As we study for finals and wind down to the very end of the semester, it’s important that we all remember one thing: to sleep. Sleep deprivation has been known to cause depression, memory loss, weight gain, hallucinations, and a plethora of other symptoms.

The more sleep you lose, the greater chance there is of these symptoms occurring. Who is most prone to losing sleep? Teenagers and college students -- that is, us. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty of staying up until 1 a.m. almost every day, even when I have classes early the next day. We’ve all done it though. No one can deny it. It’s a bad thing, and what we need to do is realize the importance of sleep.

On average, a college student should be receiving seven to nine hours of a sleep a night. Raise your hand if you do that, please. Five people out of a hundred? Better than expected! In college, especially on campus, you have so many things you could be doing at night that could distract you from better things like, I don’t know, sleeping. You could go out and party until 2 a.m., play video games until 3, just hang out with your friends and goof around for hours, or really anything. Many times you just lose track of time and realize that it’s 1 a.m. and have no desire to go to sleep. You have to, though.

Sleep’s your best friend and you only ever realize this in the morning when you wake up miserably tired and just wanting to go back to bed instead of to class (go to class, though!). Your bed suddenly feels like a cloud, and sleep feels like the best friend who understands you more than anyone else. Sleep deprivation causes that, and staying up all night is the cause of sleep deprivation. I mean, if you’re happy that sleep deprivation made you meet your best friend, then go right ahead, I just don’t recommend it.

However, there’s something that’s causing all of us to lose sleep as finals creep up on us: studying. I know plenty of people, in my dorm even, that decide that cramming the night before something is a good idea or writing a five-page essay at 2 a.m. is the best way to get something done. Newsflash: It’s not. The more sleep you lose, the more cognitive function you lose (also known as the thing that helps you study). Why even bother trying to study something so late at night if you’re going to retain literally none of the information.

I hope all of this gives you a little more insight into how important sleep actually is for you. It’s not just some thing that you have to do that gets in the way of your partying or studying or video games; rather, it's an essential part of how you properly function. So whenever you can, catch up on your sleep. Sleep in if you can, go to sleep earlier if you have nothing else you need to accomplish, and always remember: Waking up like Anna from "Frozen" is always an acceptable way to wake up from a good night’s sleep!