Umfrage: Müde Schüler: Fast jeder zweite klagt über Schlafprobleme

Fast every second student in grades five through ten complains about sleep issues, according to a large-scale survey commissioned by health insurer DAK. Sixty-nine percent of respondents feel exhausted at least once a week, and 49 percent reported a reduced sense of well-being. Only 57 percent of students look positively upon their own future.

The trend, according to the source, is negative everywhere. The DAK Prevention Radar, which has been conducted annually since 2016 by the Institute for Therapy and Health Research, is now in its tenth year. The survey, which focuses on well-being and health behavior, involved around 30,000 children and teenagers from 141 general education secondary schools in 15 federal states - all except Saarland - in the 2025/2026 school year.

Exhaustion and sleep problems are linked to poor academic performance in Germany, as DAK chief Andreas Storm noted. Health literacy is needed to help students deal with such burdens. Sleep problems have increased in recent years, with 36 percent reporting them in the 2019/2020 school year, up from 46 percent the previous year. In the 2025 Pisa study, German students performed the weakest they ever have, testing on reading, math, and science skills among approximately 6,700 15-year-olds.

The Bundesschülerkonferenz also attributed weak performance to factors such as performance pressure, bullying, social media use, and lack of well-being in school.