Sleep?

It appears your son is also a serious student. He’s going to have to adjust to getting eight hours of sleep maybe one night per week. My kids slept late on Sunday mornings in the off-season. When my kids came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas they slept a lot. 

Sleep is not underrated.  I'd have him give up the morning shift on weekends, but that is just me.

it is difficult enough achieving one's potential as an athlete without also attempting to do it without optimal sleep & nutrition.

Iowamom23 posted:

And if ti's bad now in high school, how bad will it be in college and how do you overcome that? Or can you???

 

It won't be better in college. At the JuCo and D2 university, our son was lucky to get 6 hours of sleep per night.  Typical weekday, lifting at 6 am, then classes beginning at 8 or 9 am until about 1 or 2 pm.  Then practice from 3 pm to 6 pm.   Then it was dinner, then it was off to study until 10 pm or so.  If there is a mid-week home game, he had to be at the field by 1-2 pm, game at 4-5 pm and if lucky back to the dorm by 8-9 pm.  If an away game he would have to leave earlier and they would get back much later.   Weekends found my son at the field from 8 am for a DH starting at noon.  After cleanup, it might be 8 pm when they finished cleaning up for a home game.  Away weekends had them leaving Friday evening or early Saturday morning and not arriving back at the college late Sunday evening.  Son actually liked away games since they didn't have to clean up and he could actually get some study time or sleep in on the bus or at the hotel.

Mine loves chickfila and zaxby's chicken...is it the best, nope, but it's better than a grease filled burger and fries.  He also wants about 2 gallons of chocolate milk a week...so I'm hoping his bones are at least healthy.  

Sleep is also not good. He has ADHD and can't shut his brain off, even if he tried.  The Dr. prescribed something called Clonidine, it's a non narcotic that lowers his blood pressure and makes his brain shut off and he gets sleepy.  Our agreement is if he isn't asleep by 10pm he takes one....but he doesn't like how groggy he feels in the morning, it's the only side affect I can see.

Iowamom23 posted:

Last night I was berating my 2018 for his 10th unexecused tardy from his second hour class. He hasn't to be at school before 9 a.m. for two years. I told him if he was tired, he needed to get more sleep and he literally stopped cold and looked at me.

"Mom, I don't remember the last time I wasn't tired," he said seriously.

Kid is taking all AP/college credit classes in HS with a 3.7 GPA, baseball, and works a a 6:30 a.m. shift at the Y on the weekends. I feel like he's squeezing in pretty much everything that fits — allowing about half an hour for watching the Yankees with his dad, and maybe an hour for dinner with me and his grandfather twice a week.

I feel like proper meals and good sleep habits are the two things he's most lacking in his athletic life. How much does your athlete sleep, is it enough, and if so, how do you make that happen???

And if ti's bad now in high school, how bad will it be in college and how do you overcome that? Or can you???

 

Can he switch shifts at the Y? 6:30am on the weekends is brutal with everything else that he has going on.

It does not get better in college, especially if he's on a high academic path.   At times I'll be texting with mine at 11 or 12 at night and he'll be on his way to a study group or project meeting with other students.  All the while I know he has early morning lift or practice the next day.  Factor in late returns to school from road trips, sometimes for mid-week games, and their attempt at a social life and sleep becomes a precious commodity.  Mine knows enough to know he needs it, just doesn't happen.

hshuler posted:

Iowamom23 posted:

Last night I was berating my 2018 for his 10th unexecused tardy from his second hour class. He hasn't to be at school before 9 a.m. for two years. I told him if he was tired, he needed to get more sleep and he literally stopped cold and looked at me.

"Mom, I don't remember the last time I wasn't tired," he said seriously.

Kid is taking all AP/college credit classes in HS with a 3.7 GPA, baseball, and works a a 6:30 a.m. shift at the Y on the weekends. I feel like he's squeezing in pretty much everything that fits — allowing about half an hour for watching the Yankees with his dad, and maybe an hour for dinner with me and his grandfather twice a week.

I feel like proper meals and good sleep habits are the two things he's most lacking in his athletic life. How much does your athlete sleep, is it enough, and if so, how do you make that happen???

And if ti's bad now in high school, how bad will it be in college and how do you overcome that? Or can you???

 

Can he switch shifts at the Y? 6:30am on the weekends is brutal with everything else that he has going on.

 

Probably after spring season. He has games at noon and 2, so he's done working by 10 a.m., which works with everything else. He hates asking me for spending money, which is nice, but I think it is going to have to go soon.

Son is currently participating in a study on sleep at Clemson. Wears a wristband with a accelerometer like a Garmin Vivofit and is supposed to get 8 hours of sleep per night. Players are accountable as this is reviewed weekly.

Here's an article on the technology and usage in college sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...able-technology.html

You're probably aware of this, but there's a biological component that helps explain why most adolescents don't fall asleep before 11pm or later. 

http://www.neurologytimes.com/...age-circadian-rhythm

Shoveit4Ks posted:

Son is currently participating in a study on sleep at Clemson. Wears a wristband with a accelerometer like a Garmin Vivofit and is supposed to get 8 hours of sleep per night. Players are accountable as this is reviewed weekly.

Here's an article on the technology and usage in college sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...able-technology.html

 

Sleep can’t be accurately measured from the wrist. Accurate readings require reading brain waves.

I have a Fitbit. I was feeling fatigued after I started wearing it. It was all psychological. I believed the nightly results. When I stopped wearing it I returned to waking up refreshed. 

Well I guess it’s a waste of time, Clemson need to get those boys EEG Meditation Headsets!

RJM posted:

It appears your son is also a serious student. He’s going to have to adjust to getting eight hours of sleep maybe one night per week. My kids slept late on Sunday mornings in the off-season. When my kids came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas they slept a lot. 

This

When the kid came home for Xmas he slept almost 24/7 for the first week or so.

RJM posted:

Shoveit4Ks posted:

Son is currently participating in a study on sleep at Clemson. Wears a wristband with a accelerometer like a Garmin Vivofit and is supposed to get 8 hours of sleep per night. Players are accountable as this is reviewed weekly.

Here's an article on the technology and usage in college sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...able-technology.html

 

Sleep can’t be accurately measured from the wrist. Accurate readings require reading brain waves.

I have a Fitbit. I was feeling fatigued after I started wearing it. It was all psychological. I believed the nightly results. When I stopped wearing it I returned to waking up refreshed. 

Agreed. It's a gimmick to trick them into thinking they are being monitored and complying with the sleep mandate.

My son's college volleyball team is very, very, very good. There was an article about this program they adapted and one of the components was eight hours of sleep every night. When I told my son this he laughed. "That's a joke. Those girls are crazy" he said. "They are the biggest partiers on campus".

Well, my son sleeps and complies with the program. Then again he’s not out drinking and screwing around. I guess he’s naive.

I ran track in college. I learned to fall asleep in the bleachers of a track meet with all the commotion going on. Folks yelling, PA announcers, starters gun, etc. I also learned how to wake to fully awake pretty quickly. To this day my wife is amazed at my ability to fall asleep with pretty much anything going on around me. She’s even more astonished with my ability to instantly wake up and be 100% alert. 

9and7dad posted:

especially if he's on a high academic path.

Just as a note — thanks to you and RJM. I don't usually think of son as a serious student or on a high academic path. I think of him as the kid who can't get up to get to French by 9 a.m. 

Thanks for adjusting my perspective. I don't probably appreciate all of his good quantities as I should.

Shoveit4Ks posted:

Well, my son sleeps and complies with the program. Then again he’s not out drinking and screwing around. I guess he’s naive.

Now that is a true sacrifice there. 

CaCO3Girl posted:

Mine loves chickfila and zaxby's chicken...is it the best, nope, but it's better than a grease filled burger and fries.  He also wants about 2 gallons of chocolate milk a week...so I'm hoping his bones are at least healthy.  

I think your son and my nephew are soulmates, those are his favorite things as well.

IowaMom, your son seems to be a very responsible young man who is managing is schedule pretty well overall. The exhaustion is likely due to his busy schedule, but it might not hurt to get it checked out at the doctor IF you think it could be something more than that. My friend's son found out he had mono while playing college ball last year, and they warned her it could have turned serious. 

Assuming it's normal teen exhaustion, is he allowed to keep his phone at night? Maybe take all electronics away at a certain time at night. I know some people might think that's overparenting, but he's late to school which indicates his lack of sleep is interfering with his life/education. 

You could pull the teenage nuclear bomb option and do what my dad did to my sister when she was consistently tardy between classes at school. She told him there was no way she could get from class to class in the time allowed. So he went to school with her! He sat in her first few classes and walked with her to the next class. It was amazing how she was able to be on time after that. You could drive son to school, and walk him into the building to make sure he gets the message. lol Sadly, Dad's parenting stunt had no long term affect on my sister's tardiness since she's late everywhere she goes to this day. 

9 am French class! I would be late too!