by Bella Giusti

This past spring, I was taking classes, working, volunteering, applying to internships, and socializing. I was struggling to keep up and would find myself falling asleep doing homework or during long shifts. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough compared to my peers, but the truth was I was exhausted.

Fatigue is extreme tiredness, causing intense feelings of exhaustion and a lack of energy. The condition can greatly your impact health and safety. Main symptoms include depression, anxiety, muscle pain and weakness, impatience, and irritability. It slows reaction times, reduces attention and concentration, and impairs judgement, limiting your ability to make safe decisions and be aware of hazards.

Fatigue can be caused or exacerbated by workplace conditions. We can look at retail as an example. Roughly 29% of all retail workers are ages 16 to 24. Conditions like back-to-back closing and opening shifts, heavy lifting, long periods of standing, and high-demand workloads are common in retail and can increase stress and fatigue. Young workers often have long days with work, school, and other obligations. Being up longer than 16 hours increases fatigue its impact on your ability to work safely.

Young workers face unique challenges that increase their risk of workplace injuries and illness. Many have little say over their schedule and tasks, and often fear refusing long or irregular hours or asking for help. Youth workers’ physical and cognitive development increases the likelihood of fatigue. However, young workers are more robust to effects of fatigue and can recover faster. Learning about fatigue management now can support your health and safety in the long run.

There are lots of strategies you can use to manage and prevent fatigue. Sleeping somewhere dark, cool, and quiet, avoiding heavy foods and alcohol before sleeping, and exercising routinely can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep through the night. Taking breaks at work and reporting injuries and near misses to your employer can reduce fatigue in yourself and help identify if fatigue is a larger issue in the workplace. For me, learning it was okay to take breaks and ask for help greatly reduced fatigue and increased my quality of life at home and at work.

For more ways to address fatigue both on and off the job, check out www.saif.com/sleep.