Each year, T5E attempts to capture the journey of the graduating batch to understand what life at IIT Madras truly feels like for those crossing the finish line. This semester, we launched the annual Exit Survey 2024, receiving 246 responses across the graduating class. About 83% of the respondents were undergraduates (B.Tech, DD, and MA), with the rest representing the postgraduate community (MSc, MTech, MBA, PhD, and MS).
In this part of the survey, we turn to lifestyle and mental health, exploring the often-hidden side of campus life. We asked the graduating students about their sleep and dietary routines, their experiences managing stress, and their thoughts on the mental health resources available at IIT Madras. From satisfaction with support services to how students balanced rest, diet, and academics, this section sheds light on the daily routines and mental health journeys of our seniors.
Hany hours a night did you sleep?
Nearly half of the respondents reported having had a decent 6-7 hours of sleep a night. About a third of the respondents had a consistent sleep time of 7-8 hours, considered ideal by healthcare professionals. However, approximately 0.4% of the respondents indicated that they were struggling with sleep quality that could have been due to stress or irregular schedules.
How many times a week did you have breakfast?
The findings suggest that while many recognized the importance of breakfast, a significant number still struggled with consistency, often due to time constraints, lifestyle choices or other factors.
What time did you go to bed?
About half the respondents reported going to bed around 12 AM – 2 AM. One-third reported staying up until 2 AM or later, while the rest regularly went to bed between 10 PM and midnight. We see a strong inclination towards staying up late. This could be due to multiple factors including academic work, commitment to PORs, and recreation.
How often could you take out time for physical fitness?
More than half the respondents barely managed to engage in physical exercise during their time at insti.
What did your monthly expenditure look like?
Allocation of money for various aspects of life is a major concern, especially for college students. A significant proportion of the respondents reported their approximate monthly expenses falling within the lower bracket – under 3000 rupees per month, suggesting a more budget-conscious lifestyle. Approximately 32% spent a moderate amount under rupees per month, and the majority spent more than 5000 rupees per month.
For the students of IITM, most of the monthly expenditure consisted of food, given the variety of food outlets and eateries inside the campus, which also serve as spots for hanging out. Others consisted of shopping, outings and trips. However for a particular student, expenditure did revolve around multiple factors.
Which of these organisations did you approach during your time in insti?
On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the wellness initiatives in insti, i.e Saathi, Mitr, Wellness Centre?
The average rating awarded to the wellness initiatives in insti, i.e Saathi, Mitr, Wellness Centre was 2.69/5, which is unfortunately far below a good rating. This highlights that the wellness programs do not adequately meet the needs or expectations of the students. However, some participants did rate the initiatives as 4 or 5, expressing appreciation for the efforts made in supporting mental and physical well-being, but this number is significantly lower than the percentage who gave a rating of 3 or below.
Rather than a singular point of contact, students often relied on multiple sources for support. These majorly comprised parents, friends, seniors in insti, and others.
Most respondents suggested that all the wellness initiatives need an improvement in some or the other aspect.
Rate the overall atmosphere at IIT Madras in terms of mental health
Unfortunately, as low as only 5.3% of respondents felt that there was a positive atmosphere for mental health during their stay. The overall findings suggest that additional efforts are necessary to create a more supportive environment. Moreover, more than one-fourth of the respondents expressed a need for drastic improvements in the mental health atmosphere.
Conclusion
From the results, we see that there is a mixture of healthy and inconsistent habits across sleeping, fitness and eating patterns. Many respondents managed to maintain a healthy lifestyle, while others struggled to do so. They faced challenges such as irregular sleep hours, diet and fitness routines, owing to various academic, co-curricular and other commitments. Imbalanced spending trends reveal food as a central expenditure, along with other areas that the respondents tended to spend on. Although mental health initiatives exist in insti, issues related to mental well-being are still prevalent. Apart from the wellness bodies at IITM, the respondents mentioned seeking mental assistance from their closed ones too, mainly family and friends. The initiatives may have benefitted some of the respondents, but wouldn’t have sufficed for many others, demonstrating a need for improvement in the current situation in order to create a healthy and supportive environment for everyone at IITM.
Anushka Golwalkar
