4 Hour Sleep Training – Week 1

Well, one week down. I have to say that the last couple days have been tough. Really tough. I think I’m starting to get a rhythm down though and have had to take some short power naps to recharge. Which I love by the way! Taking a nap is fantastic, and after 20-30 min I still wake up feeling juiced, like a shot in the arm of adrenaline. And I hope this supercharge after the nap is because I’m starting to get into a deeper sleep faster and able to recharge faster.

So with one week down it’s time to test it out and see the progress. So I won’t set an alarm tonight and instead see when my body wakes up. I’m hoping in the range of about 6 hours which would be great after only a week and should mean that I’m getting better rest in the shorter period. Stay tuned!

The most amazing part so far is this:
Despite the times when I feel really tired and dragging, it still becomes a choice. In other words, I can ALWAYS find as much energy and focus as I need, when I really want it. That has become one of the most fun parts about the challenge. Since I’ll find myself dragging and I end up having to check myself. I think something along the lines of, “I know I feel tired, but am I really tired?” “Could I feel energized right now?” and almost always I will just by asking myself the question. Obviously it still takes work to change my physiology and create action, movement and momentum.

This is absolutely incredible to me, because I’ve been here before. When I lost 50 lbs, and got in shape in only 2.5 months. I realized there is a huge difference between the feeling (sensation) that I would get when blood sugar levels were low and the way my mind would take it and interpret it to mean “I’m hungry, I should eat”. In other words a shift happened in my mind.

where before: I would interpret that sensation to mean it’s time to eat (and eat a lot) so that it goes away because I was conditioned to see that hungry feeling as very uncomfortable;

To: if I could give my body what it needs for nutrients, vitamins and necessary ingredients to build and maintain health, I could eat only what I needed for health & fitness. And not so much to “make the feeling go away.” Which would mean that I would often still feel like I needed to eat more, or well… gorge. And once I saw the bigger picture I could make the better choice. That’s the key to all weight loss. It’s so easy. Much easier than popping pills which never works, I tried that before also.

I absolutely believe that everything I’m doing is enhanced by meditation, and interestingly as I mentioned before, meditating itself has been enhanced. I think that my state of mind can enter into a flow state much easier. Any anxiety has really been reduced.

Don’t get me wrong though, it still feels like I’m running a marathon, low on sleep, low on food, and in the dark (at least early in the morning). It takes a ton of concentration and focus on my intention and goal to not feel totally drained, grogy and grumpy. My going is for me is to push the limits of potential and see what I can train my mind/body to do. Just like racing, I some how find the desire to endure the pain in the process because I link so much more pleasure with pushing, testing, and developing training, abilities, potential and performance. As my close friend Matt says, “Hey, I’m trying to get enlightened here!”

About the 4 Hour Sleep Project