ITEMS OF INTEREST July 9, 2007 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Michael Wilkes, Brian Mink

WHEN IS A DISEASE really a disease? . . .

When people work 24 hours in a row, it's not unreasonable that the body feels tired.

Is this fatigue an abnormal physiologic state requiring medication and treatment, or is it a normal part of belonging to the human race? If abnormal, then doctors and pharmaceutical companies argue that the fatigue requires treatment. If it is normal—despite a movement to label it as an illness—then post-work fatigue belongs to the growing phenomenon of disease-mongering.

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