Rest is more important to our overall well-being than we give it credit for.
And it’s more than sleep—it’s the opportunity for our minds and bodies to slow down, recover, and recharge.
But prioritizing rest isn’t always easy. Everything from your day-to-day responsibilities to worrisome thoughts that won’t let up can make it difficult to truly unwind, even when you’re desperate for a break.
So when there’s an app focused on helping us prioritize rest, it’s worth a closer look.
The Calm app has tools to help you wind down and recharge.
Here’s how it works, where it stands out, and what to consider before deciding whether it’s worth adding to your wellness routine.
What is the Calm app?
Calm is a mental wellness app designed to help relieve stress, improve sleep, and build mindfulness habits for everyday life.
It offers a variety of resources, including meditations, breathing exercises, and soundscapes. However, it’s likely best known for its Sleep Stories featuring celebrity narrators like Cynthia Erivo, Tabitha Brown, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
How it works
You can start with the 7 Days of Calm introductory program or dive right into its collections focused on sleep, relaxation, and mindfulness.
Source: Calm App | Apple App Store
Build skills that help you sleep better naturally
Calm’s Sleep Stories are bedtime stories for grown-ups. They’re designed to help you fall asleep faster and more naturally. Choose fiction or nonfiction, listen to familiar voices, or explore collections featuring trains, nature, travel, and more.
Guided sleep meditations walk you through mindfulness and relaxation techniques, such as body scans, gratitude exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation.
If you prefer music, you’ll find everything from lo-fi and classical to piano melodies and lullabies. Or you can unwind with soothing soundscapes that transport you to a peaceful island, forest, or garden. You’ll also find familiar sounds like white noise and oscillating fans.
Calm also helps you track your sleep. Log sleep hours, monitor sleep quality, and use what you learn to build a nightly routine that works for you.
Learn relaxation techniques that ease stress and anxiety
Whether you need in-the-moment stress relief or are looking to build long-term habits to manage anxiety, you have several tools to choose from.
Calm uses evidence-based breathing techniques that help release tension and improve focus. Grounding exercises that rely on body sensations and movement can also help you reset.
You can also select from guided programs and courses led by clinical experts and teachers. These help you build relaxation skills you can use when everyday challenges feel overwhelming.
Practice protecting your peace with mindfulness exercises
Meditation is one way to practice mindfulness—which simply means being present and aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings without judging them.
Calm has meditations for wherever you are on your journey. Beginners can learn the basics with foundational courses or quick, one- to two-minute meditations that concentrate on a specific technique.
If you’re looking to make mindfulness a habit, explore daily exercises and conversations on prioritization, purpose, and self-talk. For deeper learning, courses provide step-by-step guidance on self-compassion, gratitude, and being more present in relationships.
Where the Calm app stands out
If rest feels difficult or outright impossible, Calm has tools to make it feel more approachable.
The beginner programs and brief meditations might be ideal if you’ve never meditated before or simply can’t commit more than a couple of minutes a day.
There are also different ways to prioritize rest. Fall asleep to your favorite celebrity telling a story, set the mood with soundscapes after work, or try a breathing exercise for in-the-moment stress relief.
Calm gives you the flexibility to make rest part of your routine in ways that work for you.
What to know before you sign up
Calm is free to download, and you can access a selection of meditations, Sleep Stories, and music without a subscription.
For full access, you’ll need Calm Premium—currently $79.99/year or $16.99/month. The annual subscription comes with a 14-day free trial. And your subscription automatically renews until you cancel.
Overall, Calm may be worth trying if you’re looking for approachable ways to prioritize rest, whether that’s sleep, stress relief, or moments to quiet your mind.
Is the Calm app worth it? FAQs
Does Calm work for anxiety?
Calm has tools to help ease stress and anxiety in the moment. It also provides courses to help build longer-term coping skills. However, it can’t guarantee results, and everyone’s experience will be different. Consider professional mental health support if you’re experiencing persistent or severe anxiety.
Are there drawbacks to using the Calm app?
Most of Calm’s content requires a paid subscription. And while the app features Black celebrity narrators, it isn’t specifically designed around Black women’s experiences (like the Exhale app). It also doesn’t appear to offer the same range of culturally relevant meditation collections as Headspace.
Is Calm or Headspace better?
Both apps offer guided meditations, mindfulness exercises, and tools to manage stress and improve sleep. Calm places greater emphasis on relaxation and sleep, with its extensive collection of Sleep Stories, soothing sounds, and sleep-focused resources. Headspace may be a better fit if you want broader mental health support, including culturally affirming meditation collections, mental health coaching, and online therapy.
- Is the Calm app worth it? How it can help you prioritize rest - October 15, 2026
- Is Headspace worth it considering our unique needs? - October 8, 2026
- The Exhale app: Wellness support that actually centers Black women - October 2, 2026