College Students Spend $1,070 a Year on Wellness, but Many Still Report Burnout
Krissy Vann | Host, All Things Fitness and Wellness
College students are spending more than $1,000 annually on wellness products and health-tracking tools, but new survey data suggests collecting more health information does not necessarily translate into changes in behavior.
Circadian health company Owaves surveyed 1,000 U.S. college students for its inaugural Body Clock Report, examining wellness spending, health tracking, sleep habits and self-reported measures of mental wellbeing and burnout.
Students reported spending an average of $1,070 per year on wellness products and health-tracking tools. Eight in 10 respondents said they use at least one health app or tracker, and 58% of tracker users check their data at least once a day.
Despite that level of engagement, one in five tracker users reported making no behavioral changes based on the information they collect.
The survey also found relatively high levels of self-reported stress and exhaustion. During the previous month, 47% of respondents said they often or always felt anxious and overwhelmed, while the same percentage reported feeling emotionally exhausted. Forty percent reported feeling cynical about school, 38% experienced loneliness or social disconnection and 37% felt unable to keep up.
“These findings highlight the interesting crossroads at which we find ourselves: people are collecting and tracking more personal data than ever, but are still not sure how to use it to improve overall health and wellbeing,” said Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA, Founder and CEO of Owaves.
The survey also examined students' understanding of circadian rhythms, the approximately 24-hour biological cycles involved in regulating sleep and wakefulness and other physiological processes.
Owaves reported that 47% of respondents correctly understood the concept, while 53% did not.
Students who correctly understood circadian rhythms also reported several behavioral and wellbeing differences. Forty-seven percent said they went to bed at the same time each night, compared with 37% of students who did not correctly understand circadian rhythms.
The group was also more likely to report rarely feeling lonely, at 27% compared with 18%, and reported lower levels of anxiety, emotional exhaustion and academic overwhelm.
The results show an association between circadian knowledge, consistent routines and several measures of wellbeing, but the survey does not establish that understanding or aligning with a body clock directly caused those outcomes.
Sleep supplementation was another area where the survey identified a gap between consumer spending and behavioral approaches. Thirty-two percent of students reported using melatonin or another sleep supplement during the previous year. Meanwhile, 58% said they had never tried consistently going to bed at the same time each night. Seventeen percent had used a sleep supplement without first trying a consistent bedtime.
Kamyar argues that consumers could benefit from looking beyond sleep alone and considering how other daily behaviors align with their circadian rhythms.
“We have made so much incredible progress in our medical and scientific understanding of sleep over the past 10 years. But it’s only one part of the equation for aligning a person’s body clock,” said Kamyar.
He described a broader approach as “rhythmmaxxing,” which involves considering the timing of activities including meals, exercise, focused work, social activity and sleep.
The findings come as wearable technology, wellness apps, supplements and other consumer health products give individuals access to an expanding amount of personal health information.
For fitness and wellness businesses, the survey points to a potential challenge beyond simply providing consumers with more metrics. As tracking becomes increasingly commonplace, the value of health technology may depend more heavily on whether businesses can turn collected data into understandable and actionable behaviors.
The Owaves findings are based on self-reported survey responses from college students and should be interpreted as associations rather than evidence that circadian knowledge or particular routines directly improve mental health.
