Sleep is defined as “to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness.” Sleep is necessary, in fact vital, for human health and success.

Professors, advisors, and parents, among others, are constantly advising us students to be sure to get enough sleep during the week so as not to be too exhausted to absorb information throughout class lectures as well as to not fall asleep in the midst of taking an exam.

One might say this advice is impractical because being a college student who is active and involved on campus requires students to stay up rather late. For example, evening classes end between nine and 10 at night for most people, some even later. Because of this, student clubs and organizations often meet at 9 p.m. or later. Because students’ days are packed with classes, meetings, and sometimes, even jobs, there are students who study at night in Mortola library, sometimes staying there as late as two in the morning.

All these late night, all-night study sessions cannot be good for one’s health. In fact, all the advice-giving adults continuously tell us so, as do doctors, scientists, and researchers.

Depending on one’s source, the hours of sleep considered beneficial for college-age people are six to eight. Many students settle for half as much time. For those students who do allow themselves six to eight hours of sleep a night, the benefits show themselves in attentiveness, better physical and mental health, a stronger immune system, and less risk for incurring in future health complications.

For those students who settle for half as much sleep as has been deemed optimal, there are potential harms to such habits. Insufficient sleep can lower one’s capability of coping with stress, impair memory, and make it difficult for one to concentrate, and decrease optimism and sociability. Wed-MD writer, Camille Peri, adds to this list that sleep deprivation can cause accidents, lead to serious health problems such as heart disease and diabetes, decreases one’s sex drive, ages the skin, permits weight gain, and impairs judgment.

As students go about their day, from the moment they wake until they finally choose to fall asleep, their brain is working nonstop to process all the information they are receiving from people, situations, sensory perceptions within the body itself. The brain, like people, needs rest to prepare for each day of intense processing. Especially at this point in life, where students’ primary goal is to learn as much as they can in order to achieve graduation, the brain requires time, repetition, and rest in order to permeate and imprint all the information which can be gathered on a college campus into one’s memory.