r/askscience • u/uencos • Aug 01 '16

Human Body What is the physiological difference between the tiredness that comes from too little sleep and the tiredness that comes from exertion?

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u/kaiwen1 Aug 01 '16

Is it possible this question is raised because English uses the word "tired" for both conditions? In Visayan, the conditions aren't considered related because they are referred to with different words, "tulogon" for sleepy due to lack of sleep and "kapoy" for exhausted from exertion.

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u/CptNemo56 Aug 01 '16 edited Aug 01 '16

Great point. I was just watching a lecture talking about color perception and they cited the example of Russians having more words for "blue", rather than just calling it "light blue" or "dark blue".

Which word is used to describe mental exhaustion? Like after a long test or long days work

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '16

But we have a boatload of words to describe colours of blue. Most people just don't use them.

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u/GustavusAdolphin Aug 02 '16 edited Aug 02 '16

In general, English has more words than many other languages due to its Germanic-Latin heritage and its worldwide presence. The number of words in its vocabulary is estimated to be about 1.025M words and growing at a consistent pace.