College is a wonderful time of new experiences and adventures. Late nights of studying during the week often set the tone for a weekend of late night recreation. Combine this with an early class schedule and you find a majority of college students that are sleep deprived.

We have all known people who are more active at different times of the day. There are morning people, who don’t need caffeine to get them moving and wear smiles that make a sleepy person want to vomit. There are also night owls, who prefer to avoid the sun and keep morning people up with loud music at 3 a.m. And of course, there is a full-range spectrum of those who fall in-between.

With deadlines in multiple classes piling up and no way to ignore the need to sleep, students often turn to unhealthy methods of staying awake. In her 2008 study in Biological Rhythm Research on college students, Dr. Nancy Digdon explored the differences in coping mechanisms for sleepiness between night owls and those who are neither night owls nor morning people.

Dr. Digdon found that night owls tended to use coping methods that were less conducive to good sleeping patterns. They rated napping and coffee as the top two methods of coping, while the more neutral sleepers rated exercise and spending time outdoors as more effective means of relieving sleepiness.

Even though neutral sleepers had more positive coping techniques, the majority of all students considered caffeine to be a good method of coping with sleepiness.

Looking around the University on a morning walk to class, it would be hard to argue this point. Between Starbucks, Circle K and various energy drinks, caffeine drinks seem to be the breakfast of choice for most students.

While the occasional all-nighter is a necessary evil of college, a steady diet of caffeine is not the way to handle this situation. Methods like exercise and a normal sleep schedule are much more effective at relieving sleepiness.

If you know you are a night owl and nothing will change it, try implementing a workout routine. Start with 30 minutes of jogging or biking a day. It could mean the difference between a wasted day of grogginess and a productive day, eliminating the stress of work on the weekend. And if all else fails, make sure you don’t schedule any early morning classes.