Students at NYU Abu Dhabi wield their all-nighters like trophies, humble-bragging under the pretense of complaining about how tired they are. Jokes are made about 13-minute naps and snoozing during day because lack of sleep at normal hours is a badge of honor, testament to the hard miles pulled at night. “Look at my work ethic,” we subconsciously scream. “I work so much harder than you.”

The ultra-competitive environment at NYUAD contributes to the pressure to reduce hours spent sleeping and increase hours camped out in the library, before it hits midnight and students begin the collective migration to the private ARC rooms. Our instinctive response to “How are you?” is no longer, “Good,” but a begrudging, “Tired,” that alludes to all the work we’ve been doing.

Unfortunately for the workaholics, a regular sleep schedule is one of the most important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. The negative effects that sleep deprivation have on your body are not immediately noticeable, but are hugely damaging in the long run to all aspects of your wellbeing.

The most common reason for forgoing sleep is to cram in work that wasn’t done during the day. Whether this is due to other commitments or simply procrastination, it’s easy to find ourselves awake at 4 a.m., wishing we had started earlier. In these situations, sleep becomes a luxury, one that is easily neglected because of other priorities. The truth is that sleep should always be a top priority.

In reality, sleep deprivation does far more to harm productivity than boost it by working through the night. Studies conducted show participants who slept after studying a simple task were able to perform much better, suggesting that sleep helps to refresh and store memory and increase brain function. The sleeping brain has the ability to comb through information and sort it into categories for ease of access. This means that pulling an all-nighter before an exam is actually harmful to information retention; the best thing you can do the night before is simply sleep.

The physical detriments of sleep deprivation are so varied and numerous that it would be impossible to touch on all of them in a single article. A sustained lack of sleep makes you much more susceptible to stroke risk, obesity, diabetes risk, osteoporosis and cancer risk, among many others.

Of particular concern to college students however, is sleep’s effect on metabolism and exercise. Reduced sleep triggers your appetite more in response to pictures of food, meaning that you’re more likely to overeat and binge on unhealthy foods. A few nights of bad sleep is enough to start slowing down your metabolism as insulin production reduces.

Studies show that adults who slept for only four hours four nights in a row had insulin levels equal to those of obese and diabetic people, and it took three times more insulin to process the same amount of sugar. A lack of sleep also takes a hit to your energy levels, making you unmotivated to exercise. This means that sustained sleep deprivation is likely to lead to rapid weight gain. To those avoiding the Freshman 15: your bed is your new best friend.

Strong links have been found between sleep deprivation and emotional instability. Parts of the brain in control of emotions are overactive after skipping a night of sleep, meaning that we are likely to react much more strongly when tired. People who were shown negative images after being kept awake for 35 hours were found to have 60 percent more activity in the emotional centers of the brain.

Being sleep deprived reverts the brain back to its most primitive state and we lose restraint in our actions towards others. When we are constantly surrounded by people, this has the potential to wreak havoc on our relationships. From freaking out over your roommate’s dirty dishes to snapping at your professors, loss of control over your emotions has its consequences. Not only this, but being in a tumultuous emotional state can make you unmotivated and take its toll on your grades in the long run.

Lack of sleep shouldn’t be a competition, nor should it be testament to how deserving we each are of being at this school. The consequences of sleep deprivation are hugely damaging to your grades, physical health and relationships in the long run; it simply isn’t worth procrastinating during the day just to work through the entire night. Those sleepless nights will add up fast, which is why it’s of the utmost importance to fall into a regular sleeping schedule while we’re young. Your body will thank you.