SITUATION
This fall, you may arrive on campus with a new schedule, a room key, and big plans.
But you may also arrive exhausted.
You silence the alarm, grab coffee, rush to class, and promise to catch up on sleep over the weekend.
Then assignments pile, group chats buzz, and Sunday night becomes another late night.
People call that college life.
But when exhaustion becomes your most loyal classmate, should we call it normal?
THE WARNING COMES BEFORE MOVE-IN DAY
WAKE-UP CALL
Researchers tracked sleep trends among more than 400,000 U.S. adolescents from 1991 to 2023.
They found record-low sleep levels recently, and only 22% of older teenagers
reached seven hours each night.
Campus culture makes that problem harder to spot.
We praise all-night study sessions, joke about surviving on caffeine, treating exhaustion like proof of hard work.
Then after hearing “everyone is tired” often, students may stop asking whether their sleep has become a health concern.
WHEN “EVERYONE IS TIRED” STOPS BEING FUNNY
It can affect your mood, concentration, memory, reaction time, safety, and academic performance.
National College Health data show that 38.3% of undergraduates said sleep difficulties harmed their academic performance.
Among those, 46.2% said their schoolwork suffered. Indeed, exhaustion does not stay in the bedroom. It haunts!
Still, they often hear the same advice:
put down your phone, skip the late coffee, and go to bed earlier.
These may help after a few difficult nights but persistent insomnia needs more than another list of sleep tips.
PAUSE & CHECK
Do you know when to ask for support? Can you find sleep care on your campus? Would you know where to send a friend who has struggled for weeks?
GIVING TIRED STUDENTS THE NEXT STEP
students, student leaders, and campus teams.
