As soon as the clock hits 2:45 p.m., senior Alex Meyer hurries to crew practice six days a week, all seasons of the school year. After two to three hours of rowing, he gets off the water, helps put boats and oars away, meets with the team, and then bikes back home. By the time Meyer gets home, he occasionally finds himself struggling with getting work done and having enough sleep.
“A full eight hours of sleep is very rare,” said Meyer. “By the end of the week, I’m usually exhausted, and I find it hard to enjoy my workouts or go all-out at practice on very little sleep. There isn’t much that can be done to compensate for the lack of sleep.”
According to Meyer, he sometimes has to wake up early in the morning in order to complete some assignments, or he has to save homework due later in the day for free blocks.
Meyer is not the only athlete who struggles to get enough sleep. Sophomore Agnes Park, like Meyer, also struggles with balancing soccer and school work.
Park hurries to soccer practice after school, usually returning home around 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. When she has night games, she returns home much later, around 8 or 10 p.m.
On those late nights, according to Park, she sometimes has to cut down on the amount of sleep in order to finish homework and study for tests.
However, not getting enough sleep leads to some negative consequences. Park said that due to the lack of sleep, she occasionally feels groggy during school and practice. She also confessed that she has even fallen asleep in class.
According to Park, her quality of work is poor when she is under stress due to sports and lack of sleep. She also said although her grades did not drop significantly, she has received worse grades than she normally would.
Similarly, senior Christopher Alonzo, a runner, is concerned with his performance during practice and races because he struggles with not sleeping enough each night.
“Lack of sleep affects my running. I don’t have the energy to do all the work that everybody does in practice,” said Alonzo.
Alonzo confessed that because he focuses on getting work done quickly rather than correctly in order to go to bed as soon as possible, he sometimes finds that this negatively effects his grades.
Although these three athletes find themselves stressed out due to the lack of sleep, they said they would still choose work over sleep. This seems to be true for other athletes as well.
Junior Nan Wang, a swimmer, agreed with Meyer and Park that she has to prioritize school work over sleep.
“Work is definitely more important to me,” said Wang. “However, if I know I have a lot of homework or studying to do after practice, I try to get some done during the day. But oftentimes, I am too tired to really focus on what I’m doing, so it becomes a situation where I just go through the motions.”
Moreover, Wang believes that other elements, such as social media, add additional pressure on top of having to balance sports, workload, and sleep.
“Setting priorities and learning how to manage your time are really important,” said Wang. You have to know how much time you have to study and to do work, and figure out how to use it carefully.”
Park also agrees that finding the balance is crucial for athletes. According to Park, health and grades are not worth risking for anything, including soccer.
As an athlete who constantly has been trying to balance sports and sleep, Meyer offers up some advice to other athletes who also have to deal with the same problem.
“It’s important to never lose sight of why you do that sport and what life would be like without it,” said Meyer. “Many athletes think that they would be more productive if they were free every afternoon, but without a rigid structure to the day, it becomes very easy to lose track of time and end up having less time for work and sleep than intended.”
