One of the biggest misunderstandings in medicine is the differences between sleepiness and fatigue. Add to this poorly defined terms like "tired" and "exhausted," and you have the makings for not only utter confusion, but also the basis for misdiagnoses and treatments that miss the mark completely. In this episode we will:Provide a research background examining the confusion between the terms sleepy and fatiguedAttempt to define sleepiness and fatigue and provide a physiological and behavioral foundation for their characterizationsEvaluate the misuse of the term fatigue in literature regarding excessive daytime sleepinessUse research to characterize the unique intermediate positioning of the word "tired" in scientific explorations of sleepiness and fatigueLearn how the lack of a "gold standard" for fatigue evaluation has contributed to the problemRevisit the Epworth Sleepiness Scale as the de facto standard for quantification of sleepiness and its intrinsic shortcomingsDiscuss ways in which failure to properly characterize sleepiness or fatigue can lead to diagnostic and treatment delays and errorExpand upon the multitude of fatigue causes and how primary medicine often stops far short of an exhaustive search for an underlying cause of an individual's fatigueLink specific sleep and psychological factors to elements of sleepiness and fatigueProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

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