Image courtesy Andertoons. 

Sleep is an amazing thing. I’m not talking about the five minute catnaps that occur between — or during — classes.

I’m talking about real, deep sleep, the kind you get on the weekends. It may seem a bit strange that someone so young values sleep so much.

After all, why stay in bed when you can go do stuff? Thing is, that stuff can’t be done unless I’ve had a good night’s sleep.

I’ve pulled my share of all-nighters, and I can usually power through the following day. But when sleep becomes disturbed and fitful, the quality of work — and the quality of my days — takes a nose dive.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get by on five hours a night for weeks straight. The lack of sleep does something to me. I can’t quite name it. It’s a bit like walking through fog with earmuffs on during a blizzard. The lack of sleep just messes with my daily activities.

Often though, college students are forced to choose between one or the other. I don’t actively put off assignments. I have so much going on that often the all-nighter is the only option.

Does time management come into play? Of course. I’m sure I could manage my time better, but I’m sure everyone could. On my list of priorities, school comes first. Sleep doesn’t even make the top five.

But, if the lack of sleep messes with me so much, why am I not making sleep my priority? It seems counterproductive, if not stupid, to place such a low value on something so essential.

But think about how a professor would react if I were to hand in a paper late because I was low on sleep. Now think how a professor would react if I turned in a paper I’d pulled an all-nighter for. From personal experience, I can tell you the second was a far more positive experience than the first. Professors are human; they understand what we students are going though, but I cannot imagine a single professor sympathizing with “I was too tired” when discussing a grade.

Aside from biologically necessary, sleep also is a lot of fun in it’s own way. Seriously, think about it. You close your eyes for eight hours, have wild adventures in your dreams and wake up feeling better than you did when you went to bed. That sounds pretty awesome.

Yes, going to a party may be preferable. Yes, playing Skyrim all night — not that I’ve ever done that — may seem like a great idea at the time. But they really end up being no different than pulling multiple all-nighters to finish homework; in the long run, you suffer for it.

I wish I had the easy answer to this. I wish I could say that professors need to value sleep more. I wish I could say that students need to manage their time better. But, the issue is not so black and white.

In a way, it all comes down to the individual.

You know how much sleep you need, just as I know how much sleep I need. Being a responsible student means not partying when you should be doing homework.

Being a responsible adult means taking care of yourself on a basic level. Just as living on your own means doing your own dishes, being an adult means setting your own schedule.

Sometimes the schedule doesn’t work out, and sleep must be sacrificed. But in the long run, keep in mind that happiness often comes from the habits that you cultivate; sleep is absolutely one of those habits. Don’t undervalue it. Just because you’re a grown-up doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a set bedtime.

Kjerstine Trooien is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at kjerstine.trooien@my.und.edu.