In elementary and middle school, it is deemed cool to stay up late. As you are heading towards high school, being "cool" becomes far more important and that means staying up late, even if your parents said no. But as high school rolls in, people strive to get to sleep as early as possible. But what about college?

In college, nightlife is very important in student life. Night classes, club meetings, and events occur at night, so the attendance rate can be high and opportunities for students to attend many events. But staying up for late nights in college because of homework, meetings, events, and whatnot takes a toll on a persons ability to function. Like in high school, college students long for a good nights sleep.

College nightlife is when a lot of the best and most exciting events happen. For example, at Rider University, the Greek organizations hold events at night, so people can attend and not miss it because of class during the day. Most colleges in the United States follow suit. Rider University, yearly, has a fall concert that the entire campus gets involved in. A huge staple of their nightlife. Not only does the University offer events such as concerts and Greek organization events, but they offer many opportunities for students to attend things and feel comfortable being in attendance. Although a major part of college life is nightlife, does it have a negative effect on students?

According to Dr. Sharon Glezen at the University of Rochester, in some cases, college nightlife can cause decreased alertness, stress on relationships, increased risk of injury, as well as memory and cognitive impairment. What students may not realize is that the negative effects can cause long-term effects on your body's functioning. While in college, you are growing and figuring out where life is leading you, To fuel the business of life, sleep is needed, or what people like to do, is drink coffee to keep awake or use medicine to fall asleep faster.

Another problem with college nightlife is the age in which events are meant for. 21 and over people have better access to events and places rather than those under 21. A con to this is people underage resort to drinking in unsafe conditions and pre-gaming before events people underage they are allowed to attend. At many institutions, nightlife drives people off campus because not enough happens on campus. This poses safety concerns for students. Colleges across the nation are trying to prevent students from resorting to unsafe events by making nightlife safer and more inclusive.

Overall, nightlife in college is very debatable. Students thrive at night with campus life being the most active at that time, but it can negatively affect you physically. What do you think?