Something that I feel like we all struggle with in college is getting enough sleep. We all stay up late grinding work on the weekdays and then abuse our bodies by staying out on weekends. For me, I am always telling myself that I will go to bed early and get a good 8 hours, but the number of times that I have actually done that is sad. However, I can tell that this sleep abuse cannot be good for me. Especially, it is not good for fitness.

Sleep is wonderful. It renews energy, helps your mind focus, and improves your overall mood. I always think of it as closing the lid to a laptop after hours spent on an essay; it’s satisfying and also gives the laptop a much-needed break to recharge and not overheat. This idea applies to the human brain if thought of as a computer. Without sleep, the body begins losing control of itself. Your brain gets hazy and you do not perform to your normal standards. In fact, health.gov explains that sleep reduces stress, improves your mood, allows you to get along better with others, and helps you make better decisions (health.gov). These are all very important when trying to be a functional and pleasant person to be around.

But sleep affects much more than just your emotions. It reduces your risk of sickness, lowers chances of serious diseases such as heart disease or diabetes, and also, helps keep you at a healthy weight (health.gov). This is important for staying fit because you can’t exercise well while sick, and one of the main goals of exercising is to lose weight, so abusing your sleep could reverse that effect.

I have felt this effect numerous times while at Penn State. My most notable experience was after the Auburn whiteout game. Having stayed up late until roughly 4 am, I woke up at 8 to see a text from my brother asking when I’ll be ready for the gym. I had completely forgotten my agreement the day before about lifting in the morning, so I rolled out of bed with all four hours of sleep and headed over to the White Building. Now I’ll admit, this was one of the worst workouts I have ever had. While he was pumped up, I was tired, annoyed, and weak. None of this was good for my health.

I learned a large amount about the importance of sleep to fitness after this lift. The lack of energy sucked the life out of me, but the balance between fun and fitness is tough. So what is my advice?  You should make an attempt at getting good sleep, at least sometimes.