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Mapping sleep is a journey in the train sleep stories of the Calm meditation app

Chloe Harrison, Paula Ghintuialǎ

Narrative Inquiry October 9, 2026 DOI: 10.1075/ni.26028.har (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Population Train-themed sleep stories transcribed from Calm's sleep story library
Topics Meditation
Key findings Argues that Calm's train sleep stories are structured by the conceptual metaphor "sleep is a journey", in which listeners become travellers, falling asleep becomes a journey, and sleep becomes a destination. The authors propose that this, combined with you-narration and particular construals of agency and motion, creates an immersive, idealised experience that encourages physical and mental downregulation.

Abstract

Abstract: Sleep problems, including difficulties falling and staying asleep, are pervasive and, increasingly, people are turning to mindfulness-based interventions to support sleep routines as well as overall mental wellbeing. A widely used meditation app, Calm, offers a genre of audio-based “sleep stories”, designed specifically to facilitate falling asleep. While sharing some linguistic similarities with other discourses of mindfulness and guided meditation, sleep stories are stylistically unique, challenging conventional storytelling structures in ways that encourage physical and mental downregulation. In reference to a focused, qualitative corpus of sleep stories transcribed from Calm’s sleep story library, this paper examines the most popular form of this new and hitherto unstudied narrative genre: the train sleep story sub-category. Through analysis of you-narration, and the construal of agency and motion, this paper explores how the conceptual metaphor sleep is a journey structurally underpins these unusual stories, establishing an idealised and immersive experience whereby listeners become travellers, the act of falling asleep becomes a journey, and, finally, sleep becomes a destination.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... 2017 Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system 2004 Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety 2006 Exploratory mixed methods study n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context 2001 Qualitative study n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators 2013 Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

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Meditation