I've got 13yo and 11yo kids who are serious competitive athletes (not track athletes, ball sports) and want to get more serious--they have asked me to start providing them strength and conditioning training. I know how to train them, but there is a sticking point: SLEEP.
They are at school from 08:30 to 15:00. They have practice from 15:30 to 17:30. Then it's home for dinner, homework, and bed by 21:00. They normally sleep from 21:00 to 07:00---10 hours per night. The 13yo would sleep in even more if he didn't have to get up for school.
The only place to squeeze in fitness training is before school, and would require a 06:00 wake time. I am very hesitant to sacrifice their sleep, as that is the time to grow and recover.
Does anyone have an experience with this conundrum? I was a runner who only ran once per day after school in HS, so this was never an issue. It's easy to see why many of their peers in their chosen sports drop out of regular school and do online school in order to free up time to train.
TLDR: Is a fitness regimen worth losing an hour of sleep each day?
To me adding in more training will be more likely to cause them to hate activity and you than improve them. Let them sleep.
Did anyone actually read what he wrote? He said the kids already get 10 hours. Then asked about them waking up an hour earlier. That would be 9 hours. 9 hours is plenty of sleep. 10 hours is a little overkill. Cutting down to 6 or 7 hours would be sacrificing sleep. 9 hours is not sacrificing.
Your body sleeps the amount it needs. If they are actually sleeping 10 hours then their bodies need it. Prematurely waking them would be giving their bodies less rest than needed.
during a growth spurt (and 13 is likely in a growth spurt) sleep is essential.
I dont think its a huge deal. I woke up early a lot in high school to run or goto the gym to play basketball. Their bodies will tell them to go to bed earlier.
Did anyone actually read what he wrote? He said the kids already get 10 hours. Then asked about them waking up an hour earlier. That would be 9 hours. 9 hours is plenty of sleep. 10 hours is a little overkill. Cutting down to 6 or 7 hours would be sacrificing sleep. 9 hours is not sacrificing.
Unbelievable that this is upvoted.
There’s no “overkill” on sleep. The body sleeps as much as is beneficial. How much sleep a person needs varies. Some people do need 10 hours to function optimally.
It’s absolutely insane for anyone to sleep less on purpose, especially kids. That’s a condition I’d agree to in only the most extreme circumstances.
Being an athlete means a chunk of your day is used on training AND you consequently sleep longer at night. It’s a huge time drain. If it’s too much, then exercise less.
In this case, training even more and sleeping less is a deadly combo. And what’s the point of training if you don’t recover from it? Training is stimulus -> recovery. Increasing stimulus and reducing recovery isn’t how to optimize results. Basic misunderstanding based in the misconception that hard work and sacrifice trump all.
Not only is this not optimal for athletic performance, academic performance stands to suffer. Mental health is threatened. I wouldn’t touch this with a 10 foot pole.