With schedules filled with schoolwork, jobs, Greek Life events, sports, meetings and finals peering around the corner, many students have pushed adequate sleep to the back burner until the close of the semester.

I’m not a good role model for what I’m advocating in this column.

My sorority held a professional development workshop a couple weeks ago on time management. We filled out a worksheet that asked for the number of hours each week we spent working, eating, socializing and in class, among other things. After completing that and filling out the pie graph with the recommended (and extremely hypothetical) 35 percent of my week spent on schoolwork, I was able to see that I really was spending too much time with extracurricular activities and my jobs. Sleep was also at a disturbing level of less than 25 percent of my week. I was surprised to see my chart wasn’t the only one that revealed my lack of concern for sleep; my sisters were also victims of sleep deprivation.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, college students rarely get the recommended eight hours of nightly sleep. Most get around five or six hours each night, resulting in a 14-hour sleep deficit each week.

Why is this a problem? It’s because our bodies need a way to recover from all the stressors of everyday life.

Physically and mentally, we all need to get adequate rest. The NSF claims that lack of sleep leads to decreases in concentration and academic performance and increases in memory lapses and accidents.

For the cheap price of only 73 cents at any C-Store on campus, students can purchase a temporary sleep suppressor: caffeine pills.

Caffeine has adverse effects on both our cardiovascular and nervous systems and has potential links to cancer, but it remains a popular addition to the diet of any college student. Although equipped with warning labels, espresso shots in the Honors Village C-Store are popular because of their ability to enable students like those in the College of Design who spend their nights in studio to stay awake.

It’s an odd ***complex***, really. We either sleep through classes because we were up all night doing homework and studying information that our brains are too tired to retain, or we hype our bodies up on caffeine only to experience the crash a few hours later.

I won’t procrastinate, I’ll actually study instead of socializing in study groups, I won’t go to the football game on Saturday, I’ll only work out three days a week, I’ll cut back my hours at work.

These are all things we promise ourselves after receiving a poor grade on an assignment to eliminate worry-induced stress. We remind ourselves that if we cut back on the extra things in our lives, we’ll have time to study for exams in the future and avoid nursing a four-pack of Full Throttle during an all-nighter at D.H. Hill.

It’s time we started following through with those promises, myself included.

As college students we have busy lives filled with obligations to school, work, friends and activities. Unlike many of those obligations, our commitment to getting adequate rest is vital to our survival. Sleep is something our bodies need to do; it’s not an option.

Are you sleep deprived? Tell us if you are and e-mail your comments to viewpoint@technicianonline.com.