Football first, sleep later

KANAK HIRANI NAUTIYAL / TNN / Jun 12, 2006, 22:03 IST

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Today, many groggy employees will head to work after three straight nights of football-watching.

Today, many groggy employees will head to work after three straight nights of football-watching.
Change your name to Sleepy-Head if you love football more than your eight hours of sound sleep. Starting now, that’s what everyone at work will call you when you walk into the office, bleary-eyed. And with the long line up of World Cup matches in store, football fans will only get fewer hours of precious shut-eye.
World over, both employees and employers are going to deal with getting less sleep. Says a recent poll conducted by a mobile company in Australia, men are planning to stay up late to watch an average of 15 live matches during the World Cup.
Which means that the extra 30 hours watching football will result in an average of seven-and-a-half-hours less sleep a week. It's no different in Bangalore.

"You do feel sleep-deprived,"says businessman and footie fan Suchindra Shetty. "And this isn't even an inconvenient schedule — the last match finishes by 2.30am. Whereas, the Champions League goes on till 3.30am.
Since I watch those as well, I'm a little used to it."But with matches being screened night after night, there's no sleep break for fans.
"That's bad. Since it's a daily affair, you end up watching most matches,"says Suchindra. "I wake up at 8 and now I have to cut short my morning routine if I want to sleep 10 minutes extra."Even through the day, it's hard to keep your eyes open, he adds, "So, drink as much coffee as you can, or get an energy drink. Finish work early, go home, sleep a bit, catch the next match."

But if you think it's just the fans who suffer, you may be wrong. The Aussie survey indicated that companies will prepare for absenteeism, as one third of the men surveyed considering taking sick leave during the tournament.
Bangaloreans too aren't heading for bed. "I'm so sleepy,"says Sudhir R, a marketing professional, who's stayed up to watch all the matches till now. And he's ready for more.
"I'm going to watch as many good matches as I can."As the finals get closer, Sudhir plans to do what the Aussies are doing. "I'll take leave, and watch the matches. Till then, I'll pick and choose what I watch."
Since Bangalore's kids are also football freaks, will homework be put on hold? "No way!"says mother of two, Rekha Sharath.
"My boys will have to make it in time for school and tuition and also do their homework."But she doesn't believe in telling her kids to shut off the telly early.
"I know how important the World Cup is for them and they have to know where to draw the line."She adds, "On Saturday, they were asleep till 10.30am because they'd stayed up the night before. I don't know what they'll do when the matches are played even later."
kanakhirani@indiatimes.com

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