Gen Z’s Rot-Day Trend Might Be a Sleep-Deprivation Cry for Help
· Vice
“Rot Day” has basically been cemented in the Gen Z vocabulary. It’s a simple practice: you stay in bed all day, ignore responsibilities, binge watch TV, scroll TikTok for six straight hours, order takeout, and fully disengage from society for a bit. Sometimes it’s framed as self-care or even recovery. But usually it’s just somebody under a blanket for 11 hours watching videos and ignoring texts. And a lot of people relate to this.
The rot day trend blew up on TikTok because a lot of younger people are exhausted right now. Work sucks, everyone’s online all the time, everybody’s stressed about money, and phones have basically erased the concept of mentally clocking out. Multiple outlets have covered the rise of “bed rotting” and “rot days,” with people describing them as a way to mentally check out for a while after feeling overwhelmed all week. And rot days don’t really come across as laziness, they feel more like people hitting a wall.
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A huge percentage of Americans already aren’t getting enough sleep per the CDC, and younger generations are dealing with a pretty brutal combination of burnout, stress, doomscrolling, and constant screen time. Many people (including myself) are mentally “on” from the second they wake up until they finally pass out at night.
The problem is that some rot days barely feel relaxing by the end of them. Laying in bed scrolling TikTok or IG Reels for several hours straight can somehow leave people feeling overstimulated and exhausted at the same time. Watching videos in bed all day doesn’t exactly give your brain a break either. There’s also an obvious connection between bad sleep and the urge to rot all day. Exhausted people tend to stay inside more, avoid responsibilities, and spend more time glued to their phones. Then the terrible sleep keeps recurring the exact same cycle.
A lot of people are also trying to fix the sleep side of the problem instead of just crashing every weekend. That’s partially why sleep gummies and nighttime wellness products are suddenly everywhere right now, especially cannabinoid formulas that combine THC, CBD, and CBN together. That’s part of why brands like Oola are getting attention right now. Oola’s Sleep Ease Gummies are formulated with a cannabinoid blend associated with relaxation and nighttime support, which appeals to people whose brains still feel overstimulated long after they finally put their phones down for the night.
(opens in a new window) OolaSleep Ease Gummies (opens in a new window)
Available at Oola Buy Now (opens in a new window)Obviously, no gummy is going to solve burnout, fix the economy, or magically cure internet-induced exhaustion. But the popularity of rot days does seem to reveal something very real: many young people are genuinely tired in a way that goes beyond being lazy for a day. The fact that “doing absolutely nothing all day” became an aspirational internet trend probably says enough by itself.
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