Americans Are Tired, and the Centers for Disease Control is Taking Note

Political division, ongoing wars, rising gasoline prices–and those are the national headlines. Worries closer to home involving work and family have pushed some Americans into a health danger zone.

The Centers for Disease Control recently sounded the alarm about increased levels of fatigue among Americans. According to the CDC, nearly 75% of Americans reported general fatigue over a three-month period, and almost 60% reported feeling tired or exhausted. More women report fatigue than men with 17.3% of Black men and women identifying as fatigued. 

Amanda McClendon, a mother of three and a paralegal in a large law firm, cited long work hours and family responsibilities as the reasons for her ongoing exhaustion.

“My husband is a hands-on dad who also works, but between the two of us, we seldom have any downtime,” McClendon explained.

The CDC report did not track the root causes of the fatigue, but public health researchers point to systemic disparities, socioeconomic factors, and barriers to quality healthcare as explanations for the exhaustion Black adults experience.

Understanding fatigue

Doctors encourage McClendon and others who are exhausted to be aware that fatigue causes a “cascading effect” which creates brain fog, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, and slower reaction times.

Exhaustion also reduces muscle strength and stamina, and deletes emotional reserves– triggering irritability, anxiety, and a lack of motivation.

For McClendon, her constant fatigue landed her in the doctor’s office.

She said, “It frightened me until my doctor explained that I could give myself a helping hand by establishing a set wakeup time and shutting down my day an hour before bedtime. After the kids went to bed, I would scroll on my laptop, which wasn’t helping me at all.”

The CDC study included 27,000 adults over the age of 18. Young Americans ages 18-24 were among the group with a higher percentage of fatigue. Adults living in the South (17.7%) and the Midwest (17.5%) identified as experiencing more days of fatigue than those living in the West (15.6%) and the Northeast (14.5%).