Sleeping on campus at Mississippi State can be seen year round, but when the semester comes to an end, and projects and tests pile up, students can be found in many interesting places.
These places include the Mitchell Memorial Library, Union, Barnes & Noble, study lounges in various buildings and any other place where they have something comfortable to sit or lay down on.
“I’m a pretty lethargic type of guy. I’ll bring a book up [to the fifth floor of the library] and I start reading it and I fall asleep,” undeclared sophomore Sam Suttle said.
He said people go to the fifth floor of the library all the time because the room is warm and quiet, which helps people fall asleep. Almost every time he is in the library he sees someone taking a nap, he said.
“There’s a girl asleep over there. She’s passed out. She’s got a blanket and everything,” Suttle said pointing to a sleeping girl.
Circulation reserve supervisor Lee Dempsy said the library staff has seen people every day sleeping somewhere in the library.
“My favorite is when people are on the third or fourth floor on the couches and they’ll take their shoes off and take up the whole couch,” he said.
Previously the library has been voted by students as best place to take a nap on campus, Dempsy said.
“We have no problem with it. None at all. We get a kick out of it,” he said.
Senior management major Hunter Hanson, an information desk staff member in the Union, said he sees at least one person per shift sleeping in the Union, usually in the morning.
Most of the time he sees two to three sleepers throughout his shift, he said.
“This is somewhere where you can actually lay down on something comfortable. Some people have no shame. They’re just sprawled out,” Hanson said.
He said he finds it funny when people wake up and realize he has been sitting there the whole time that they have been asleep, something he said he has experienced personally.
“I was really tired one day and I fled to the chapel,” Hanson said.
He said he was asleep for about 30 minutes and woke up to a guy sitting at the piano waiting for him to wake up so he could play.
“It’s so quiet and comfortable. Of course you’re going to fall asleep,” Hanson said.
People have also been seen taking naps in the bookstore, a Barnes & Noble manager Rita Robinson said.
“I just think the environment is conducive [for sleep],” Robinson said.
The bookstore is quiet and comfortable with some of the reading areas having a relaxed and homey feel, she said.
Hanson said he has seen people laying on the small benches in the atrium of McCool Hall.
Senior international business major Danielle Bremermann said she has seen students sleeping in classroom buildings.
“I have seen people sprawled out on the couches sleeping [in McCool],” Bremermann said.
People sleep there between classes, especially in the morning when it is cold and dreary, she said.
“You sleep between classes to make up for lost sleep. It’s a matter of convenience and exhaustion,” said JaNae’ Taylor, staff psychologist at Student Counseling Services.
When the end of a semester comes, sleep is the first thing to go. Some students are only sleeping two hours a night, she said.
“Unfortunately, once you start to lose sleep, you never really catch up,” Taylor said.
Student Counseling Services is concerned about the sleep students are getting because it is a big part of staying healthy, she said.
“We encourage you to stop and smell the roses so to speak,” Taylor said. “Sometimes if you just get too comfortable, you might fall asleep.”
If students want to be able to concentrate and remember what they have studied, they need to remember to sleep, she said.
“Sleep is very important. To really perform optimally you need eight hours [per night],” Taylor said.
She said she encourages anyone who feels stressed and cannot sleep to go to Student Counseling Services in Lee Hall for help.