--- title: Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever description: Emily Ballesteros explains the three root causes of 'The Great Exhaustion.' canonical: https://time.com/6694092/exhaustion-increasing-causes-essay/ author: Emily Ballesteros article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-02-13T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:34.137Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever og:description: Emily Ballesteros explains the three root causes of 'The Great Exhaustion.' og:url: https://time.com/6694092/exhaustion-increasing-causes-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt402ea9e74824edc7/698a4878929fad3d52bfb11e/great-exhaustion-reasons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2482 og:image:height: 1396 og:image:alt: great-exhaustion-reasons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever twitter:description: Emily Ballesteros explains the three root causes of 'The Great Exhaustion.' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt402ea9e74824edc7/698a4878929fad3d52bfb11e/great-exhaustion-reasons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Hitting the Snooze Button May Not Be as Bad as You Think [Watch (HLS stream): Hitting the Snooze Button May Not Be as Bad as You Think](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z2liolYC.m3u8) (3:00)  _Published 2023-11-02. Many sleep experts take a dim view of using the snooze button in the morning. But the science on snoozing isn't conclusive._ by [Emily Ballesteros](https://time.com/author/emily-ballesteros/) ## Emily Ballesteros Feb 13, 2024 12:00 PM UTC  Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset Getty Images by [Emily Ballesteros](https://time.com/author/emily-ballesteros/) ## Emily Ballesteros Feb 13, 2024 12:00 PM UTC People are tired. Like, really tired. As evidenced by recent trends such as [Quiet Quitting](https://time.com/6208115/quiet-quitting-companies-response/), [Coffee Badging](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/05/as-return-to-office-mandates-pick-up-employees-find-coffee-badging-workaround.html), [Bare Minimum Mondays](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/18/bare-minimum-monday-how-it-works-and-what-experts-think-.html), and most of all, [The Great Resignation](https://time.com/6106656/workplace-burnout-pandemic/)—when over 47 million Americans voluntarily resigned from their positions—people are feeling a strain on more than just their work calendars; they're feeling it on their spirits. We’re now in the era of [“The Great Exhaustion,”](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2023-in-review/an-exhausting-year-in-and-out-of-the-office) what writer and computer science professor Cal Newport has called a time when people are looking to reestablish their relationship with work in order to reduce their pervasive sense of drain. Most people aren’t surprised to hear about “The Great Exhaustion.” We know that we are tired, and we see it in the choices we make every day: ordering dinner because we don’t have the energy to make it, trying to find ways to work from home so we don’t have to add a two-hour commute to our day, infrequent social outings because it is impossible to coordinate busy adult schedules, complete de-prioritization of hobbies—the list goes on and on. People feel so fatigued that they are cutting out activities that used to be commonplace and low stress, like working out and going to the supermarket. Factor in recovering from the pandemic, inflation, and global stressors, and you’ve got a recipe for complete physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. So why are levels of exhaustion increasing? I speak with burned out professionals for a living, and I have heard countless unique reasons for exhaustion. The three factors that are commonly overlooked but that I believe are contributing the most are unsustainable lifestyles, exposure to stress outside of our control, and financial insecurity. These are facets of our lives that we have managed to normalize. But this normalization has caused us to disregard their impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. ## **Unsustainable lifestyles** What is the opposite of feeling exhausted? Feeling energized. But what, exactly, helps us to feel energized? _New York Times_\-bestselling author and researcher Dan Buettner spent his career studying “blue zones,” areas in the world where people live longer, healthier lives than anywhere else. In his work, he explains that people who live in blue zones have one thing in common: they live a human-needs-first lifestyle, in which the things that we _need_ as human beings are prioritized. That means eating whole foods, having rich social lives, getting regular movement, and working with a purpose rather than for the sake of maximizing productivity. This is a stark contrast to most people’s realities. Outside of these “blue zones,” most people eat processed foods, strategically plan activities to socialize and get movement, and treat work like it comes before everything else. Unfortunately, prioritizing elements found in blue zones requires spare time, energy, and money—things the average (tired) person does not have. An objective look at how most people are living day-to-day doesn’t paint a picture of human needs being met; it paints a picture of enduring our demands. We have not built a human-needs-first society; we have built a [business-needs-first society](https://time.com/5930844/love-your-work-capitalism/), and it is starting to show. ## **Stress that is out of our control** Stress within our control (a big project we’re working on, balancing a demanding job and childcare, doing something that scares us) can be mitigated and builds confidence when addressed. Stress outside our control (violence in our cities, [climate disasters](https://time.com/6298051/climate-anxiety-essay/), tragedy around the world, and inflation) makes us feel helpless. While it is important that we aren’t ignorant to what is going on in the world, it also weighs on us to take in so many stressors without the possibility of resolution. That stress causes exhaustion is not revolutionary, but it is exposure to stress outside of our control that makes us lose hope. Hope is a powerful counter to exhaustion and burnout. We can endure difficulties with much higher morale when we retain hope that things will get better. When everywhere we turn there is news making us feel like things aren’t getting better, we begin to break down. **_Read More:_**[_Feeling Off? It Could Be ‘Ambient’ Stress_](https://time.com/6201005/ambient-stress-pandemic-mental-health/) The [biological effect](https://time.com/6266329/systemic-injustice-health-toll-weathering/) of exposure to these types of stressors cannot be overstated. Scrolling on our phone and watching a troubling two-minute video [triggers a stress response](https://time.com/6314011/doomscrolling-find-meaning-online-essay/) in our body that can impact the rest of our day. A stress response each day for years damages our physical and mental health in ways that we often overlook. ## **Financial Insecurity** Fifty years ago, a single income could afford you a house, car, wife, and kids. Nowadays, you’re lucky if a dual income can afford you _some_ of those things. Having a hard job that supports your lifestyle is one thing; having a hard job that barely pays the bills is another. Much of the exhaustion we are seeing is frustration that working full-time (or more) doesn’t translate to the same security and buying power it used to. Why are we working if not to afford the lifestyle we desire? When that lifestyle (going to a restaurant on special occasions, going to a concert with friends, getting your kids the Christmas gifts they want) becomes unaffordable, frustration is understandable. Frustration over time turns into defeat, and defeat looks an awful lot like exhaustion. We have been a work-centered society for generations; however, it is becoming increasingly harder to convince people to live a busy, work-centered life when it doesn’t translate to the quality of life that it used to. The confluence of unsustainable lifestyles, stress out of our control, and financial insecurity creates a very tired group of people. The good news is that there are things within our control that can improve our quality of life and reduce exhaustion. Consider what augments your quality of life and makes you feel energized. Then consider what lowers your quality of life and makes you weary. At the end of the day, how we feel is determined by small decisions we make. How much sleep we get, prioritizing a morning walk with a friend, consuming media thoughtfully, refusing to discuss work and work stress when we are off the clock—these small things make a big difference, but we must do them consistently and relentlessly. We can’t wait for changes to come from the top down; we must address the factors of exhaustion within our control to ensure we live healthy, peaceful, and satisfying lives. ### More From TIME ## Transcript I think people pretty widely assumed that using the snooze button is bad because it sort of carries his kind of Tatian that you are lazy or that you need extra time in bed or for whatever reason, you know, our society is very oriented towards things that happened early in the morning typical work schedule start at 9 that kind of thing and there's a popular perception that is that it's better to be a morning person and I think snoozing kind of goes against that idea There are a couple reasons why people snooze one is that they find it easier to wake up if they have kind of gone back into a half asleep or dozing State and are not waking up, you know. Lee from a deep sleep and the other reason is just that people are really tired and when their alarm goes off, they're not quite ready to get out of bed. One reason that people think snoozing is bad is that you are prematurely pulling yourself out of deep sleep and replacing it with lighter sleep after you go back to sleep. There's some studies and do suggest. That's not that great for you but others find that it can actually be easier to wake up and feel alert. If you are waking up from light sleep instead of deep sleep so it might help with things like morning grogginess or like feeling as though your brain needs time to turn on in the morning if you have snoozed before getting up, Another reason that people think snoozing is not good for you is that it just signifies that you're not getting enough sleep at night and I guess you were so tired that you need to hit the snooze button that kind of suggested that you something's wrong with your sleep. And that might be the case for some people but several studies that I saw suggested that people who snooze don't get less sleep over all and don't get poor quality sleep. So it's not necessarily a signal of a bigger problem. When is the most common sleep tips that I hear in talking to experts is that you should try to go to bed and wake up at pretty much the same time every day because that helps your body kind of get in a rhythm of going to sleep and waking up. Where is if you are going to bed at midnight one night and then 10 the next night and then the next night your body kind of gets confused and doesn't know when it should be sleeping so it can be harder to fall asleep that way. There's no one-size-fits-all like for some people if if your alarm goes off at 7 and you're supposed to get up at 7, but you can't get yourself out of bed until 8, like maybe that is a sign that you didn't get enough sleep the night before that your sleep is poor quality, but for people who just find it a more pleasant way to wake up and it's kind of built into their daily routine from what I could find. 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