Caffeine by day, melatonin by night: Inside the college sleep cycle

By Skylar Kirby

News and Engagement Editor

Before walking to her 8 a.m. class, Libby VanHeemst grabs a cotton candy Alani to give her an extra boost of energy for the day.

“I don’t go a day without drinking an energy drink in the morning, preferably an Alani,” said VanHeemst, a criminal justice major. “It’s just a part of my routine and I can’t go without it.”

As VanHeemst gets ready for bed, she grabs the Melatonin sitting on her desk and takes two.

“I take one or two every night. I like to think it helps, so I just continue to take them,” said VanHeemst.

As college semesters ramp up with assignments due and tests on the calendar, students often suffer from a lack of sleep causing them to use stimulants during the day and then to use supplements to sleep at night. 

According to The National Library of Medicine, 92% of college students consume up to 800mg of caffeine per day, double the recommended dosage. 

Around 58% of college students use Melatonin supplements, while 22% reported using it daily.  Melatonin is a supplement that mimics a hormone in the body that regulates the sleep cycle. 

While college student reliance on both caffeine and sleep aids is a clear trend around the country and on campus, both physical and mental health practitioners on campus say normal doesn’t mean healthy and are working to educate students on the impact of these substances. 

“Caffiene is the most psychoactive drug in the world,” said Charly Taylor, family nurse practitioner and director of the university clinic. 

Psychoactive drugs include caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin, LSD, cannabis, and more. The World Health Organization describes psychoactive drugs as substances that, when taken into the body’s system, affect mental processes. 

“Pre- Alani, you would have only heard phrases like ‘I’m not going to make it throughout the day unless I have my beer or xyz.’ And now we hear ‘I’m not going to make it throughout the day without an Alani,’” said Taylor. 

Amy Smith, associate professor of psychology, said a lot of students use caffeine in a self-defeating way, without even realizing it. 

“Energy drinks don’t actually give you energy, they steal energy from another part of your day,” said Smith. “This is what causes the crash, which then might lead you to drink more caffeine.”

The body creates a resilience to caffeine when overly consumed. According to Healthline, caffeine tolerance occurs when the effects of caffeine decrease over time with regular consumption. 

“If you’re using it every day, you’re really not getting the benefit anymore, you’re just essentially maintaining a chemical addiction at that point,” said Smith.

Smith said caffeine itself is not bad, it is the over consumption of it that has become desensitized.

“For me to say caffeine is the most widely used substance in the world is fine, but for me to say caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance has a whole different weight to it,” said Taylor. “Yes, maybe those substances sit on a spectrum of dangerous versus not so dangerous, but they live on the same spectrum.”

Sleep aids are pills taken to make it easier to fall asleep or stay asleep. They can be over the counter, a natural supplement or prescribed, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Smith said Melatonin is the most common sleep aid she sees college students taking. 

“Melatonin is a natural hormone that our body makes. It’s what makes us feel sleepy,” said Smith.

Esmeralda Ramirez, a counselor at the Trevecca Counseling Center, said when students take melatonin every night, the body has to do unnecessary work.

“We aren’t waiting for our bodies natural melatonin to kick in. It makes the body have to do extra work, instead of following its natural rhythm,” said Ramirez. 

According to a study in Nutraceuticals World, young adults need only a small amount of melatonin to function properly. The research examines typical dosage and their effects, showing that just 0.1 to 0.3 mg is sufficient to regulate levels. Higher dosages deliver more melatonin than the body requires. 

“Most people don’t need melatonin regularly. If your circadian rhythm is working as it should be, you’re releasing melatonin naturally,” said Smith. 

Taylor said getting through the day with caffeine and then stopping it with melatonin is not healthy and should not be a daily routine for college students. 

“It will wear your heart out. Think about it, you’re asking it to go, go, go, and then hit the break,” said Taylor. 

Ramirez said if students prioritized quality rest, their bodies will naturally give them energy for the day, and then produce the natural melatonin at night.

“Some might say they can’t make it throughout the day without both a stimulant and sleep aid, but in reality it will cause more harm. There will be this part of their brain that has it engraved as a need,” said Ramirez.