Science Majors and Lack of Sleep

Often I wonder why does it have to be that some majors in college have to come near killing themselves to performing well in their field. Say in the natural sciences you can see people who more or less live in the department hall, doing research, homework, or some other task. They don't have much of a life outside of college, there simply isn't any time to, and often they'll have been up all night work. Its understandable that they want to succeed but when the key to success often means living off of 3 hours of sleep on a couch in front of your professors office and live in an adderall and Red Bull delirium just to sustain yourself for the long haul there simply is something that is not right about that. Science of all fields in my mind excite the imagination the most, but from my short time as a science major, the actual curriculum  takes away magic and excitement and leaves me burnt out, caffeine saturated, and questioning am I really smart enough to do what I love to do. Or at least love in idea. Maybe this is all still new to me and eventually I'll get used to the little sleep and burnt out attitude all the time but its still concerning to see that this is what is required to perform in a field known for its potential to excite the imagination.