Holy Cow everyone! It’s week 5 of my blog meaning I only have 5 more blogs till I finish my series, “Athletes Are Humans Too”. But it is also week 9 of my first semester of college.
I am not going to lie to anyone! I am struggling.
Fall preseason is over and now I am in 8 hour weeks instead of 20 hour weeks. It’s time to take advantage of this break to bring grades up, build relationships with professors and work on my time management.
I can actually sit down and have a meal without rushing to practice, classes, and lift. Maybe I gave myself too much or I am just not focused enough.
Either way I am alive and thriving.
Physically I am drained but I feel myself gaining muscle and losing fat and balancing out.
On the other hand, I believe the reason why I am losing so much weight is because I am barely eating. Not because I don’t want to it is due to not fitting in time to fuel my body with proteins, carbs, fats, and more.
Maintaining a well balanced diet, “Provides all of the: energy you need to keep active throughout the day. Nutrients you need for growth and repair, helping you to stay strong and healthy and help to prevent diet-related illness, such as some cancers”(NHS Informs 2020). Eating can help me maintain and gain all the right components to being an athlete as well as providing me energy throughout the day. Which I know for a fact I have been needing.
Eating is Top 2 of the most important things to do for recovering physically. But number 1 is Sleeping.
Throughout my time here at PSU I have probably had roughly 3 nights of the required sleeping hours. Which differs”[…] between 7-9 hours a night”(NHS Informs 2020). The past 8 weeks I have been averaging about 4-6 hours of sleep. Recently since I have more time I have been sleeping 7 hours a night now not being in the 20 hour weeks.
Sleep is valuable and the key to getting through the day. I get told by my trainers, coaches, advisors, and more that prioritizing sleep can increase engagement and freshness when going throughout the day and I haven’t been taken that knowledge to heart till recently.
Sleeping more has changed my moods to be consistent and less up and down and all over the place.
Also adding the component of eating, I can enhance my body to be more energized and healthier. Making it easier to stay engaged throughout my day and feel less fatigued and exhausted at the end of the day.
Recovery is important! Sleeping and Eating or the man sources. Take care of your bodies and schedule your day around when you are going to eat! Sleep at least 7 hours and you will feel so much better physically and it will help you start with a positive mindset everyday. Make time for yourself!
To help with my time management of eating and sleeping I write my schedule now and find where I have gaps in my class where I can do my homework effective. So I get a good nights rest and find a time where I can fit in a meal and snacks.
That is it for this weeks blog! I know it short and not the informational but these two components need to be used daily to survive so use them!! I know classes are hard and homework is tedious but make time for yourself improve your growth and recovery physically and mentally!
See you all next week!
Links for sources:
https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/health-benefits-of-eating-well
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
I should take some of this as advice. I have not gotten much sleep this semester. Most nights I get 4-5 hours, with a nap sometime during the day. I feel like this is an issue with most college students, and I don’t know if it is by fault of the student or by the system. Someone could write a whole research paper on that. But it is good to see that you strived through the rough points and are doing better now.