As the semester winds down, students might find themselves studying into the wee hours of the night.

A 1999 study titled "One Night of Sleep Loss Impairs Innovative Thinking and Flexible Decision Making" suggested that this strategy might not be the best way for students seeking to do well in classes.

The study, completed by Y. Harrison and J. A. Horne, explained the relationship between sleep deprivation and a person's ability to function in real-world situations.

Harrison and Horne developed a game in which they could measure the ability of its participants to perform basic decision-making skills. Ten healthy individuals were chosen to partake in two 36-hour trials that compared skills after sleep and sleep deprivation.

According to the study, "Recent findings with clinically oriented neuropsychological tests suggest that one night without sleep causes particular impairment to tasks requiring flexible thinking and the updating of plans in the light of new information."

Other studies support Harrison and Horne's findings.

A study by Michele Ferrara and Luigi De Gennaro called "How much sleep do we need?" claimed that inadequate sleep can lead to an increase in fatigue while negatively affecting motor performance, cognitive performance and mood.

Metabolic, hormonal and immunological functions are likewise affected.

After pulling an all-nighter, a student might be poorly equipped to handle schoolwork, especially exams.

Jonathan Mortimer (freshman-biology) said living with five other people in supplemental housing this year has led to him receiving less sleep.

"When I do not sleep, I am pretty tired, and I usually sleep during class. I don't get any work done," Mortimer said.

During exams, this sleep deprivation can be particularly detrimental to a student's success.

"I usually forget half of the stuff I studied and I take a nap during the test. When I wake up, I realize half the exam is over," Mortimer said.

Noel Okoye (freshman-premedicine) agreed that a loss of sleep can be a problem when taking an exam.

"The first thing that comes to my mind is sleeping," Okoye said.

"So, I'm usually not in the zone," Okoye added.

Okoye confessed that late bedtimes and having to wake up early contribute to his feeling of fatigue.

While many activities require a certain amount of sleep for optimized performance, other activities seem to be unaffected by sleep deprivation, explained Harrison and Horne's study.

"Some complex behaviors are relatively impervious to the effects of up to 48 hours of sleep loss, possibly because they are stimulating, interesting and motivate people to apply compensatory effort."

"I play video games very well when I am tired," Mortimer said.

Okoye said sleeping is often impossible for busy college students. "There are just too many things you want to do," he said.

"If you don't get sleep, you aren't going to go to class," Okoye added. "You're just not going to do anything. It's just college life."