Gen Z is the Old Soul generation
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Meeting friends for dinner at 6pm, throwing on some jazz to relax, and drifting off to sleep by 9pm may sound like perfect weekend plans for grandma. But many in Gen Z are also embracing the early bird lifestyle.
The big picture: Today's youth is surprisingly well-rested, as the big business of sleep and a culture that ditches late night drinks in favor of shut eye flourish.
State of play: Americans between the ages 15 to 34 have incrementally logged more sleep per night over the last decade, data from the American Time Use Survey shows.
- Bed times are shifting earlier for all groups, according to a Jan. 2024 analysis of more than 2 million customers from smart-bed company Sleep Number. But people between 18-34 were getting the most sleep among adults, with an average of 9 hours and 12 minutes per night.
- Rest is also popular on TikTok, with tutorials for the "sleepy girl mocktail" and viral ASMR sleep videos.
- Meanwhile, 5 p.m. dinner reservations are en vogue — as are workout classes in the afternoon, rather than early morning — and old-school hobbies like listening to jazz are making a comeback.
What they're saying: Rita Ezadjian, a 29-year-old therapist, attributes the early bedtimes to being "so mentally exhausted," citing an overexposure to screens.
- Ezadjian winds down early with skincare. She then has a regimen including satin sheets and pillowcases, a humidifier, a purifier, black-out curtains "and all kinds of dramatic stuff to improve sleep health."
- She stops screen usage at least 20 minutes before bed and drinks Tension Tamer teas to relax her mind and body.
"I often catch myself pushing stuff aside because I'd rather sleep early and have a productive next day," Vana Yepremian, a 19-year-old sophomore at Loyola Marymount University, told Axios.
- After classes, extracurriculars and work, all she wants to do is go home and sleep. Without enough, "it throws off my whole schedule."
- Two additional factors driving the culture of restfulness: Gen Z is less into drinking, and fewer young people are dealing with daily commutes in an era of remote work.
Reality check: Not all young people are calling it a night at 9pm.
- Lots "are still staying up late and doing all the fun things that young people do," John Winkelman, head of the sleep disorders clinical research program at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Axios.
- "We do need to remember," Winkelman said, "we may be talking about a small percentage of the population who has the luxury of sleeping more because they don't have the demands that many people do."
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