There are many reasons that college students do not get enough sleep. With classes, work, extracurriculars, and homework, it's hard to find enough time to make eight hours a night a priority. This can become a major problem as lack of sleep affects everything from mental and physical health to grades and social life. College students on average only get around six hours of sleep a night and many students get even less than that every night. We should all should be sleeping for approximately eight or more hours a night in order to function well. Many people do not realize how much lack of sleep can affect everything they do.

The exhausted college student has been romanticized so much that some students even act prideful of their lack of sleep. Students talk about how they have to pull all-nighters or get three hours of sleep every night, but would we broadcast to the world our other unhealthy habits? Getting a good night's sleep should not be something to be jealous of; it should be more of a priority for everyone. Sleep deprivation leads to an endless cycle of not being focused enough to study, having to stay up extremely late to finish work, and being exhausted again the next day.

Lack of sleep isn't something that is discussed enough on college campuses. The importance of sleep should be a topic of conversation among students and faculty, it shouldn't just be tossed aside and thought of as "just the ways things are in college." More should be done in order to give college students the ability to make sleep a priority and understand that it is more vital than they realize.