice NSDR daily or as needed. Similarly, a brief session after studying may help you retain more information, Fisher says.

You may struggle to relax at first, and you may notice your mind racing as you work toward shifting from wakefulness to restfulness. Instead of fighting your thoughts, acknowledge them and let them pass. “Watch your thoughts like clouds in the sky or fish in an aquarium,” Fink suggests.

Think of NSDR as a skill. You might not be good at it the first few times you try, but as with any skill, you’ll get better with practice, Fink says.

• Non-sleep deep rest (NSDR), a term coined by the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, PhD, describes practices that put the body into a deeply relaxed state that is not sleep.
• Research suggests NSDR may help reduce stress, boost memory and focus, improve sleep, and support mental and emotional health. Still, more research is needed. Moreover, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) remains the gold-standard treatment for chronic insomnia.
• NSDR is a skill, so it may take consistent practice before it feels natural.