New study reveals which Americans are the most tired

Pretty much everyone is tired, and now there's proof to back that claim up.

A new study, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, found that approximately 71.5 percent of adults in the U.S. say they experience fatigue on multiple days over the past three months.

The report's author, Natalie A.E. Young, said that fatigue is “one of the most frequently reported health concerns in primary care visits in the U.S.” The study surveyed approximately 27,000 adults ages 18 and older in 2024, NBC News reports.

According to the report, women and younger adults are more likely to report that they're experiencing frequent fatigue than men.

Young said that people who report regular fatigue “are at higher risk of activity limitations and disability, including permanent work disability. Yet there hadn’t been much attention to the frequency of general fatigue symptoms in the U.S. adult population."

Everyone gets tired, but fatigue is not the same as feeling sleepy. According to the study, fatigue is defined as “physical or mental tiredness or exhaustion that does not improve with additional sleep or rest.”

General fatigue — not to be confused with chronic fatigue syndrome — can be a symptom of other health problems. It can arise as a side effect of some medications.

People who reported experiencing fatigue were found to be more likely to experience “co-occurring functioning difficulties,” like cognitive difficulties, depression, and anxiety, according to Young.

The report found that adults experiencing fatigue are more than three times as likely to have symptoms of depression and approximately twice as likely to report having cognitive difficulties or anxiety compared to those who did not report experiencing regular fatigue.

One in six adults said that they experience fatigue almost daily — "most days" or "every day" per the study's language — and that fatigue was highest in the 18-34 response bracket, with nearly 20 percent saying they experienced regular fatigue.

The lowest group to report regular fatigue was seniors aged 65 and older. Of that group, only 12.9 percent said they experienced regular fatigue.

Twenty percent of women said they experienced regular fatigue, while only 13 percent of men reported the same.

The CDC survey did not look at the underlying causes of frequent fatigue, and it does not compare the responses to any previous years.