With finals approaching, one of the best study strategies that you can employ is to ensure that you are receiving an adequate amount of sleep each night – generally eight to nine hours.

Let’s be honest, though. Eight to nine hours of sleep is a rarity these days. Unfortunately, chronic sleep deprivation has been associated with a number of illnesses and can cause individuals to perform poorly on cognitive tasks.

Studies have shown increased risks for diabetes, obesity and weakened immune systems, resulting from chronic sleep deprivation.

While you are sleeping, your brain is processing information, deciding what thoughts and events are most pertinent and should be transferred from short-term memory into long-term.

Insufficient and irregular sleep patterns can disrupt this process, interfering with long-term memory storage. Sleep is essential to long-term memory, so staying up late studying won’t help you remember everything the next day.

So, while late night studying seems to be the only option to cram copious amounts of facts and theories before an exam, it is likely that most things will easily be forgotten by the next morning, rendering late night study sessions ineffective.

With this knowledge in mind, it is not too early to prepare flashcards, outlines, or any other studying tools.

However, we’re all aware that Denver’s great spring weather, a lack of motivation and C&G’s all-you-can-drink for $10 can contribute to the procrastination that puts students in these desperate situations at the end of the quarter.

If late night studying is your only option, rather than bumming your friend’s ADHD medication, use the following tips to get the most out of an all-nighter.

Try taking short, 20-minute naps periodically to rest your overloaded brain. Some may feel groggy after this, but that feeling generally subsides after 10-15 minutes.

Also, during study breaks, eat some energizing snack (like yogurt) and stay active.

Blast some Ke$ha, Rihanna, Lady Gaga or any other energetic music of your choice and start dancing. A short walk is effective as well.

Always study in well-lit rooms, and keep the room temperature relatively low since heat can often lull you to sleep.

Do what you have to do to ace those exams, but consider studying sooner rather than later and get enough sleep to do well on exams the next day.