Why do women often ignore fatigue signals until collapse?
- Unbraced Woman
- Jul 6
- 3 min read
I recently came across a few interesting studies exploring women’s fatigue and how it's often dismissed, by women themselves as much as by the people around them. Together they paint a picture that goes far beyond simply "being tired". They point towards the intersection of biology, work, caregiving, and gendered social expectations that quietly normalise chronic overextension and delay help-seeking until a woman reaches a crisis point. [1-4]
And it made me think about myself and about so many women I know.
How many times have your heard a woman say, almost with a smile: "I'm just tired"?. Usually followed by carrying on. That's what many of us do. But eventually "tired" stops being a temporary feeling and quietly becomes the new baseline. According to the previously referred research, women report fatigue significantly more often than men. And it's not that women simply complain more. It reflects something much more complex: biology, hormonal fluctuations, emotional labour, invisible work, caregiving, workplace demands, and cultural expectations. None of these factors exist separately - they accumulate, and when experienced repeatedly, they can teach the nervous system a new, higher baseline. Because the nervous system constantly adapts to what happens over and over again, it gradually begins to treat this heightened state as normal. That's why you eventually stop noticing the tension in your shoulders, the digestive problems, the anxiety, or the fact that you wake up tired almost every morning. They simply begin to feel like YOU because your baseline has shifted. That's one of the most fascinating things about neuroplasticity. A healthy nervous system returns to baseline once a stressor has passed. But when stress becomes chronic rather than temporary, the nervous system gradually adapts to that higher level of activation and begins to treat it as normal.
This is one of the reasons chronic stress can be so difficult to recognise. The body doesn't suddenly stop sending signals, it simply becomes so accustomed to them that we no longer hear the alarm.
That's why, the next time you find yourself explaining your exhaustion away by saying:
"Everyone feels like this"
"It's just work"
"I'm getting older"
"I'll rest after this project"
"Once the kids are older"
"After Christmas"
"After the holiday"
...I invite you to pause for a moment and ask yourself whether you are truly listening to your body, or whether you have simply become fluent in translating every signal into something easier to ignore.
The remarkable thing about the nervous system is that the same ability that allowed it to adapt to chronic stress also allows it to adapt to safety, rest, and different ways of living. That is neuroplasticity too. Change rarely happens overnight, but what was learned through repetition can begin to soften through repetition as well. Through new experiences, greater sense of safety, restorative relationships, consistent sleep, movement, and countless small moments that teach the body it no longer has to remain on high alert ♥
[1] Golmohamadi and Graham (2025)
Why are women more fatigued than men? The roles of stress, sleep, and repetitive negative thinking. Psychology, health & medicine.
[2] Husain et al. (2007)
Women experience higher levels of fatigue than men at the end of life: a longitudinal home palliative care study. Journal of pain and symptom management.
[3] Chen et al. (2022)
Mediation Effect of Musculoskeletal Pain on Burnout: Sex-Related Differences. International journal of environmental research and public health.
[4] Valentine et al. (2009)
Sex differences in the relationship between obesity, C-reactive protein, physical activity, depression, sleep quality and fatigue in older adults. Brain, behavior, and immunity.
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