A paging method, an Mobile Management Entity (MME) and a terminal are provided, which relate to the field of communication technology, to reduce signaling overheard of the terminal and prevent the transmission of downlink data from being delayed. The paging method includes steps of: receiving downlink data for a target terminal; and in the case that the target terminal is in an idle state, adopts an extended DRX period and is capable of receiving a paging message, initiating a paging request to the target terminal based on the downlink data.