With the start of the school year, the girls tennis season is also starting. I’m on the FVHS girls tennis team and I’m constantly going to matches back to back, while keeping up with practice and school work. As a lot of athletes can relate, it’s quite challenging to maintain such a hectic schedule and continue to perform well in school and athletics. It’s even more discouraging when you lose your games and see your grades drop. It feels like all these struggles are out of your hands and you just want to find ways to control it. It’s very easy to become unmotivated and lose your drive to do tasks.

 Whenever I find myself in this state of mind, I often try to sleep it out to help myself get through these situations. Sleeping gives me an opportunity to escape from my problems temporarily. Inside a deep sleep, your mind is erased and your problems are gone. Although it does not solve your problems, it does provide you with a period of time each day to unwind before returning to reality. From everyday practice, school work, and endless stress, your body is filled with intense emotion and exhaustion where sleep is definitely needed. This can sometimes leave you physically and mentally exhausted, where a good deep sleep is essential to keeping your mind and body revived.

Sleeping is what I use to help myself cope with other problems I have in life. I try to sleep when it’s absolutely needed as it can otherwise become a bad habit where you are throwing your problems to the side. Sleep should be utilized to help you become refreshed before combating your problems, rather than, using to avoid your problems. It’s also important to get the required amount of restful night sleep because oversleeping can lead to an unbalanced sleep cycle and dangerous effects on your health.