Safety

This is general information, not medical advice. NSDR is not a treatment for any condition.

Nothing on this site is a diagnosis or a substitute for care from a doctor, therapist or pharmacist. If you have a health condition, keep following the advice of the people who look after you. NSDR does not replace sleep.

Don't listen while driving or operating machinery.

Sessions ask you to relax with your eyes closed, and you may drift off. Don’t listen in the bath, while swimming, or anywhere you could come to harm if you fell asleep.

If you are more than 28 weeks pregnant, do sessions lying on your side, not your back, and ask your midwife or doctor about any practice you’re unsure of. The NHS advises falling asleep on your side from 28 weeks, and it’s easy to drift off during a session.

The sessions on this site are made for adults.

Many sessions here ask you to lie still with your eyes closed and move your attention slowly through your body. Research on meditation has found that for some people, including people who have been through trauma, it can bring up strong feelings, memories or a changed sense of the body. A 2020 review of meditation studies found that unwanted effects, such as anxiety, are not uncommon, and can happen to people with no history of mental health problems.

If stillness or a body scan brings up distress, stop, open your eyes and take a break. You can leave a session at any time.

You can also keep your eyes open and rest them on one spot, sit up instead of lying down, or move whenever you want to. Skip any part of a session that doesn’t suit you.

If you have PTSD, a dissociative condition, psychosis or severe depression, talk to the clinician who supports you before you start, and stop if sessions make things worse.

Never practise breathwork in water or while driving.

Skip intense breath-holding and hyperventilation techniques if you are pregnant, have epilepsy or have a heart condition.

Fast, deep breathing followed by a breath hold can make you pass out. In water that can be fatal. A CDC report on drowning explains that breathing hard before holding your breath delays the brain’s signal to come up for air.

If you feel dizzy, tingly or unwell during any exercise, stop and breathe normally. If you have asthma or another lung condition, or a history of fainting, talk to your doctor before trying breath holds or power breathing.

Our supplements directory reports what Andrew Huberman has said. It is not a recommendation from us, and the doses are quoted, not prescribed.

Talk to a doctor or pharmacist first if you take medication, are pregnant or have a health condition.

For ongoing sleep problems, CBT-I (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) is the recommended first treatment. Ask your GP.

The NHS suggests seeing a GP if changing your sleep habits hasn’t helped, you’ve had trouble sleeping for months, or it’s affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard to cope.

If you're struggling, talk to your GP. UK: Samaritans 116 123. US: 988.

The NHS suggests seeing a GP if you’re struggling to cope with stress, or the things you’re trying yourself aren’t helping. We’d say the same for anxiety or low mood that doesn’t lift.

If anything on this site looks wrong or unsafe, please tell us through the contact page and we’ll look at it.