College athletes gained 33 minutes of sleep. Mental health talk has not moved
The NCAA's fifth GOALS study surveyed 20,887 athletes. Sleep is up across almost every sport. Comfort talking to coaches about mental health has barely moved in a decade.
The NCAA's GOALS study is the largest recurring survey of college athlete experience in the United States, and its fifth iteration is now circulating in full. The 2025 study surveyed 20,887 current student-athletes from 493 schools, in the field from December 2024 through June 2025, with final data weighted to 2024-25 NCAA participation rates [s1]. Faculty athletics representatives at member schools surveyed one to three prespecified teams selected by stratified random sampling [s1]. Previous iterations ran in 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2019 [s1].
The clearest health signal in it is sleep, and it is unusually good news.
The sleep line finally moved
Average weekday in-season sleep among all student-athletes was 6.48 hours in 2010, 6.26 in 2015 and 6.25 in 2019 [s1]. In 2025 it is 6.80 — an increase of 33 minutes on the 2019 figure [s1].
The gain is broad rather than concentrated. Among men's sports, every sport measured shows an increase from 2019: lacrosse +46 minutes, soccer +41, tennis +40, swimming and diving +39, baseball +38, basketball +35, football +34, track and field +33, ice hockey +19, golf +19 and wrestling +9 [s1]. Among women's sports the pattern repeats: volleyball +40, golf +37, soccer +35, basketball +34, softball +32, rowing +29, tennis +29, field hockey +28, gymnastics +27, track and field +27, swimming and diving +25, lacrosse +25 and ice hockey +21 [s1].
Absolute levels still vary by sport. Men's ice hockey players average 7.27 hours and football players 6.41 [s1]. Among women's sports, ice hockey again leads at 7.02 and softball trails at 6.57 [s1].
Time budgets shifted alongside. Median in-season weekly hours in Division I are 34 for athletic activities (up 1 from 2019), 33.5 for academic activities (down 2) and 15.5 for socialising or relaxing (up 2); Division II reports 32, 33.5 and 17.5; Division III reports 29, 36.5 and 17.5 [s1]. Athletic hours rose slightly in every division while academic hours fell — by 3.5 hours in Divisions II and III [s1].
Athletes have not stopped wanting more rest. Asked what they want more time for, sleeping topped the list for women's sports athletes at 77% and ranked among the highest for men's sports at 64%, followed by relaxing alone (59% men's, 75% women's), visiting home or family (63% and 70%) and socialising (59% and 72%) [s1].
The line that has not moved
Against that, the trend in what athletes will tell a coach is close to flat.
Comfort talking to coaches about physical health issues has climbed steadily: from 72% in 2015 to 75% in 2019 to 80% in 2025 among men's sports athletes, and from 66% to 69% to 71% among women's [s1]. Agreement that coaches care about physical well-being followed: 79%, 81% and 85% for men's sports; 78%, 79% and 79% for women's [s1].
Mental health is a different curve. Comfort talking to coaches about mental health issues stood at 62% in 2015, 62% in 2019 and 63% in 2025 among men's sports athletes — and at 49%, 49% and 51% among women's [s1]. Two percentage points in a decade for women's sports athletes; one for men's. Agreement that coaches care about mental well-being reached 79% for men's sports in 2025, up from 74% in 2015, but sat at 70% for women's sports, down from 72% [s1].
Asked what they wish coaches or athletics administrators talked about more, mental wellness was named by 24% of men's sports athletes and 48% of women's — the second-highest topic overall, behind preparing for a career after college (41% and 56%) [s1]. Proper nutrition followed at 31% and 47%, getting good sleep at 27% and 35%, and body image at 9% and 28% [s1].
The gap between physical and mental disclosure shows up in consequential decisions. Among the 1,336 women's sports transfers in the sample, improving mental health or well-being was the second most cited reason for transferring, at 39% — an item that did not appear in the men's top five, drawn from 2,798 men's sports transfers [s1].
One further item is worth reading in this light. Asked how their college athletics experience affected various personal qualities, 81% endorsed a positive effect on coping in high-pressure environments — but only 61% did so for understanding when you're pushing yourself too hard [s1].
These are self-reported survey data. They describe what athletes say about comfort and preference, not clinical outcomes, and the survey cannot establish why the mental health line is flat while the physical health line rose.
The measurement problem underneath
Whatever the survey shows about willingness to disclose, the systems that record what actually happens to college athletes' bodies are less consistent than the scale of the enterprise suggests.
A systematic review published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science on 14 February examined injury surveillance practices and data collection methods in university student athletes, and assessed how far they align with the International Olympic Committee consensus statement [s2]. Four databases were searched from January 2000 to August 2024, returning 11,188 records; 50 studies across nine countries, covering 11,182 participants, were eligible [s2].
Fifty-four per cent used a time-loss definition of injury, an athletic trainer recorded the data in 62%, and an electronic tool or web system was used in 30% [s2]. Only three of the 50 studies aligned with the IOC consensus statement [s2]. The authors conclude that consistent, standardised surveillance practices are necessary in university sport [s2].
Three studies out of fifty is the relevant figure. It means that comparisons of injury rates across universities, sports and years rest on definitions that mostly do not match.
What to watch
The NCAA says public-facing GOALS reports and slides will appear on its research site through winter and spring 2026, with possible academic collaborations for peer review [s1]. It has also flagged a 2026-27 NCAA Student-Athlete Health and Wellness Study launching in autumn 2026, covering mental health, substance misuse, sleep, nutrition, body image and injury [s1]. Whether the mental health disclosure line finally moves — and whether injury surveillance converges on a shared definition [s2] — are the two questions those datasets will be able to answer.
Sources
- [s1] Understanding Today's Student-Athlete Experience: Key Findings From the 2025 NCAA GOALS Study. NCAA Research, presentation slides, January 2026. https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/research/goals/2026RES_GOALS-AWEdSession.pdf
- [s2] Sports injury surveillance practices and data collection methods in university student athletes: A systematic review. Journal of Sport and Health Science, published online 14 February 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2026.101130
Sources
- Understanding Today's Student-Athlete Experience: Key Findings From the 2025 NCAA GOALS Study — National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA Research) , January 27, 2026
- Sports injury surveillance practices and data collection methods in university student athletes: A systematic review — Journal of Sport and Health Science , February 14, 2026
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