Reading Day is that special day of the year when college students get to sit back and examine the hellish week ahead of them. While it is intended to be a day of making flash cards and reviewing endless pages of material, somehow everyone always ends up spending the day at the beach.

Though this may seem like an irresponsible move for an overwhelmed college student, studies show that cramming your brain with information all day is not as effective as it may seem. Your mind can’t properly secure all that knowledge without some time to rest and recover from all of its hard work.

Am I urging my fellow students to immediately drop their stack of study guides and settle into a beach chair for the duration of Reading Day? No, but I am saying that some down time seriously helps out when it comes to retaining valuable test information and maintaining a healthy stress level.

One thing that would allow students to achieve a balance between work and rest would be the addition of another Reading Day. An extra 24 hours between the end of classes and the beginning of the most demanding week of the semester would give students time to have the best of both worlds.

The average college student is enrolled in at least five different classes per semester, which all most likely have some sort of final exam. With those five exams shoved into five consecutive days, one would think that the university would give students an ample amount of time to prepare for such a taxing week.

The limited amount of study time given to students affects more than just their stress levels. In order to maximize the hours in a single day, many stay awake into the early hours of the day or even pull all-nighters. Although this is done with good intentions, such an extreme lack of sleep prevents the brain from retaining information and drastically diminishes a person’s ability to concentrate and perform to their potential.

For those that choose to hit the books, the task of staying focused usually does not come easy and many students turn to medication in order to stay awake and concentrate. This is obviously not a healthy strategy because the majority of consumers abuse the prescription drugs bummed off of other students.

Being that Reading Day falls on a Thursday, it makes perfect sense to transform that awkwardly placed Friday into another day dedicated to review. This would allow for a four day recess before the beginning of exams and would group the entirety of exams into one week. Makes more sense, doesn’t it?

In order to help maintain the sanity of college students everywhere, I am calling for an extension of the notorious Reading Day. I am not asking for much – even the addition of a single day would alleviate some of the stress associated with that final tedious week. Just think what we would be able to accomplish if our usual intermission was doubled! There would be less incentive to cram for unhealthy periods of time and more of an opportunity to squeeze in some rest and relaxation before crunch time turns into showtime.