“I had a deadline, and I thought, ’I don’t know if I can sit still this long,’” said Hutchins, who was working as a radio journalist.

At the urging of her father, a longtime practitioner, she tried again and managed to finish a 10-minute video on her third attempt. “I remember feeling this sense of joy and relaxation,” she said. “I used to be that person who said, ‘I can’t meditate.’”

Hutchins has since become a certified meditation teacher — and serves as an example that busy, restless people who try once should try again. Research shows a daily meditation practice can reduce anxiety, improve overall health and increase social connections, among other benefits.

The trick is to get over that initial barrier. Experts say it’s more achievable when you throw common misconceptions out the window. For instance, many people try meditation only once because they feel they’re doing it wrong or that they can’t turn off their brain.

That’s not the point, says Tara Brach, who holds a doctorate in psychology and has trained more than 7,000 people to be meditation teachers.

“It’s not about stopping thoughts. The mind generates thoughts the way body creates enzymes,” she said. “It’s about being able to get larger than the thoughts and witness them.”

START SIMPLE

There is no right way to meditate, Brach stressed.

The key is to relax and focus on something in the present moment. Feel your breath pass through your nostrils, listen to a guided recording, mentally scan your body from head to toe, repeat a loving phrase to yourself or try countless other techniques.

You can sit on the floor, in a chair or on a cushion. If you can’t get comfortable, lie down. You don’t even need to close your eyes, though it’s recommended to try.

There is no standard amount of time to begin with, but set an achievable goal.

“You can customize it to who you are,” said Brach, author of several books, including “Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha.”

“Start with the most you can comfortably do without having to feel like you want to quit,” she said

That could mean starting with as little as a few minutes, said John Mitchell, an associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University who uses meditation to treat patients with ADHD. The goal should be working meditation into a routine and focusing on the quality of the practice, not the quantity.

“Then the question is, what do we do to create success so we can have momentum and start off without feeling like you’re failing right way?” he said.

WHEN YOU CAN’T SIT STILL

When you inevitably get distracted — everyone does — notice the thought or urge to move, acknowledge it and bring your attention back to where you are.

Instead of judging yourself, get curious for a minute about the nature of restlessness, Brach said. Ask yourself, “What does it really feel like if I want to jump out of my skin?”

Then take a long, deep breath, and sit for one more minute. If you still want to move, then move. But Brach recommended doing so mindfully. Stand up, do a light stretch, take a deep breath and sit again. You will be surprised at how that sense of restlessness will change over time, she said. “It will evolve.”

If the restlessness builds to a point where you are uncomfortable, consider taking a slow, meditative walk, Mitchell said. Stay alert but calm, focusing on the sounds, sights and smells around you, or maybe on the sensation of the wind and sun on your face.

“You’re not restricted,” he said. “You don’t have to sit there in silence and be still all the time.”

TOMORROW, AND THE NEXT DAY, TRY AGAIN

After sticking through the first session, you will almost certainly feel calmer, no matter the length. But to get the full benefits, as with exercise, research shows you need to practice consistently.

For people having trouble starting, that can be daunting, but Brach suggested trying a few techniques to find the right fit.

“It takes a bit of experimentation to find the style of meditation that works for your particular body, mind and personality,” she said.

Luckily, there’s a universe of free meditation resources online.

“Nobody reading this needs to go buy anything,” she said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm lives in Barcelona, Spain, and writes about food, travel and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

“Recently, I’ve been trying to limit the amount,” says Peoples, a discrimination investigator with the state of New Jersey. “I do notice that how much time I spend affects how long it takes to fall asleep.”

Over half of Americans spend time on their phones within an hour of going to sleep, according to a survey by the National Sleep Foundation. That’s the very latest we should shut off devices, experts say.

The brain needs to wind down long before bedtime to get the restorative deep sleep that helps the body function, said Melissa Milanak, an associate professor at Medical University of South Carolina specializing in sleep health.

“You wouldn’t take a casserole out of the oven and stick it right in the fridge. It needs to cool down,” Milanak said. “Our brains need to do that too.”

Upending your bedtime routine may not be easy, but insufficient sleep has long been linked to anxiety, obesity and other negative outcomes. Research shows smartphones are particularly disruptive to the circadian clock that regulates sleep and other hormones.

“There are a million and one ways screens create problems with sleep,” said Lisa Strauss, a licensed psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral treatment of sleep disorders.

The brain, she said, processes electric light — not just a smartphone’s much-maligned blue light — as sunshine. That suppresses melatonin production, delaying deep sleep. Even very little bright-light exposure in bed has an impact.

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It’s not just the light that keeps you up

Of course, doomscrolling through the news, checking emails or being tempted by ever more tailored videos on social media has its own consequences.

So-called “technostress” amps you up — possibly even triggering the brain’s flight or flight response. And algorithms designed to be engaging compel many social media users to scroll longer than they intended.

“Now it’s 30 minutes later, when you wanted to watch a couple videos and fall asleep,” Milanak said.

Though much of the scientific research on online media focuses on adolescents and young adults, Strauss said most of her clients struggling with insomnia are middle-aged. “People go down these rabbit holes of videos, and more and more people are getting hooked,” she said.

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How to break the habit

The issue is not just curtailing phone use in bed, but phone use at night. That means redesigning your routine, particularly if you use your phone as a way to decompress.

It helps to create replacement behaviors that are rewarding. An obvious contender is reading a physical book (e-readers are better than phones but still cast artificial light). Milanak also suggests using that hour before bed to take a warm bath, listen to a podcast, make school lunches for the next day, spend time with family or call a relative in another time zone.

“Make a list of things you like that never get done. That’s a great time to do stuff that doesn’t involve screens,” she said. Using a notepad to write down the to-do list for the next day helps keep you from ruminating in bed.

Do those activities in another room to train yourself to associate the bed with falling asleep. If there’s no other private refuge at home, “establish a distinct microenvironment for wakefulness and sleep,” Strauss said. That could mean sitting on the other side of the bed to read, or even just turning the other way around with your feet at the headboard.

Finally, sequester the phone in another room, or at least across the room. “Environmental control can work better than will power, especially when we’re tired,” she said.

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What if stopping doesn’t feel realistic?

There are ways to reduce the harm. Setting the phone on night mode at a scheduled time every day is better than nothing, as is reducing screen brightness every night. Hold the phone far from your face and at an oblique angle to minimize the strength of the light.

Minimize tempting notifications by putting the phone on do not disturb, which can be adjusted to allow calls and messages from certain people — say, an ailing parent or a kid off at university — to go through. But none of these measures give you carte blanche to look at whatever you want at night, Strauss said.

She also recommended asking yourself why checking social media has become your late-night reward.

“Think about the larger structure of the day,” she said. Everyone deserves solitary moments to relax, but “maybe be more self-indulgent earlier so you have what you need.”

Albert Stumm lives in Barcelona, Spain, and writes about food, travel and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com.