Why Being Tired at 24 Isn't Normal (And It's Not Your Fault)

Being constantly exhausted in your 20s isn't normal. Your exhaustion has a source—and it's not you.

Being constantly exhausted in your 20s isn't normal. You're depleted by constant overstimulation, synthetic environments that prevent natural restoration, a culture that shames rest, and the exhausting performance of wellness itself. Your body is responding to a world designed to drain you.

the exhaustion nobody names

You wake up tired after eight hours of sleep.

Coffee doesn't help anymore. You need it just to reach baseline—functional enough to answer emails, pretend you're fine.

Everyone laughs when you mention it. "Welcome to your twenties!" "Wait until you have kids." "That's just adulting."

But your body knows something they're dismissing.

Only a few generations ago, when your grandmother was 24, people had energy. Real energy. Working, raising kids, living fully. Not dragging through days on anxiety and caffeine, googling "chronic fatigue" at 2am while ads for supplements promise what sleep should give you naturally.

Something changed between then and now.

And it wasn't that they were stronger.

what's actually draining you

Your exhaustion has sources that didn't exist a generation ago.

You're overstimulated constantly. Notifications the second you wake. Emails, texts, news alerts, DMs, comments demanding responses. Your nervous system runs in perpetual crisis mode, burning adrenaline your body can't replenish fast enough.

Your environment is synthetic. Polyester traps heat against your skin. Plastic touches everything. Sealed buildings recycle stale air. Your body's electrical system can't ground, can't reset. You're insulated from the earth while wondering why you feel so disconnected.

You never experience actual darkness. Screens glow until you sleep. Streetlights flood your bedroom. LED bulbs trick your brain into constant noon. Your body hasn't produced proper melatonin in years. You live in permanent jet lag without leaving home.

And the worst depletion? Performing wellness itself.

Optimizing your morning routine. Tracking steps. Documenting self-care. Proving you're doing everything right. Wellness became another job where you're always failing, another reason to feel behind before breakfast.

what changed between then and now

The difference between you at 24 and people at 24 a generation ago? Conditions, not character.

Natural fibers let skin breathe, let the body's electricity discharge into the ground. When the sun set, people experienced darkness. Real darkness that signaled bodies to produce melatonin, to rest, to restore.

Food came from soil, not laboratories.

Rest was as natural as breathing.

Nobody was carrying 500 people's worst ideas in their pocket. Nobody was exposed to everyone's suffering at once, expected to feel everything, while making sense of nothing. Nobody was performing their existence for invisible audiences, curating every moment into content.

The world had edges.

When work ended, it ended. When stores closed, people went home. When the sun set, the day finished. Nervous systems completed their cycles—activation, then genuine rest. Engagement, then true restoration.

You're expected to be available always. Informed about everything. Optimized constantly.

Your nervous system never gets to complete anything.

how your exhaustion became profitable

Your tiredness makes money for everyone but you.

Exhausted people buy coffee by the liter. Supplements promising energy. Programs guaranteeing transformation in 30 days. Apps to track the sleep they're too wired to get.

Exhausted people don't question the systems depleting them.

Exhausted people blame themselves.

Every solution sold to you creates new exhaustion. Workout harder for energy? You're depleting yourself more. Wake at 5am for that miracle morning? You're losing sleep your body desperately needs. Optimize every meal? More decisions for an already overloaded brain. Track everything? Constant vigilance drains what it promises to restore.

The cure becomes the disease. You keep buying it because you're too tired to see the cycle.

Meanwhile, actual rest gets shamed.

Doing nothing? Lazy. Going to bed early? Missing out. Saying no to things? Selfish. You apologize for needing what every body needs—genuine restoration.

Rest became something to earn through productivity. Something you deserve only after proving your worth. Something to feel guilty about instead of claim as your right.

the quiet reclamation

This isn't about adding more to fix yourself.

That's the trap keeping you exhausted.

Start with less.

One night this week, let sunset mean screens off. Not airplane mode. Not just dimmed. Off. Watch what your body does with actual darkness. Notice what rises when artificial stimulation finally stops.

Wear natural fiber against your skin. Cotton underwear instead of polyester. A linen shirt. Wool socks. One layer between you and the synthetic world. Your nervous system will remember things you didn't know you'd forgotten.

Stop performing wellness. Rest without documenting it. Move without tracking it. Eat without photographing it. Let your life belong to you again, not to an audience.

Find one boundary and protect it.

Maybe notifications stop at 8pm. Maybe one full day each week stays empty. Maybe caffeine ends at noon so your body remembers its own energy patterns.

One edge. Not a complete overhaul. Not another optimization project wearing a different mask.

Just one small protected space between you and the constant demand.

Because your life depends on it.

Your body is telling you the truth: constant exhaustion at 24 isn't normal. The world convinced you otherwise, but people a generation ago had energy at the same age. Something fundamental changed in how we live.

The systems profiting from your depletion won't change overnight. But you can start reclaiming your energy in small, quiet ways. Through remembering that being alive doesn't require constant performance. Through sleeping in darkness, wearing real materials, eating real food, protecting your nervous system from endless demand.

You deserve energy. Real energy. Not caffeine masking depletion, but actual life force. The kind that comes from honoring what your body has always needed.

Tomorrow, start with one less thing.

Delete one app. Set one boundary. Create one edge.

See what rises in the space you create.