By HILLARY EDMAN

Staff Writer

Procrastination is the name of the game in most college students' study habits, and sleep deprivation is the ultimate prize.

The rules of the game consist of students shoving as much information into their heads as humanly possible without sleeping.

The winner is awarded a day full of sleep deprivation consisting of exhaustion and the inabilities to control speech, access memory and solve problems.

According to www.sleep-deprivation.com, many college students think they are doing themselves justice when they stay up all night studying for a final, but they are actually hurting themselves more than helping.

Dr. Walter Buboltz, an assistant professor of psychology and behavioral sciences and director of training on the doctorate program in counseling psychology, said lack of sleep does not give the brain time to process the information learned while studying.

"People that study and get a full night's sleep do much better than people who study and get a half night's sleep," Buboltz said.

Buboltz said students are 20 percent more likely to have sleep problems because they procrastinate and pull all-nighters.

Dr. Frank Wyatt, an assistant professor of exercise physiology, said sleep deprivation is caused by our society's problem with saying "no" to other activities.

"It is mainly because of the demand placed upon [the students]," Wyatt said. "I think the biggest thing we get into as a society is that we do have a difficulty in saying no. We want to be involved."

Eric St. Cyr, a junior construction engineering technology major, said studying ahead of time benefits him most.

"I have a really busy schedule so I do not have time to wait to the last minute," St. Cyr said.

Buboltz said students need to get an average of eight or nine hours of sleep each night.

He said this amount of sleep is enough to put the brain into rapid eye movement.

Buboltz said during sleep, REM is what helps the brain dream and process information from that day. He said students should experience at least 90 minutes of this process each night.

Wyatt said without the REM process, one experiences sleep deprivation, which becomes detriment.

He said, "[Lack of sleep] causes mental acuity to drop, loss of focus and [students] cannot retain what it is [they] may have taken in, so recall is hindered."