Why are we so tired? The impact of today’s pace of life
It's become exhausting to be alive right now.
Have you noticed that, at some point in the afternoon, you've simply run out of juice? You reach for another coffee, maybe something sweet, trying to push through to the end of the day.
We tend to blame ageing. And yes, our bodies do need more rest as the years go on. But what if there's something else going on because the numbers tell a bigger story. A YouGov survey found that one in eight Britons describe themselves as tired all the time, and that's before we factor in the 2025 Burnout Report, which found that nine in ten of us experienced high or extreme stress in the past year. The NHS has even given it an acronym: TATT. Tired. All. The. Time.
What if it's not just us?
Today’s pace of life
Stress, hormonal changes, poor sleep, inflammation; all real and valid reasons for tiredness. But underneath all of it runs something we rarely name: the sheer relentlessness of modern life.
Think about it. It wasn’t that long ago that shops were closed on Sundays and the news came twice a day with the morning papers and the evening news. Now we can buy anything, at any hour, and expect it tomorrow. Breaking news pings hit our phones before we've finished our morning tea.
We manage email, WhatsApp, DMs, and multiple social feeds, each one designed, deliberately, to keep us hooked. Even something as simple as buying a train ticket now requires navigating security settings, authentication apps, and account verifications. I've watched my own mother, once completely at ease with technology, struggle with what should be the simplest of transactions.
No matter how slowly you try to move through your day, living in this world takes more out of us than it used to.
And most of us don't even register it, because we're not aware of this pace. We're in it, all the time.
This is something I see again and again in my Reiki practice. People arrive holding far more than they realise. Not just the stress they can name, but a kind of background hum of overwhelm that has become so familiar they've stopped noticing it. It's only when they finally lie still and quiet that their body gets to exhale. Often, that moment of release is the first real rest they've had in months.
The body keeps an honest account of everything the mind learns to push through.
So if this resonates, here's your invitation to notice it.
Not to add another thing to your to-do list, but simply to pause and check in with yourself.
Where are you holding tension right now? Check in with your jaw, your shoulders, the space behind your eyes.
Notice your breath; the pace and how deep you are breathing.
Then, perhaps, turn off the breaking news alerts and silence your phone notifications.
And maybe even close your eyes for a few moments.
Life may not slow down for us.
But we can choose to slow down within it.
And right now, the simplest and yet most powerful thing you can do is simply close your eyes and breathe, bringing yourself back to your body and the present moment.
Curious about working together
I offer both in-person Reiki sessions in Godalming and Haslemere, Surrey, and distance sessions that can be received from wherever you are. If you have questions, I’m very happy to answer them before you decide whether to book. You can get in touch here or find out more about what a session involves.