For those of you who rationalize sleeping for four or fewer hours because you have to study for that midterm tomorrow, this is for you.

How would you feel if you were in a rush to get somewhere, but your wallet or your key was nowhere to be found?

How would you feel if you completely forgot about a test or a fairly challenging assignment until only half an hour prior?

You would probably feel pretty distressed, right? You probably would not feel very capable of accomplishing your goals efficiently. At least, not as capable than you would have been if you were allowed more time.

Your brain can certainly relate to this pressure. Especially when you cut back its time to consolidate information.

Countless studies on the brain prove that the storage of new memories acquired throughout the day— whether related to experiences or material learned— occurs during the REM stage, which begins between the sixth and eighth hour of sleep. Thus, when you allow yourself even fewer hours than that for rest, you are interrupting the process before it can even begin.

Furthermore, the effects of sleep deprivation are nearly equivalent to those of which no time was even spent studying at all.

This is kind of what all of the concepts and/or facts you were studying look would look like in your brain before you hit the hay:

If I had to guess what the lady in this photo is thinking, it would be, "It's going to take forever to determine how all of this fits together!"

Meanwhile, the less time you allow your brain to store away these "papers" in an orderly fashion, the more strain you force upon it, until the time-crunch overshadows the entire undertaking.

Just imagine it like an office full of people scrambling and shrieking, "Ahhhh! We only have three hours to organize all of these memories! How can we possibly pull this off?!"

Sleep is a necessity. It is not just some pleasurable activity that we reward ourselves with because we deserve it. Sleep is not just some topic your mother likes to get on your case about.

Would you appreciate a little more success and delight in your life? Sleep is a guaranteed remedy!

Getting the sufficient amount of sleep is a significant contributor to a recipe of days more abundant with joy, alertness, and of course, energy. It is a recipe for a sharper decisiveness and memory. You cannot deny these benefits would allow you a more focused, enjoyable, and productive day! What's not to like?

Thus, if you want your brain to function at its full potential tomorrow, do not rush it to haphazardly perform all of its necessary tasks. Instead, give it the time necessary to sort through and make sense all of that clutter.