Our sandwich years play role in exhaustion

We’re tired. Really tired.

And as this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention graphic points out, women of all ages report feeling more exhausted than men.

But here’s a silver lining for boomers. Between age 65 and 74, men and women grow less exhausted.

But tiredness levels creep back up for those 75 and beyond.

It’s no surprise that the most exhausting years happen between ages 45 and 64.

Those are often sandwich years when men and women are called upon to care for children and grandchildren on one end, and their aging parents on the other.

Older folks I’ve interviewed say they look back on those sandwich years and wonder how they managed it all. Work, family, busy social lives. They are relieved the busy times, and the exhaustion, are in the past, but they express their survival with some well-deserved pride.