Dr Anna Katharina Schaffner, Reader in Comparative Literature and Medical Humanities, has been further interviewed for her work on exhaustion, following publication of her book Exhaustion: A History (Columbia University Press, 2016) earlier in the year.

The new piece is the cover article for this week’s New Scientist, dated 15 October 2016, entitled ‘Tired All the Time? Why Fatigue Isn’t All About Sleep’ by Emma Young, about the latest scientific research into the causes of fatigue.

New Scientist is a weekly magazine, established in 1956, to focus on all aspects of scientific research. It currently has over 100,000 readers.

In investigating fatigue, it is important to remember that exhaustion is not a modern phenomenon, as Anna’s work highlights. ‘Over the centuries, fatigue has been blamed on the alignment of the planets, a lack of godliness and even an unconscious desire to die,’ explains Anna in the article.

The article goes on to explore modern research into fatigue, including epidemiological and neurological investigations.

The issue is widely available in newsagents, and the full article can be accessed with a subscription here:
www.newscientist.com/article/mg23230950-400-getting-a-fix-on-fatigue/