This study explored the relationship between anxiety and sleep and the mediating role of rumination among Uyghur high school students in Kashgar, Xinjiang, using anxiety level as the independent variable, sleep status as the dependent variable, and rumination thinking as the mediating variable.The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI) were used to assess the anxiety level, ruminant thinking, and sleep status of a total of 561 students in three high schools in Yecheng County, Kashgar, Xinjiang.There were 155 participants (27.63%) with sleep quality problems; there was a significant positive correlation between anxiety level and sleep status (t = 0.59,P < 0.01), a significant positive correlation between anxiety level and ruminative thinking (t = 0.61,P < 0.01), and a significant positive correlation between ruminative thinking and sleep status (t = 0.62, P < 0.01). Mediated effects analysis revealed direct and indirect effects of anxiety level on sleep status. The direct effect accounted for 46.14% of the total effect and the indirect effect through rumination accounted for 53.86% of the total effect.Anxiety levels play a significant predictive role for sleep status; ruminative thinking partially mediates the relationship between anxiety and sleep. These findings help to improve students' sleep status by reducing anxiety levels and ruminant thinking levels.