I’m irritable and mopey. I have dark circles under my eyes, sluggish movements and may be heard mumbling, “Need to get home.”

I haven’t gotten my nap today.

It has been suggested that I am addicted to naps. Granted, my appearance may at times suggest dependence, but I’m not sure these brief periods of semiconsciousness are so bad. After all, one doesn’t say, “You’re addicted to apples, man,” or “You know, you’ve really got to stop drinking so much milk.”

I’d like to therefore make an appeal to those who chastise us college students for being “lazy” and napping excessively. (Are you listening, parents, educators?)

I know I’m not alone in saying naps are, at times, the best part of my day.

“Half the reason I go to class is because I know I can nap afterwards,” said Mark Dumouchelle, a no-preference sophomore.

Communication sophomore Andrew Zeoli agrees.

“I’d say I’m a professional napper,” he said. “If I could major in napping, I’d sign up today.”

All right, you say, I know naps are great, but they’re just not productive. Would you call yourself productive as you hover half-asleep over your homework, only to intermittently find your face pressed to the page?

Dozing off in the middle of class makes you less able to retain information you heard before, during and after your snooze, Barnard College Health Services reports on its Web site, www.barnard.edu/ health/index.html.

Instead, a real siesta can be more productive than passing out at your desk.

“I know I nap too much,” said Crystal Tobin, a computer science and microbiology sophomore. “I could get to bed sooner, but I’m just more productive at night