Late nights on Netflix, earaches from uncomfortable headphones, drowsiness from lack of sleep. These issues are no joke. An epidemic is spreading and there’s no way to stop it. Some of you haven’t been infected yet, but for others, it’s too late. Senioritis is, in fact, a serious disease.

Some seniors were taken by surprise when the epidemic hit them. “I didn’t realize what a serious epidemic it was until I came into contact with the disease myself,” senior Taryn Ginn said. “I quickly started noticing all of my friends exhibiting symptoms and I knew it was too late to save myself. This disease must be affecting millions across the nation.”

A major issue in dealing with this disease would be the denial of most parents.

Many chose to believe their children aren’t sick at all. “Unfortunately my parents are still in denial that the illness exists, so they refuse to write excuse notes for me,” Ginn said, “They insensitively blame my grades on ‘laziness’ or late nights with my friends”.

Some students caught this disease earlier than others though.

Students believe this disease only takes affect their senior year, but this isn’t always the case. “It started at the end of junior year but came into full effect at the first day of senior year,” Vanissa Oeun said. “It takes over me as if I’m being eaten by a tsunami wave.”

Being infected by this disease is also causing an overwhelming amount of students to be visiting the nurse’s office. Nurse Amanda Sanchez had a lot to say about this disease when I discussed the issue with her on Monday. “The further the year goes on the more we tend to see, senioritis season seems to start somewhere around spring break,” Sanchez said. “After spring break we should be seeing a spike.” There are ways to cope with this depressing disease though. “You can try to keep a positive attitude and eat well balanced meals as well as balance your home and school life,” Sanchez said.

If you’re suffering from this disease just know you are not alone, many other seniors have this disease and even some juniors. This disease is no joke, if you are infected seek help fast. We can all get through these hard times together.