Dear Wolfie,

From school, to sports, to home chores, I’m honestly finding it hard to keep everything together. With everything that goes on during the week, my sleep schedule is all messed up. Sometimes I pull all-nighters and other times I  wake up at some odd hour of the night to finish all my homework because I fell asleep right when I got back from school. Any advice on how I can better manage my time and get a couple more hours of sleep?

Sincerely,

Sleepy Student

Dear Sleepy Student,

Sleep is one of the most important things for your body! We hear it all the time, we need about seven to eight hours of sleep for a healthy and productive day, but homework and sports can challenge that.

The most direct and simple way to combat this issue is to plan your day and tell yourself to work on a specific task at a certain hour. From the start of the school day to the time you go to bed, you should have a rough estimate of when you plan to do your work. Say you end practice at 5:00 p.m.; give yourself about an hour to get home, shower and eat a quick snack before you start homework. By 6:00 p.m., you should start your homework. My personal advice is to not try and finish all your homework in one sitting. After one or two assignments, take a 30-minute break so your mind can be refreshed for what’s left. Don’t fall into the trap of, “I’ll take a quick nap then do my homework after.” We both know that’s a lie. Keep at it and by then, you’ll be done with your homework and ready for sleep!

Now when you’re ready to sleep, the first thing we all do when we get to bed is go on our phones. I know how tempting it can be to scroll through Instagram for what we think will be for a couple minutes, but before you know it it’s 1:00 am and your engulfed in memes and relatable posts. Use all your willpower to turn off the phone and close your eyes, and you’ll feel more refreshed in the long run.

Sincerely,

Wolfie