As students, we spend the majority of our time in school, studying for school, working on schoolwork or going to school-related activities. In our school-filled schedules, we often neglect ourselves in order to focus and ultimately leave out any time for the wonderful world of sleep.

According to a report by CNN.com, teenagers need an average of eight and a half to nine hours of sleep a night. Of course for most of us, this is a hard number to achieve.

My freshman year, one of my teachers thought it was hilarious to slam her hand on the desk of anyone who fell asleep making them jerk up in a frenzy. Then, the entire class would laugh and joke about the kid who sleeps in class.

More recently, people have found other ways to humiliate kids who sleep in class. I’ve witnessed my classmates take photos of those who sleep and proceed to post them on social media.

It isn’t in any way acceptable for students to use learning time as sleeping time, but it also isn’t okay for students to be condemned for it.

It has constantly been proven that getting the right amount of sleep is essential for anyone who wants to perform well in any activities they do. However for a senior in high school who takes a majority of advanced level courses, works and is involved in three extracurricular clubs, it can be quite difficult, if not impossible, to get in bed before 10 p.m. Trust me, I know from experience.

So the next time you see someone dozing off, remember that it could easily be you. Put away the cameras and the heavy hands, and simply try to wake the person up.