Finals week is just around the corner and students are already counting down the hours. During finals, “students are [forced] to cram, to have lack of sleep and occasional anxiety attacks which are not the real intentions of finals,” comments Dhanu Jaan (11) she further believes that, “finals are the most grueling experience inflicting torture [upon] the student population.” Regardless of age, most students feel hesitant towards their semester finals and how it would affect their grades – even college students have test anxiety during finals week. Students experience frequent panic attacks as they feel immensely pressured to do well during semester finals. “The stress sometimes gets a little out of hand,” comments Sophie Lee (11).

   Ultimately, students put their health at risk as they often pull all-nighters; get very little sleep, if any, while studying for finals. According to Healthtree.com, with the lack of sleep comes dire consequences; the human body needs sleep and without proper rest the brain malfunctions, developing “sleep disorders [that] increase the risk of serious and chronic health conditions.” However, even when faced with sleeping disorders and irreversible diseases such as narcolepsy, insomnia, and even obesity,   students still risk their well-being for an ‘A’ on their scantrons. Narcolepsy, one of the leading sleeping disorders in the United States affects 1 in every 400 Americans a year.* Lee confesses to studying all night the days before final exams, and “by the end of finals, everyone feels brain-dead.”

  What college is worth a life filled with insomnia?  Procrastination is your worst enemy, be smart this year and study early; rigorous studying may be solving a short term problem, but will result in serious health consequences later on in life.  By study earlier this year you will not only improve your test schools, you will be doing your body a favor.

*healthcommunities.com