Staff Perspective: Fatigue vs. Sleepiness – Untangling the Tiredness Conundrum
Feeling fatigued is not the same as feeling tired. Our society uses the word “tired” to mean so many different things to the point that most people don’t know that fatigue is something different. This can be a point of frustration for many people who experience chronic fatigue due to medical issues. Being told yet again that you just need more sleep and possibly treatment for insomnia can lead patients to believe there isn’t help, or at least that providers are clueless. Understanding that there is a difference between tiredness and fatigue is critical, and we need to be doing a better job understanding and assessing for this.
