"Older people may be less tired [than people aged 16-24]: study"

[Dolphin]

I just came across this piece on a study. The article is perhaps not that exciting overall, but thought I'd highlight a couple of bits I thought were a little interesting.

Older people may be less tired: study
BY KATHLEEN RAVEN

NEW YORK
Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:40pm GMT

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/...may-be-less-tired-study-idUKBRE9BA15V20131211

start:
(Reuters Health) - Senior citizens reported feeling less tired than younger people, including teenagers, in a new U.S. study.

To the researchers' surprise, 15- to 24-year-olds - the youngest people in their study - said they felt the most fatigued of all during daily activities. The difference between the two age groups was almost one full point on a scale of 0 to 6, with 6 representing "very tired."

"Saying that you are tired is a status symbol in American society," Kudrna said. She added that people tend to overestimate how tired they felt when asked about large swaths of time.

In an attempt to get around that, Kudrna and Dolan pulled data from the most recent American Time Use Survey.

In 2010, U.S. Census Bureau researchers asked a group of Americans between ages 15 and 85 to complete an "activity diary" on certain days. A bureau researcher would then randomly choose three activities and call the participant, asking how tired the person felt on a scale of 0 to 6 during specific events, like eating dinner or talking to friends.

Average fatigue scores fell from 2.5 among the youngest participants to about 1.8 for the oldest.

One possible explanation for the finding could be related to "how older people are able to use their time and do what they want to do when they want to do it," Kudrna said.

Past studies have shown negative emotions tend to decline with age. "That same effect is probably what is at the root of this subjective assessment," she told Reuters Health.

"The findings may reflect something other than what people think of as tiredness, which is usually associated with muscle strength and soreness, as well as cardiovascular ability," Carstensen said.

The researchers agreed that tiredness and fatigue are complicated concepts to study.

I don't think it is discussed enough in the ME/CFS field that fatigue can have various components to it. For example, if one has a low mood, one may be tired but if one's mood lifts, one may not have that sort of fatigue. However, other sorts of fatigue may remain.

 

[WillowJ]

One things that could be contributing to this is that young people are not getting enough sleep. I don't have the studies to hand, but it's shown that teenagers don't fall asleep early at night: the do sleep better late at night (like starting between 11 to 1 or 2 am). Yet they have to get up early for school. So they are chronically sleep deprived.

Nonetheless, "how... people are able to use their time" is a critical point to experiencing symptoms. If people avoid stuff they know they can't do or that will make their symptoms worse, they'll have fewer symptoms.

Problems with estimating is important, too.

And as @Dolphin said, some things have many components or terms like 'fatigue" are used for a variety of different things from various causes, and this makes surveys and discussions using such terms complicated.

 

[rosie26]

I wonder how much the adjustment into adulthood affects the young person too. New responsibilities, decisions to be made, work, marriage, children.

 

[rwac]

Or... our entire generation is a little sick.