Sleepless nights are unfortunately all too familiar for typical college students. In this fast-paced life, sleep can be seen as an odd commodity only taken advantage of far too few times.

According to the Stanford Sleep Clinic, insomnia is the inability to obtain sleep of sufficient length or quality to produce refreshment upon awaking.

Jessica Green, a freshman in first year college, said she knows what it’s like to feel insomnia.

“I am always so tired and just want to sleep, but there are always people being loud around you and sometimes it’s impossible to fall asleep,” she said.

The American Insomnia Association reported that insomnia may be independent of other healthcare problems but may also be a symptom of environmental factors, like noises that can disturb sleep even if the noise doesn’t cause the person to wake up.

Green said she found a way to help her sleep.

“I depend on my sleeping pills,” she said.

Some troubled sleepers need a more direct treatment to help them sleep, such as sleeping pills.

Ambien is a prescription sleep medication for the short-term treatment of insomnia in adults. According to the product’s Web site, Ambien has helped individuals fall asleep within 15 to 30 minutes.

Ambien made headlines recently after some people taking the drug reported instances of sleep-eating, where they would eat in their sleep and not realize it until the next morning when they woke up.

The drug is, however, still approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

There are some people, though, who feel that sleeping pills are simply unnecessary and prefer to make lifestyle adjustments to gain better sleep.

“I would never use sleeping pills, they are so unnatural,” John Karon, a junior in political science, said. “It’s best to just try and stay healthy, then it seems to be easier to fall asleep.”

Fifty-six percent of adults in the U.S. report one or more symptons of insomnia a few nights a week, according to the Stanford clinic’s Web site, and it is becoming more common on college campuses.

This rings true for the many college students who, on top of classes and extracurricular activities, also work either part or full time.

To help combat insomnia, the National Sleep Association suggests taking short 20-minute power naps while tired during the day. Late afternoon or early evening activity can also help, and doctors encourage people who have trouble sleeping to avoid sugar and caffeine within three hours of going to bed.