The Finals Week Effect: How Caffeine and Lack of Sleep Negatively Impact Students

 By: Daisy Davis

You pop open the tab on your third energy drink of the day and start on another assignment. Although the paper will be written by 11:59, the effects of the caffeine will linger well into the night and may cause you to lose a little more sleep than intended.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, caffeine works by blocking Adenosine. Adenosine is a sleep inducing chemical that works as a signal to let your body know that you are tired.

With finals week in full swing, students are neglecting sleep in favor of an extra few hours of studying. 

Kelly Sullivan, an associate professor at Georgia Southern and a neuroepidemiologist, said that neglecting to establish a healthy sleep-wake cycle is not the best idea.

"When adjusting to schedule changes, it's even more important to maintain good sleeping habits," Sullivan said.

Sullivan says that neglecting this sleep could be detrimental to our daily energy levels and moods.

Despite this warning, many university students will compromise their sleep to get through the last week of assignments.

Ieva Evaltatie is a senior at Georgia Southern University studying physics. With graduation just a week away, Ieva said she is doing more work than ever and getting less sleep.

"My finals week is very busy," Evaltatie said. "I have two finals this week, multiple assignments, and a few papers to submit before graduation."

Evaltatie said she was used to getting 8 hours of sleep per night, but she has had to sacrifice a few of these hours in order to get her work done.

"This week, I have been gettinga bout 5 hours of sleep per night," Evaltatie said. "My schedule this week will definitely make me sleep even less, and sleep is the first thing I'm going to sacrifice."

Saniyah Woullard, an exercise science major at the University of Georgia, tracks her sleep and her caffeine intake. In these last few weeks of classes, she has seen a noticeable shift.

"I'm used to getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night, but that hasn't been the case recently," Woullard said. "I also usually have 200 milligrams of caffeine a day to stay energized throughout the day and to do all of my workouts and assignments."

Woullard said that this week she has not been keeping up with her caffeine, but that she drinks about two energy drinks a day and a coffee most mornings.

"I have only been getting about 6 hours of sleep per night this week," Woullard said. "That may be enough for some people, but I can notice I feel a lot less energetic than usual."

Evaltatie said that she typically drinks two caffeinated beverages every day, but during finals week she has exceeded this multiple times. 

"I usually try and avoid energy drinks, but it's almost impossible with all that I have to do right now," Evaltatie said.

According to Harvard Assistant Professor of Medicine, Lawrence Epstein, M.D., lack of sleep can lead to cognitive decline.

"When people don't get enough sleep, they're going to notice how it impacts their life," Lawrence said. "Your reaction time will lengthen, you'll become inattentive, and you won't respond well to signals in your environment."

Lawrence said that poor sleep can impact neurological performance and make your brain feel fuzzy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 88 percent of people who regularly consume caffeine in the afternoon also report at least one sleep problem.

So, before staying up those extra few hours, it might be beneficial to consider the impact it could have on your neurological and physical function throughout the following day.

Sullivan said that without sufficient sleep, our minds are unable to clear out "waste", and our bodies are unable to recover for the day ahead of us.

Even with finals week looming, maintaining a good sleep schedule and limiting overconsumption of caffeine may help you stay ahead of the curve.

Artificial Intelligence's Effects On the Workforce and Students Post Graduation

 By Aidan Stacy

Artificial Intelligence has become a growing tool used by students and professionals to help assist them in their academic, professional, and personal lives, but there are also some concerns about the new technology as it continues to develop. 

As AI continues to grow in its knowledge and capabilities, aspects of humans’ lives could be upset. The economy and positions in the workforce are at risk of being affected or replaced by AI. The way that people travel and communicate will also be affected by the updates made to AI. 

In recent years, AI has risen in popularity in schools amongst students, who use it for help with their schoolwork. In the long term, there are unanswered questions among professionals about what it is capable of. 

“I’ve had professors who have given assignments where we’ve been told to use AI to complete it,” said Marketing Senior Olivia Akers. “It feels so wrong using it, and it feels even more wrong when a professor says that they’ve used it.”

AI platforms like ChatGPT have adopted skills to perform daily tasks and answer questions, leading to humans being replaced by it. For students graduating with undergraduate degrees who plan on entering the workforce, AI could make finding those entry-level jobs challenging. 

One of the tasks that ChatGPT will do is create graphics and images. 

Sarah Ballard is a graphic design major who is graduating this May from Georgia Southern University. 

“You can tell when something is done by AI,” Sarah Ballard said. “The graphics all have a consistent look.”

Ballard isn’t worried that AI is going to take any future job she gets in graphic design, even though it is one of the skills AI platforms can produce. 

“I don’t think that the graphics are up to professional standard,” Ballard said. “It doesn’t compare to what a human can spend time making.” 

An article published by Southern New Hampshire University quoted the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They projected that by 2034, the top 5 most projected jobs to get replaced by AI are administrative support workers, cashiers, customer support representatives, data entry keyers, and office clerks. 

Online platforms like ChatGPT aren’t the only kinds of AI that have been introduced to people. 

There are a number of different kinds of AI, and some of them are more obvious than others. There are the obvious forms of AI, like self-driving cars.

In certain cities in the United States, people can request self-driving cars on the Uber app. This feature eliminates the need for a driver, leaving the ride completely technologically driven. This means there is no need for human interaction. 

If AI tools like self-driving cars branch out into more cities and states across the United States, communication skills that people have could decrease in the long run, with the limited exposure to people.  

Another form of AI is Grammarly. Grammarly is an online tool that uses AI to correct people’s grammar and spelling errors as they are writing. These tasks are often completed by copyeditors. Students at Georgia Southern University have free accounts when they sign up through their school emails. 

Not only is AI beginning to replace some humans in the workforce, but employers are using it in the hiring process. Some businesses use AI to complete the first round of interviews for potential employees looking to be hired. Questions will be sent out, and interviewees record their answers, and the answers are automatically sent in once the video is stopped.

One example of this is HireVue. On this platform, interviewees have an option to answer timed practice questions and complete assessments mid-interview. 

While some roles may seem threatened by the growth of AI, there are other careers that are more secure.

According to the US Career Institute, the jobs with the lowest percentage of getting replaced by AI are nurse practitioners, choreographers, and physician assistants. 

“Artificial Intelligence will never be able to teach students in post-secondary education how to be a nurse or a doctor,” said Natalie Charton, a senior nursing student. “Those kinds of jobs will never be at risk of being replaced by AI.”

Students trying to find entry-level jobs will be directly affected by the rise of AI, but it isn't just the students who need to worry.

With the effect that AI could have on the job market, the economy will be affected as well. 

 Reagan Voelp is graduating with her master’s degree in accounting. 

“When people are employed and are making a steady income, then they’ll be spending more money on consumer goods,” said Voelp.

Sleep Deprivation and Its Affect On Our Bodies

 By: Kyle Arnold

When students reach the college level and step into the work world afterwards, they tend to lose sleep due to a certain number of reasons. It could be due to stress, insomnia, depression etc. 

It also doesn’t help that people have sacrificed time to sleep in order to give their attention to completing other tasks. Whatever the reason, it has been suggested that lack of sleep can lead to negative impacts on the body. This article is meant to prove or disprove those claims and to see why it happens if they are. 

As mentioned before, lack of sleep has been suggested to be linked to mental health decline. It has also been suggested to lead to problems in other parts of the body like the immune system or the cardiovascular system, as well.

We spoke with Dr. Cassandra Baldwin, a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University, about if it is true that sleep deprivation can have this kind of effect. She started by talking about how it can impair motor skills.

“Motor control is compromised when you’re not getting enough sleep thanks to weakened communication between different brain areas,” Dr. Baldwin said.

This mainly happens because the brain is trying its hardest to keep you awake. While its focus is somewhere else, the brain will have trouble with keeping you running smoothly.

Afterwards Dr. Baldwin mentioned that there is also research that found that the cardiovascular system is weakened while the body suffers from sleep deprivation. This can lead to a 20% higher chance of experiencing a heart attack, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

It has also been found that sleep deprivation does have a link to mental health decline. There were studies that featured 21 to 30 year olds that found that people who had insomnia were four times as likely to develop depression in the following three years, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

The decline in mental health is also a factor to sleep deprivation which leads to further mental health decline. Dr. Baldwin as able to corroborate those findings.

The mental health decline from sleep deprivation can to lead to worse sleep and one way is from anxiety. When you’re anxious or experiencing stress, your fight or flight response is activated, so adrenaline is always getting released to your brain to keep it awake, according to Dr. Baldwin.

The adrenaline rush keeps you awake because the brain believes that a threat is around that you should be wary of.

So why do people fall into sleep deprivation? Most of the time people have lost sleep by their own hands. Like mentioned before some people sacrifice sleep in order to complete other tasks.

“I feel I don’t get enough sleep because I work late, and then when I get home I have to get all of my homework done,” Allison Mcmillen, a Georgia Southern University student majoring in physics, said. “After that I usually review what I did in my class that day as well.”

There are also some cases where they can’t control it. An example would be insomnia or sleep apnea which are big problems to people who are inflicted by those conditions.

Sleep insomnia is a sleeping disorder that makes it hard for someone to sleep or stay asleep during the night, as defined by the Cleveland Clinic. About 1 in 3 of adults worldwide have shown its symptoms. Sleep apnea is when one’s breathing stops and starts several times during sleep.

When asked about sleep insomnia, Dr. Baldwin claimed that it is mainly caused due to stress in their daily lives. Then sleep apnea is caused because the brain feels like it isn’t getting enough oxygen. This is mainly caused by a blockage in the airway or something going wrong in the brain.

In order to avoid sleep deprivation problems, it has been recommended that the correct amount of sleep is about seven to nine hours. When asked about the accuracy of those claims, Dr. Baldwin stated that it is true, but there are some special cases where people can function with less.

“Those are special cases and that usually requires a different brain system or special genes,” Dr. Baldwin said.

If you’re someone that doesn’t get the best sleep, it is mainly due to the amount of light that we let in when it is almost time to sleep.

“If there’s a lot of light in the environment, that tells our brains that we should be awake,” said Dr. Baldwin.

Outside of medical conditions like sleep apnea and insomnia, screentime before bed is the main perpetrator of this and Dr. Baldwin suggested that people should read a physical book instead. If people need their screentime, it was suggested to use yellow light filters or a darker screen in order to limit the light.

Esports brings community, competition, and new questions about screen time

 By: Dakota Guy

Chase Bonstall remembers the first time he picked up a controller. He was 3 or 4 years old, standing next to his dad, playing Wii Sports for the first time.

Two decades later, he is running a competitive esports team at Georgia Southern University.

"Being able to have access to basically being able to talk to anybody and then having something you can bond over is incredible," Bonstall said.

Bonstall is the captain and manager of the Smash esports team at Georgia Southern's Virtual Collaboration Center, which opened in November 2023. What started as a childhood hobby has turned into something much bigger, like tournaments, road trips, and friendships that have lasted over a decade.

He is part of a rapidly growing movement. Since 2018, when the National Federation of State High School Associations officially recognized esports as a high school sport, more than 8,600 schools have launched competitive gaming teams. As of 2024, the North America Scholastic Esports Federation supports over 3,500 high school clubs across all 50 states, with additional participation in more than 70 countries. LTN

For Bonstall, the appeal was never just about winning. It was about connection. He said video games helped him make and keep friends during a time when that was not easy.

"I kind of struggled to make a lot of friends in middle school," Bonstall said. "I had some really good close friends that I'm still friends with right now."

Two of those friends he met entirely online. He has known them for about a decade. Last January, they met in person for the first time on a trip to Tennessee.

"It just makes you feel like you're there physically in a sense," Bonstall said.

That sense of belonging is something researchers have started to take seriously. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that playing video games has been shown to enhance a sense of belonging and increase relationships with family and friends. TM Broadcast International

Joshua Farara is a computer programming lecturer at Georgia Southern. He said the technology behind gaming has changed what is possible for everyday people who want to create games, not just play them.

He said artificial intelligence has made it much easier for a single person to build something that used to require an entire team.

"What took a full team of people to create a game, a single person or an individual can create just as robust a game," Farara said. "It kind of lowers the barriers to entry."

Farara said AI tools now allow people to learn as they build. Someone with no coding background can start a project, have the model explain the code and improve their skills along the way.

"The model can teach you," Farara said.

He said that shift matters because independent game developers have long driven some of the most meaningful work in gaming. Unlike big studios chasing profits, solo developers or small teams tend to put more of themselves into their projects.

Bonstall agreed. He said the games that have stuck with him most were not the big budget ones.

"Someone that poured their heart into it and then charged 20 bucks, maybe the graphics aren't that good, but the story and the message that they make is something that actually carries with you," Bonstall said.

Farara said he sees a possible downside to how fast AI is speeding up game production. He said so much code is being generated so quickly that the industry may not have enough experienced engineers to maintain it all.

"Junior-level programmers are producing a lot of code, senior-level programmers are producing a lot of code," Farara said. "It's usually the senior-level programmers who maintain this code."

He said that the imbalance could create problems for the gaming industry in the coming years.

The competitive side of gaming has pushed Bonstall to grow in ways he did not expect. His first big tournament came two years ago at a Smash Bros. event hosted by Bullock Solutions. Around 50 to 60 players showed up. He made it to the top eight.

One match stuck with him. He faced a player at his exact skill level. They went to game five. The crowd was watching. He won.

"Everybody is just freaking out and screaming," Bonstall said. "Even if I wasn't the player that people were cheering for, that is such an experience to have."

He has since traveled to tournaments at the University of Georgia and competed at DreamHack. He drives his teammates in his SUV, manages the logistics, and tries to keep everyone calm before they compete.

Mentality, he said, is everything in esports.

"If you're in your own head, then everything's gonna crumble pretty fast," Bonstall said. "It's a lot of micro decision-making that leads up to a lot of big impacts."

He learned that the hard way at DreamHack. He lost early to a top player from South Carolina. His hands were sweaty. He could not focus. He got knocked out of the tournament early.

He used that loss to change his approach. At the next tournament at UGA, he stayed calm and won his first match convincingly.

"That made me feel a lot better about where my mentality was," Bonstall said. "I understood that I overcame a hurdle I was struggling with."

Research supports what Bonstall describes. A 2025 study published in the proceedings of the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems found that teen esports players tied their mental well-being to collective outcomes and social responsibility. Researchers also found that teens favored everyday coping strategies like taking breaks, reframing losses, and drawing on peer encouragement over formal support programs. LTN

Not everyone sees esports and gaming through the same lens. Hannah Abt is a 26-year-old new mother in Statesboro. Her son Titus is 2 years old. She and her husband have made a deliberate choice to limit his screen time during these early years.

"In a world of AI and technology literally everywhere, we try to limit Titus and how much he's on it," Abt said.

She said she sees too many young children being handed screens without much thought. While her husband plays video games and they have talked about introducing Titus to them when he is older, she wants to hold off for now.

"I don't want him to be behind the curve," Abt said. "But I don't think I'm going to allow him to have a phone for a while."

Bonstall said he understands that concern. He grew up with grandparents who were skeptical of gaming. But he said his experience tells a different story.

He credits video games with helping him stay emotionally grounded. He said learning to handle losses, frustration and pressure in a game prepared him for real situations where consequences actually matter.

"I've learned how to handle my emotions as a kid," Bonstall said. "I'm a lot more emotionally intelligent because of that."

For Bonstall, the goal now is to grow the esports scene at Georgia Southern and connect with schools across the state. He has already built relationships with players at UGA and has contacts at Georgia Tech. He is planning to take his team to Game Fest at Georgia Tech, a two-day tournament that draws top players from across Georgia.

He also wants to eventually build a full broadcast setup at the Virtual Collaboration Center, with cameras, microphones and live commentary.

"I would really like to be able to have a TV setup and a mic and be able to broadcast stuff," Bonstall said. "That would just be so cool to me."

Sources

Trotter, M.G., et al. "Examining the Impact of School Esports Program Participation on Student Health and Psychological Development." Frontiers in Psychology, Jan. 24, 2022. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.807341/full

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. "Becoming a Healthy Player: Exploring Teen Esports Players' Perspectives on Mental Well-Being through Participatory Design." 2025. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3772318.3791938

Personalized nutrition reshapes how people approach diets

 By: Madlen Wendland

One plate holds eggs and avocado. Another has oatmeal topped with berries. A third has a biscuit with hash browns. Breakfast can look different for everyone, but the choices are not random. They are personal and reflect how people view food.

A similar idea is the growing trend of personalized nutrition, where diets are tailored to the individual and their genes, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. In addition, personalized nutrition focuses more on individual needs, habits, and health goals.

At its core, the idea is simple. No two people or their bodies are the same, so diets should be different too.

“Nutrition is a science, not an opinion,” Madison Crockett, assistant director of nutrition and sustainability at Georgia Southern University, said. “It is how your body processes what you eat and breaks it down into the nutrients it needs to function.”

Research is constantly evolving when it comes to studying factors such as genetics, metabolism, lifestyle, and how processes differ from person to person. According to “Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism” by Sareen S. Gropper and Jack L. Smith, nutritional genomics is a growing field that examines how genes and the environment interact to influence health and disease risk.

Crockett also said that many people misunderstand what eating healthy looks like.

“A lot of people expect restrictions and rules,” Crockett said. “They think healthy food does not taste good, but that is a huge misconception.”

Rebekah Leger, a registered dietitian at Georgia Southern, connects this misconception to the failure of regular diets.

“People have followed generic diet advice for years and wondered why it is not working for everyone,” Leger said. “This is where personalized nutrition comes into play. It helps to explain those differences and why some things work better for one person and not for another.”

Leger works closely with some professors who conduct research in the field of genetics in relation to nutrition, and said that some research approaches focus on genetics and suggest that DNA can influence how people process nutrients or respond to certain foods. However, the science in this field is still new and developing.

“There is not enough strong evidence to give specific advice based only on genetics,” Leger said. “But it can show if someone may be more predisposed to certain diseases and what could help to prevent or reduce the risk or progression.”

According to “Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism” gene variations can lead to conditions like diabetes or food intolerance if combined with environmental factors like diet.

Both dietitians say that genetics is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to personalized nutrition, and many other factors must be taken into consideration.

“Things like sleep, stress, activity, and just the overall lifestyle are all factors that impact a person’s health,” Crockett said. “If all these factors are taken into account, plus a person’s genetic material, personalized nutrition has real potential to improve health outcomes.”

For Karlee Wells, a biology student at Georgia Southern University who is currently on a nutrition plan, the combination of genetics and lifestyle factors changed her eating habits and improved her life immensely.

“I thought I was doing everything right,” Wells said. “I ate healthy and followed a high-protein diet, but I was still always tired. Then I learned more about genetics and the influence it can have on nutrition, and since I started a personalized diet and nutrition, it clicked for me.”

After adjusting her meals to her body and focusing more on sleep and recovery, Wells began to feel better. She said that, due to social media, she was influenced a lot by the idea that one diet is best and should work for everyone. However, she realized that being healthy was not just about food.

Leger said that this is one of the biggest benefits of personalized nutrition. It looks at the full picture and everything that makes the person, instead of focusing on a single factor like calories or carbs.

“People often think there is an easy fix to eating healthier,” Leger said. “Like if I do this, then I’ll get that result. But nutrition does not work like this.”

One of the biggest challenges nutrition has is behavior. Leger said that if you are not willing to fix your behavior and follow a plan made for you, whether personalized or not, nothing will change.

Looking ahead, both nutritionists say that personalized nutrition will likely continue to evolve as research and technology improve. Social media will play a big part in people’s behavior and beliefs, depending on what is currently trending.

“It is hard to predict where things will go,” Crockett said. “But I hope we continue to focus on balance and science-based information rather than trends.”

Breakfast might still look different for everyone, but those differences are no longer based on trends or guessing. They reflect the growing understanding that nutrition looks different for everyone and is not one-size-fits-all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Georgia’s Sea Turtles Are Back

By: Tristin Harrell

As summer approaches and beach goers flock to the coast, but the barrier islands of Georgia are preparing for a different kind of visitor.

Georgia’s coastal waters are home to five of the world’s seven sea turtle species. The barrier islands house over 4000 nests for these creatures. Most of these nests are laid by the largest hard-shelled sea turtle species, the loggerhead sea turtle. 

May 1, 2026 marks the first day in this year’s nesting season. From early May to late October, the animals will return to their home and lay eggs, a cycle that will be repeated by the hatchlings. However, the process is anything but simple and with human interference running rampant on the beaches, the sea turtles are facing an uphill battle.

Tybee Island recently lost over $12 million, which would have been used for beach renourishment. Beach renourishment is the process of pumping sand from the ocean floor to the beaches. For Tybee Island, this meant erosion will continue impacting their community.

“I’m expecting to see a lot more false crawls,” said Tybee Island Marine Science Center program director, Allison Caldwell. Caldwell described a false crawl to be a female turtle doing a U-turn on the beach. This would mean the soon-to-be mother turtle would not lay her eggs on Tybee’s shores.

False crawls can happen for a number of reason, not just a lack of sand. While long walks on the beach sounds nice, experts like Caldwell wish more people would exercise caution during sea turtle season.

 

“They’re very sensitive to light on the beach,” said Caldwell. “We don’t want to disorient them or spook them or stress them out in any way. If you’re going to be walking the beach at night, use the light of the moon, that’s definitely the best thing.”

Lights from flashlights and nearby buildings are disorienting for sea turtles, which may mistaken the light for the moon. Tybee Island currently has a “Lights Out” ordinance which requires all artificial lights be turned off after 10pm during nesting season.

Human interference happens throughout the day, not just when the sun goes down. Building sand castles and digging sandy holes has become quite synonymous with beach trips. These alterations are being left behind with no regard to animals, though.

“Fill in all your holes that are on the beach,” said Jekyll Island Sea Turtle Center director, Jaynie Gaskin. “Even if you think it’s a smaller hole, imagine being a little hatchling that’s only a couple inches long, and crawling down the beach, and falling into something and being stuck. That definitely makes them vulnerable to predators or even just dehydration when it’s really hot.”

Gaskin’s team at the center plays a pivotal role in the sea turtle conservation efforts on the coast. Part of the team exclusively works to protect the island and any nests that are found. Nests are then roped off to caution beach goers or relocated to protect the eggs. The other portion of the team works to educate the public through various outlets including a Turtle Trot 5k Walk/Run, which raises money for the center’s sea turtle rehabilitation program.

Most of the sea turtle teams across the barrier islands are staffed with volunteers who are passionate for the cause.

Amy Capello is one of those volunteers. Holding a bachelors and masters degree in biology, with a special interest in wildlife management and conservation; Capello views this opportunity as a way to share her passion and give back to her community.

“My favorite part of this work is the nest sitting,” said Capello. Nest sitting requires trained and authorized volunteers to watch over nests, typically close to hatching time.

“You’ve got 100 babies at your feet making their way down to the water under a starlit sky, its magic,” said Capello.

This magical experience is often interrupted by human impact. Recalling a time when a hatchling got stuck in a simple footprint, Capello wishes more people understood the delicate event.

Believing a symbiotic relationship between human and sea turtle is possible, the best ways beach goers can aid in nesting season is by advocating, educating and donating. Advocate for stricter beach rules during nesting season. Educate yourself and fellow beachgoers on important topics like limiting artificial lights, filling in any holes and picking up trash found along the coast. Donate to ethical wildlife centers that work to protect sea turtles and natural habitats.

Vaping: Why More Young Adults are Struggling to Quit

 By: Trinity Jackson 

The sweet smell of fruit-flavored vapor has become common on many college campuses, including schools across Georgia. What many students see as a stress reliever or social activity has quickly become a growing health concern among young adults.

Health experts say vaping rates among teenagers and college students continue to raise concerns because of the effects nicotine can have on the brain and body. While many students believe vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes, doctors and researchers warn that vaping still carries serious risks, especially for younger users whose brains are still developing.

At colleges like Georgia Southern University, students say vaping has become almost unavoidable in social settings.

“Almost everybody I know has either tried vaping or owns one,” said Inya Waller, a sophomore student at Georgia Southern. “A lot of people start because their friends do it, then it turns into a daily habit.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nicotine can harm parts of the brain responsible for attention, learning, mood, and impulse control. Young adults may also experience increased anxiety, trouble sleeping, and stronger dependence on nicotine over time.

Carol Lumpkin, a public health researcher who studies nicotine addiction in young adults, said many students underestimate how addictive vaping can become.

“Companies market vaping products with appealing flavors and sleek designs that attract younger users,” Lumpkin said. “Many students believe they can quit whenever they want, but nicotine addiction develops much faster than people realize.”

Researchers also say stress plays a major role in vaping among college students. Between classes, jobs, financial pressure, and social expectations, many young adults turn to vaping as a coping mechanism.

“I started during my freshman year because I was stressed,” said Kambre Gillespie, a 20-year-old college student. “At first it was only when my friends had theirs around, but eventually I bought my own and started using it every day.”

A 2024 national health survey found that millions of middle school, high school, and college-age students reported using e-cigarettes regularly. Many health experts worry that the popularity of flavored disposable vapes continues to make nicotine addiction more common among younger generations.

Experts also say social media has helped increase the popularity of vaping. On platforms like TikTok and Instagram, influencers and creators often post content featuring vape products, making them appear trendy or harmless to younger audiences.

“Social media definitely normalized it,” Waller said. “People make it look cool online, so students don’t always think about the health side of it.”

Beyond addiction, researchers are studying the long-term effects vaping may have on the lungs and heart. Some studies suggest vaping can lead to breathing issues, increased heart rate, chest pain, and inflammation in the body. Because vaping products are still relatively new compared to cigarettes, scientists are continuing to research their long-term health consequences.

The American Lung Association warns that many vaping liquids contain harmful chemicals and ultrafine particles that can damage lung tissue. Some products may also contain heavy metals and toxic substances that users inhale directly into their lungs.

Doctors say another major issue is that many disposable vape products contain extremely high amounts of nicotine. Some devices contain as much nicotine as several packs of cigarettes combined.

“Students don’t realize how much nicotine they’re consuming,” Lumpkin said. “That’s why quitting becomes difficult so quickly.”

Some students say vaping has even started affecting their daily routines and school performance. Students who vape regularly may struggle to focus during class or become irritated when they go long periods without nicotine.

“I noticed I was reaching for it all the time,” Gillespie said. “If I forgot it at home, I couldn’t stop thinking about it during the day.”

Health professionals say vaping addiction can also become expensive for college students already dealing with tuition, housing, and other costs. Disposable vape products can cost students hundreds of dollars each month depending on how often they purchase them.

Despite growing awareness about the risks, many students say stopping is not easy.

“I tried to quit a few times,” Gillespie said. “But once your body gets used to nicotine, it’s harder than people think. You feel irritated and stressed without it.”

Some universities and public health organizations have started offering programs to help students quit vaping through counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, and mental health support. Experts say education is one of the most important tools in preventing addiction before it starts.

Lumpkin believes conversations about vaping need to become more realistic and less judgmental.

“A lot of students already know vaping is unhealthy,” she said. “The bigger issue is helping young people understand why they became dependent on it and giving them resources to quit successfully.”

As vaping continues to remain popular among young adults, health experts say awareness, education, and support systems will play a major role in helping reduce nicotine addiction among the next generation.