This is information from Dr. Mercola’s site, Mercola.com.
I just got done with English class after reading “how I lost a beauty pagent” I feel like going to sleep now.
I think people need to bite down and get their priorities straight. Most of the time, if you really think about it, sleep deprivation comes from bad decision making. I guarantee if most of us thought about it we are doing at least 3-4 hours of unneccesary stuff when we could be sleeping, ie; watching a late night movie with friends, staying up in the dorms watching some freshman drama, staying at that party a little later than you wanted, cramming for that test when you could have been studying little by little over the week, talking to someone at the gym, when you could have been finishing your workout, sitting on charlie francis.com when you could have been studying for that test that you will have to cram for at the end of the week, trying to hook up with some freshman girls when you should be on the track getting your workout in…
Ok enough of that, but where do you fit in, and we can go on and on with this. I do think you can be an exceptional athlete and great student, if you have that set in your mind at a young age, but who really understands priorities in college. It is all about being a good-great athlete, a good-great student, and fitting in a social life and maybe work at the same time. I will tell you this I had a 3.1 in college and was a 3 time all american in track, but if i had my priorities straight, i might have been a 3.8 student and 6 time all american. But to tell the truth, I don’t regret what I did in college. I had fun, did well enough in school and track and am now successful in life.
We think people reached their potential because they amassed a certain amount of success in acadamia and athletics, but who really knows what their potential really is unless they know they are doing all they can to better themselves, like Bill Romanowski who has a crazy way of taking care of his body but has played in over 240 consecutive games.(sports illustrated sept. 1, 2003)
My advice to the young people still in high school or college: Prioritize, and if you want one thing to be your biggest success, then work hard at it. Get the sleep you need and bite down, make yourself the best you can be, no excuses…NO EXCUSES. But set realistic goals. Now, in contrast, if you just want to be a good enough athlete and a good enough student, then have some fun in college, that won’t hurt too much either.
I can admit that my biggest downfall is procrastination because my class schedule is easy and I can afford to slack off, but I know it is taking away a lot of sleep because I do HW at night b4 bed or in the morning b4 school.
Like Xzibit said…“Procrastination like masterbation/you’re f*%#$*! yourself”.
Very true statement.
Nice link. It was very helpful.
[b]Vito, I kinda disagree.
I think having a schedule that full can actually help you to better prioritize your time. You’re almost forced to eliminate all the uneccessary stuff that goes on around you and you find yourself doing what’s needed before you do anything else. When I was in high school, my best grades came during the track season. I knew that after school, I had practice, and after practice I had to do my homework. If tried to squeeze anything else in between that time, I wouldn’t have time to do what was needed, and something would suffer.
My 1st year in college, I did horrible. I didn’t play any sport, so I had way too much free time, and I found myself always saying, “I can start the paper tomorrow”, or “I can read chapter 5 later”. Later always came sooner than I had hoped.
[/b]
Look Treble,
You can prioritze all you want, when you have those (PLURAL) killers exams coming up, getting 8hrs sleep is last thing that’s on your mind. Prioritizing is essential if you want to maintain somewhat of a normal sleeping pattern but if you think that you CAN get 8hrs sleep day in-day out (as I said previously), you are kidding yourself. You can do nothing but school and track, not even work and volunteer or anything else and it STILL will be next to impossible to get 8hrs sleep/night night after night.
Unless, perhaps, if you are majoring in fingerpainting.
Yes…it is impossible to get good grades, train hard, have a social life, and get enough sleep. It can’t be done…this is why I select my lab rats. No execuses… if you want it find a way. Find a way.
I have one athlete that is in hs, gets straigt a’s (he works for his grades) has a girl friend, and trains with me to become an all american. He gets 9 hours of sleep 10-7am (school is at 745).
How?
each class requires 1 hour a night m-f. If he takes 5-6 classes wow can he do this Master Yoda?
5x6 is 30 hours for the week. He studies on weekends from 8am -noon…trains…hands out with friends…sudies from 6-7pm on the weekend and gets to bed at 11-12 after seeing his girlfriend. Since he has sudyhalls during the day and brings his lunch to school the lunch break a study break. PE and classes are times where he gets to see his friends and talk during labs and other periods. It can be done.
High schoolers can also do 20 minutes of homework each night and get B’s. It works.
it is possible to do it all if you want it badly enough, and if anyone does it is me.
after december when i get into yale (hope hope hope) this will be a moot point because then i can stop school work and just sleep and train. all it takes is focus and concentration… time to stop procrastinating every night! 
my hw probably takes me twice as long as it should because i avoid doing it… 200-300 pgs. of reading a night plus two other subjects and an indpt. study is no joke!
I procrastinate because I have Government/Economics, Anatomy/Physiology, Tutor block, and Weights. Next semester all I have is College Algebra and College Prep Eng. So, that is why I procrastinate. I have straight A’s now and will next semester and next semester I will have enough time to work, train, and do homework as well as get enough sleep in. I’m looking at going to UofA Med. School…one of the best in the nation. So, my goals and POA is in shape.
Learn to Learn…I read and master information much faster after learning to learn…I am of average intellegence and I made the deans list in college while working out, paying video games, and shagging beef.
As a quick cautionary note, I wouldn’t stop the school work altogether after getting in to college. Admissions offers can be revoked if academic performance tails off significantly. It happened to someone I knew in high school, and there was recently a law suit over a similar occurance (involving UNC, I believe).
I also wonder why anyone would want to live in New Haven, but to each their own 
Good luck with the admissions.
Is that directed to me?
I’m sorry, you’re right, you can get 8hrs sleep day in-day out night after night after night, with all those thingd in yer life!!!
THERE IS NOTHING ON THIS THREAD THAT HAS YET TO CONVINCE ME THAT YOU CAN GET 8HRS SLEEP/NIGHT.
You can give me schedules of ppl that you personally know well about their study and social schedule and tell me that they study from 8am-12pm and then have class from 1-2pm and then study from 3-4pm and train from 4-7pm and stidy from 8 to whatever the ^&%$ and then go over and bone his g/f and then come home and still stick in another hour of studytime with that wonderful stress free realese he just got and then yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda… I always laugh when I hear people say “well I am going to study for Chemistry final and it will probably take me about 3-4 hrs”, I only think to mmyself, this guy doesn’t have a clue, i mean nothing. This guy is dictating how many hrs its “going” to take to understand this stuff backwards and forwards instead of making a smarter statement like, “I can only dedicate 3-4hrs to studying for this chem final”. I don’t think any genius out there can “dictate” how many hrs its “going” to take to learn something, it takes as long as it takes, PERIOD. How can anyone put a # on it, rediculous. In unversity if you are a student-athlete, you study/train study/train study/train study/train study/train study/train study/train and then when you are done with that you study/train some more.
I never said that it is IMPOSSIBLE, I said that it was next to impossible. I have some personal friends that are double majors, work p/t, then are varisty athletes ALL-Canadians and volunteer and they NEVER get 8hrs sleep/night, night after night week after week, month after month you know the rest…
Some of the examples people here are giving me is that their friends or athletes are still in high school, i am talking about the University level be it undergrad or grad school or any other professional program. AT THIS LEVEL IT WON’T HAPPEN.
How can anyone at this level tell me/you that well that they study from this time to that time and then train and then sleep and then see my girls etc etc etc, I always have to think, what are you majoring in?? (Fingerpaiting)
No one here has answered my question about , what if you have a disability, what then?? What about the minority of people (like myself) that are obsessive about their professions (school/sport) and want to do 100% all the time, like audio record each and every lecture and mb video record each and every practice speed session, can you then tell me that you can put a # on the number of hrs its going to take to transcribe those lectures and look at those videos and study and eeat and take a shower and this and that and then after all of that have the nerve to look at me and say, “oops its bedtime, gotta get my 8hrs”
Now I am an avid true believer in that if you work hard and you try and find a way, you can…but then there is that tiny (is it tiny?) word that is called reality and ignorance and wake up and smell the coffee, day-in day-out it won’t happen, the best solution is try your best and get as many 8hrs sleep/night that you can get when you can get them.
I try and a minimum of 7.5 hours. I work in 90 minute blocks for sleep.
Do about an hour in morning for training plus 30 minutes travel.
Work - or travel to work from 7:30am leave work at 5:30 to 7pm.
Train for 1 - 1.5 hours at night.
Fit in 3 hours of contact time at University plus 12 hours study (a week)
So weekday start at 5:30 and in bed by 10 at latest (will stop what I am doing if home). Weekends Saturday 3.5 hours training plus 75 minutes travel.
I try and get 9 hours on weekend nights.
It is difficult train and study. But wait to you get out and work for a living. Makes full time study an absolute breeze.
Excatly - there’s a small difference between Highschool and University…
Small??? no way, huge difference No23, but I know what you meant
I was trying to be sarcastic!!!
But I guess like me you’re getting tired saying the same thing and no one listening … trying to avoid sleep is stupidity defined.
I feel like I’m in an episode of the Twilight Zone and I’m the only one that understands english and everyone else speaks gibberish.
Obviously time management issues and good planning can be of help to try and get sleep, but as already mentioned about the growth and repair that takes place during sleep is vital as part of a training programme.
I read a good article a few years ago about ‘sleep debt’ and how people carry around with them the hours of sleep they are yet to catch up on. For athletes competing and training it is vital to have as little sleep debt as possible and also to catch up quickly on sleep lost.
Personally, I find if I make time for sleep Im much more efficient during my waking hoiurs and can get alot more done than dragging a corpse around all day and feeling like my brain in made of goo!
The full time athletes of this world have a lack of sleep debt as a huge advantage to their training.