It is a proven fact that if you want to have a healthy lifestyle, you need between six to eight hours of sleep every night. Apparently this does not apply to college students. For me, it is hard enough to get to bed before 1 a.m . If it’s not my schoolwork keeping me up, then its some form of social media that’s keeping me from sleep.

Studies show that sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being. These facts do not benefit the college students who are in a constant struggle to get a decent night of sleep.

Sleep deprivation has a great impact on academic performance. When you do not get enough sleep, classes seem long and boring. The classes would probably not feel this way if you were running on a full night of sleep instead of the few hours you were able to fit in between classes. It is amazing how many people I find sleeping on bean bags in the library when I know they could be using that time to study. But when else can they sleep?

N.C . State has put in place “quiet hours” for each dormitory on campus. However, to put it bluntly,  students really don’t listen or care much about quiet hours. Students are going to listen to their music as loud as they want to, talk loudly and constantly run up and down the halls.  It’s as if they think they are the only ones that live there.

During my freshman year, my suitemates and I were constantly annoyed with the group of guys that lived above us. They were constantly blaring their music and screaming. Every day was a party for them. It did not matter how many times we complained or explained to them that we were trying to study or sleep, it never ended.

If you are ever in a classroom and cannot seem to understand what your professor is talking about, it is not that you are not a smart individual, it is probably because you did not get enough sleep the night before. Studies from Stanford say sleep deprivation has many negative repercussions:  it can contribute to memory problems and difficulty in logical reasoning, it can interrupt physiological processes related to hormone function and blood pressure and it is associated with decreases in both efficiency and ability to concentrate.

There is no way to get around the fact that eight hours is just not very doable when you are a college student, especially if it is your first year. Unfortunately, this pushes college students to take naps as often as possible and makes caffeine their best friend.

There are ways to make the most out of the little sleep you do get. For instance, exercise more. Even if you cannot get eight hours of sleep every day, exercising daily allows for a much deeper sleep and less chance of waking up in the middle of the night.

You can establish a sleeping schedule, even though this seems impossible. As a college student, it is very important that you go to sleep and wake up the same time every day. If you do not do this, it’s just the same as putting your body through constant jetlag .

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Your sleep deprivation is only temporary. After your college career is career is complete you can begin your hibernation.