Radio Atlantic

Fatigue Can Wreck You (Redux)

This episode originally aired August 2023.
Many people, especially those dealing with long COVID, suffer from fatigue. But not common, everyday tiredness—it’s more like a total body crash that can be triggered by the smallest exertion, something as simple as taking a shower. It’s serious, and yet many doctors have a hard time taking it seriously.
Ed Yong, a former staff writer at The Atlantic whose reporting on COVID won a Pulitzer Prize, explains how people with fatigue can feel, and what experts actually know about the condition and how to treat it.
Read Ed's story on fatigue, long COVID, and ME / CFS here: "Fatigue Can Shatter a Person"
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The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about certain ideas.
The national conversation right now can be chaotic, reckless, and stuck. Radio Atlantic aims to bring some order to our thinking—and encourage listeners to be purposeful about how they unstick their mind.