Living “Sleep Fit” – a foundation for life

Updated: Original Post April 14, 2020

Living SleepFIT…

Developing a foundation for resilient health and optimal life performance by becoming a conscious sleeper

What is being zero-G SleepFIT?

Being “SleepFIT” is the natural outcome of a more integrated sleep process, and represents a revolutionary approach for addressing sleep and overall life performance… 

SleepFIT-ness is the result of developing a practical everyday mastery with your own unique sleep process, where you have the capability to:  

• get the sleep you need 
• whenever you need it 
• wherever you are!

The real value in these three practical “sleep capabilities” is not to be underestimated… 

WHY – The value of being “sleep fit”

Sleep stands alone in both its immediate and long-term effect on the overall quality of our daily life experience.

It is the one “performance activity” each of us (and every other living creature) engages in on a daily basis!

Our entire experience and capability in life are all negatively affected in-real-time when we are under-slept, in a sleep debt, or suffering from disturbed sleep.

Moreover, the globally integrative nature of sleep makes it essential for maintaining our fundamental physiological homeostasis (circadian rhythm) and psychological well-being.

Most simply, being “sleep fit” means you are able to consciously create the conditions required for getting all the sleep you need – the foundation required for maintaining vibrant health (responsive immunity, clarity of mind, sustainable energy) and a real experience of personal resilience…

No magic needed

The imperative to sleep is built into our “biological machinery” tuned to our circadian (24hr) rhythm, and so it’s all too common to relate to sleep as something that just “should happen” which it (mostly), does.

But, an “automatic” (or hopeful) way of relating to sleep, tends to leave us high and dry when we need it the most!

While it’s true, some of us are naturally “easier sleepers” than others, but we are all susceptible to the same flux of physical and mental conditions that can disturb sleep quality and quantity as we navigate the challenges of daily life.

There are those rare individuals that can “sleep anywhere anytime”, which might seem a mythic ability to the rest of us (it is not!), as the capacity for robust sleep is inherent (but untrained) – in all of us.

We are all fully capable of taking the simple (self-aware) actions that directly affect our sleep process, fundamentally transforming our relationship with sleep such that we develop real confidence, born of actual experience, in our ability to reliably create the conditions to get the sleep we need, when we need it.

You already have the tools…

Just as with any aspect of life we want to develop new capability with – it is by widening our “scope-of-attention” to include the complete “picture”, as an integrated aspect of life, that yields the greatest results.

Take one of our most basic human abilities, to run – which most of us can “perform” (at some level) without any particular preparation. But, if we want to develop a robust running capacity, with improved speed and endurance, we must expand our area-of-attention to include greater preparation, i.e. specific running protocols (training), diet, equipment, recovery (sleep), etc..

No matter our natural predispositions (and “perceived” limitations), everyone possesses the ability to dramatically improve their sleep, health, and life performance by taking those daily actions, that create the greatest sustained internal harmony – living integration.

How does “integration” happen? 

Integration in the “life performance” sense, is a function of how we address – in our mind – any activity we’re engaged in.

As sleep is the one “performance activity” every human (like every other living creature), engages in on a daily basis, it is how well we understand our own unique sleep process that makes the difference in whether we are “living in hope” or at the helm of the process.

We do this by first improving awareness of our actions and how they affect our sleep process and quality, as well as our sensitivity to the real-time feedback our body is (always) providing us in response to the activities of our day.

Just as in training to run your first 10k, your facility with running organically improves as the entire “discipline of running” becomes a more fully integrated aspect of your day.

The realities of managing sleep daily

Although it might seem that when it comes to sleep, it “should be” as easy as “falling into bed”, but as we have all experienced, it’s not always that simple in reality! 

Although there are seemingly endless reasons why our sleep can be disturbed, upon closer inspection you’ll find most fall into one or more of these four categories.

• Physical Environment (too noisy, too light, too hot/cold)
• Physical discomfort (pain of any origin)
• Circadian disruptions (travel jet lag, shift work) 
• Psychological disruptions (anxiety, excitement/anticipation)  

More on these later in this series…

Being “zero-G SleepFIT” means you are at the helm of your sleep process, confident in your ability  to adapt/manage the normal disruptions of life, such that you can reliably get the sleep you need on any given day, leaving you invaluable peace-of-mind to plan and operate effectively in all aspects of life.