How the Average Person Deals With Feeling Tired
Post Malone inked “Always Tired” under his eyes in 2018, and Jhené Aiko serenaded us with her song “Born Tired” in 2020; it seems like exhaustion is a universal language. Just like these stars, many of us are no strangers to feeling tired. A survey of 2,000 adults by Talker Research for MD Live looked at how the average person deals with their symptoms of tiredness and found that respondents feel tired four hours a day and 1,460 hours a year.
Feeling Tired
The survey revealed that a third of those surveyed “always” or “often” still feel tired, even after a good night’s sleep. They also found that 58% said feeling tired often keeps them from enjoying life. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said tiredness has caused them to avoid social interactions, leading a third to skip events (34%) and 27% to cancel plans with family or friends.
Also included in the survey are 1,000 respondents who reported suffering from chronic diseases, including diabetes, obesity, or hypertension, among other conditions.
Compared to those who do not suffer from a chronic disease, these respondents reported being tired two extra hours a day, avoiding social interaction more because of their illness (64% vs. 51%), and having a more difficult time enjoying life (66% vs 50%).
According to the results of the survey, the average person spends 27% of their weekend recuperating from the previous week. For chronic disease sufferers, 40% have skipped events, and a third (33%) have canceled plans with loved ones due to their feelings of extreme tiredness.
They do note that recuperation doesn’t always mean relaxing. Respondents procrastinate chores (32%) and stay in bed (30%) when they feel tired. Moreover, those surveyed shared that they skip exercising (21%) or avoid cooking (20%) when tiredness hits.
Still, 33% of those surveyed say they push through their feelings of tiredness.
While the average person says “I’m tired” out loud three times a day, many respondents prefer to hide their feelings from others. In fact, one in seven say “I’m fine” to others every day — even if they don’t always mean it.
Those who push through said they do so because they are concerned about things not getting done (54%) or feel that the tiredness will pass (23%).
Although tiredness slows them down, 35% admit they “rarely” or “never” think about the underlying reasons behind it. And 43% weren’t aware that there is a difference between tiredness and fatigue.
Check out more findings with the complete study here.
