American University students are struggling to stay awake.

Sleep deprivation, known as one of the most serious problems in the United States, has taken a toll on college students.

During our interview, AU Sophomore Suraj Sethi could barely keep his eyes open.

“I’m so tired right now. I’m pretty dead. I didn’t get enough sleep last night,” he said.

Sethi says he rarely ever gets the recommended eight hours of sleep.

“I get like two hours just because of my workload, and I have class in the morning and I’m staying up real late at night,” he said.

Aside from homework, students attribute extracurricular clubs, internships and partying to their lack of sleep. Mary Peck, a nurse at Sibley Hospital advises students not to spread themselves too thin.

“The purpose of a college campus is learning. If you are sleep deprived…we know that it effects memory and learning, so you’re actually defeating your purpose for being here,” she said.

Peck adds that sleep deprivation can have more serious long-term effects.

“Sleep deprivation over a long period of time weakens your immune system. You tend to get sicker than you would have if your immune system was healthy. It takes longer to recover,” she said.

Luckily students can soon catch up on sleep, as winter break is just a few short weeks away.

On October 20, Hanson came to the American University campus to take students on a mile-long, barefoot walk around campus.

“We said the best way to understand someone else’s plight is to walk in their shoes, so in this case we’re walking in their lack of shoes,” said Isaac Hanson.

This type of event is a part of their Take the Walk campaign, which raises money to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa.

“A clean water well will be drilled, a school will be built…shoes will be given. One dollar towards that cause for your walk today,” said Zac Hanson.

This walk is one of many that Hanson has sponsored to support their cause. So far, the group, along with fans, have walked 34,032 miles. Colleen Bridges, a loyal Hanson fan, has walked 22 of these miles.

“It’s important over there in Africa to help and stuff and to make these kids feel strong in life,” she said.

Hanson’s will be walking their next mile in Denton, Texas on Nov. 7.

There’s a widespread addiction on the George Washington University campus.

“I think there’s an obsession with Twitter,” says Menachem Wecker, the writer and editor of GW Today.

This obsession hasn’t gone unnoticed. The new Twitter study named GWU the “most active college for Twitter use.”

For the past few months, Wecker has been using Twitter primarily to promote his new on-line publication and to gather information for story ideas.

“It’s really great to be able to sort-of connect in real time with students as stories are happening,” says Wecker.

When deciding the rankings, study researchers only counted Twitter accounts directly tied to university administration, but students say they tweet just as much as their professors.

“I use it probably mostly for news. It’s really convenient to get all your headlines and  your topics,” says GWU student Conor Rogers.

At GWU, researcher counted 17 faculty accounts with more than 7,000 followers.

The 19th annual Best of Bethesda festival drew many people out of their homes and onto the streets Saturday afternoon.

Many families came for the free dance lessons, food samples and prizes, while others, like Skip Shorb, a vendor at the festival, came to make a difference. He, along with other vendors, paid a $1500 sponsorship fee for a booth at the event.

“We spend a lot of our time supporting numerous cancer type situations,” he says.

The festival benefits the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health, a place for sick children to stay with their families while receiving treatment.

Eric Esarte, 25, is a patient at the NIH. Doctors diagnosed him with cancer more than two years ago.

“I was in Canada doing my treatment. And when I  finished all my options in Canada for treatment, one of my doctors referred me down here.”

Two stem-cell transplants later, Eric is almost fully recovered. He left the Saturday’s event with great news: he gets to return home to Canada next week.

“It’s been a great experience. It felt like home as much as home can feel like for having to be down here for so long and for the reasons we’re down here.”

The Children’s Inn booth was busy all day with festival patrons.  It also drew crowds from the Taste of Bethesda festival, which was taking place right across the street.

The same virus that tore through the University of Maryland seems to be making its way onto the American University campus.

Samantha Grody, a sophomore at AU, contracted swine flu two weeks ago.

“I woke up and I literally could not move. And I had a really high fever and like was kind of shaking and I was really nauseous and…it was bad. And so I went to the health center and I had swine flu,” says Grody.

She is one of 40 reported cases so far this semester. According to Dan Bruey, the director of the Student Health Center, it’s only a matter of time before the number of cases increase.

“We probably will see a lot more cases as we go through the fall and seasonal flu starts, as well,” says Bruey.

AU will require all faculty and students to evacuate the campus if there is a pandemic, but the semester isn’t over as classes will resume online.

In the meantime, the university is taking preventative action, such as setting up hand-sanitizing stations on campus and offering free seasonal flu shots.

While Bruey expects an increase in cases, he is confident the virus won’t get a firm grasp on the university. Grody, on the other hand, says it already has.

“A lot of people just aren’t saying that they have it and so AU doesn’t know how many people in reality are getting it and how sick everyone’s getting,” she says.

The H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive on AU’s campus late next month.