Zonked, frazzled, drained, pooped, knackered, running on fumes – or just totally exhausted. In much the same way that the Shona-speaking people of Zimbabwe have a dozen verbs for walking, our modern vocabulary seems to have developed 20 ways of explaining that we are quite tired, most of the time. But is there anything about 21st-century life – our screen addictions, side-hustle culture or always-on mindsets – that means we are more tired, or are we just noticing it more? And when should you start to worry?
“The simple answer is that we need to distinguish between tiredness and fatigue,” says Prof Russell Foster, head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford. “Tiredness is cured by getting enough sleep; fatigue is not, and is typically a marker of an underlying health condition. So if you’re getting enough sleep but waking up feeling chronically lethargic and unable to function properly, you need to see your GP.”
