Late one night, a student stumbles across campus, bumps into a bench, and then incoherently calls out to a friend. Drunk? Maybe.But let's get real. This is Brandeis on a Monday night.

This student suffers from sleep deprivation. According to a September 2000 study in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the dangers of extreme exhaustion parallel those of being drunk.

Sleeping less than six hours a night can can affect coordination, reaction time and judgment, researchers said, posing "a very serious risk."

Insufficient sleep can even cause hallucinations, reports sleep-deprivation.com.

In March 2000, the National Sleep Foundation released a study stating that 60 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds report driving when they are tired, and 24 percent say they've dozed off while driving.

Sleep deprivation runs rampant at college campuses, especially at high-stress, academically rigorous schools such as Brandeis. Most Brandeis students said sleep deprivation is essential to succeed here. They argue that 24-hour days are too short and that their workloads, extracurricular activities and social lives demand more waking hours than are in a single day.

Katie Hulbert '05 is an oft-fatigued pre-med student and a philosophy major. "I don't sleep because organic chemistry is taking over my life," Hulbert laments. In the average week she spends 23 hours in class, 11 hours working as a waitress at the Stein and 10 hours volunteering as a coordinator for the Waltham Group's Afternoon Enrichment program. She is also studying for the MCATs and tries to maintain a personal life.

No wonder Hulbert and other active students average about five hours of sleep per night. Hulbert doesn't have time to nap, but she admits to frequently nodding off in class and accidentally falling asleep while studying.

She is not alone. Many Brandeis students claim that naps are a college student's best friend. Some people choose to nap in their beds while others take sneak a short slumber during classes.

Katy Kupava '05 says she has healthy sleeping and study habits. "I am one of those people who sacrifice everything to sleep. I get my eight hours," Kupava says. Nonetheless, she takes mid-morning naps between classes.

Michael Kagan '05 consistently falls asleep during his film class. He blames the dim lighting and comfortable chairs, but says he realizes he doesn't get enough sleep. It often takes three viewings and two large Frappachinos to get him through a movie awake, he adds.

"I think I take film classes just so that I know I will get some sleep during screenings. That's why I am on my fourth," Kagan admits.

When students fall asleep in class, professors take notice. Prof. Peter Conrad (SOC) teaches a 9 a.m. class, but doesn't encounter many delirious students nodding off. "I rarely find it to be more than a couple students, and not regularly," Conrad says.

He allows students to bring breakfast and coffee to class, and he says that about 10 to 15 percent of his students do.

Sometimes the post-lunch haze is more troubling than early morning classes. Sleepy afternoons are what make naps so popular during these mid-day hours.

Nick Abramson '05 says he never naps - although when this reporter arrived for a scheduled interview with him in early evening, he was asleep. "I fall asleep in the library, but I never nap besides in the library," Abramson says. He added that he does not feel deprived of sleep. Consistent early-to-bed-early-to-rise habits leave Abramson with a solid eight hours of sleep every night.

Some students believe that tiredness is a result of inconsistent sleeping patterns, as opposed to lack of sleep. "I don't think it matters how many hours of sleep you get, it matters that you get the same each night," psychology major Chad Kurtz '05 says. "I get in bed by 12. A lot of people are tired because they can't get into bed at a decent hour. I'm tired because I don't sleep well," Kurtz continues.

Students cite different reasons for exhaustion: they are bogged down with extracurricular activities, inundated with schoolwork, consumed by necessary outside work, want to maintain a social life and in many cases hope to sustain a relationship. Many students said that their boyfriends and girlfriends keep them up late at night, because this is the only time they can expect to see each other.

"I don't sleep because I have way too much sex," Eli Wolfhagen '05 admits. As a math major and rugby player who takes five classes and works 20 hours per week in the physics lab, he spends a lot of time doing homework and devotes the remaining hours to his girlfriend.

As an added factor, Wolfhagen lives in an off-campus fraternity house where some fraternity events keep him up until the early hours of the morning.

Like Wolfhagen's, the sleeping habits of students here are often affected by their living arrangements. Many students noted that housemates and suitemates contribute to sleep deprivation. Loud living companions can make it more difficult to get work done or to fall asleep. "When my housemates bring home lots of rowdy friends it interrupts my sleeping patterns because I live on the first floor right next to the common room in the house," Wolfhagen said.

Suitemates can affect sleeping habits even when they make efforts to be considerate, as living with friends is in itself a huge distraction. Students say they are much more likely to procrastinate or stay up late when their friends are so close by.

The living situation is one of the reasons that upperclassmen say they tend to have more regulated sleeping patterns than first-years. First-year students get caught up in the excitement of dormitory living and freedom from their parents and they spend countless nights staying up late doing nothing. Not wanting to miss out on any of the action, they are lured into sleep deprivation by hallmates having fun right outside their doors. Upperclassmen argue that this novelty wears off by sophomore year.

Entertainment also plays a large role in sleep deprivation. Brandeis students admit that they waste countless hours on instant messenger and just surfing the Internet. Students pass up study time in exchange for watching their favorite television shows. Many students feel that studying for their exam or writing their papers can wait until after NBC's Thursday night lineup is over.

These hours of entertainment detract from time that could be spent working. "I just got digital cable so I watch Rugby World Cup at odd hours, like between midnight and 3 a.m.," Wolfhagen said.

Additionally, students mention the ubiquitous college ritual of bar hopping. Turning 21 sometimes leads to weeknights out drinking, which can subsequently result in sleep deprivation.

According to sleep-deprivation.com, people between 18- to 22- years old need between six and nine hours of sleep per night. The average adult American gets 6.9 hours of sleep each night.

Most students say that their sleeping habits will change once they graduate. All aspects of college life seem to keep students awake (although not usually alert) and many look forward to settling down into a routine after their undergraduate studies.

Four years of tiredness probably will not harm students in the long run, but according to the Web site mentioned above, continuous sleep deprivation runs the eventual risks of heartburn and ulcer complications, hypothyroid conditions, moodiness and irritability, fibromyalgia, and impaired glucose tolerance, which can lead to diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

The Web site also explains that the mind cannot function at its normal level, triggering a deterioration of concentration levels, memory, mental reaction time and problem-solving ability. Lack of sleep also causes irritability and anxiety, say mental health professionals. These are all acute realities in students' lives, taking effect even before graduation.