This whole competitive stuff over who is now tired seems to really be a huge issue.
I think the problem is that there are different types of exhaustion. There is long, middle and short term exhaustion. Short term is non stop hours or at most days of exertion. Running a marathon for instance.
Middle term is more like a project or working week - it is spread across days, weeks or months but has a deadline. It is for most a more mentally exhausting thing, though for some in more labour intensive roles or sports, it can be physical. It does though have an end point. Whether this is a holiday, the weekend, competition or end of a project. You get some relief a long the way with sleep, evenings and things but there is ultimately an end point or goal before it starts up again.
And finally long term. This is the slow burn. This is the one parents are talking about because there is no definite end point. It is on going.
It is not as intensive as the first two, but it is no mean feat either.
You have a job you hate but feel like there is no way out of a dead end job, you will be here too.
My uni course was at the time listed as the second most intensive ba in the country. We would have 5-10 students declared medically insane in final year due to lack of sleep or mental breaks. It was killer. You were lucky to have an evening or even a few hours to just chill out.
There was however, after 9 months, an end point and goal. I've never experienced anything like that year.
Even as a mum that 9 months was exhausting as a twenty something year old. Motherhood is exhausting but in a different way. It is a slow burn mainly mixed in with short and middle term stuff but it is the show burn off no goal that is their point of pain.
When you have a project that you are spending all your time on but know you can set it aside and it won't yet to kill itself doing something stupid. Or that you know there is a goal or milestone in sight at some point rather than wondering how many times you have to watch the same episode of peppa pig again.
I'm exhausted yes. I also know though that having some sort of focus or goal helps.
Look at those mums tell you they are exhausted - I bet they aren't the ones training for a marathon. It is not that the marathon mum is healthier so it is easier but that they have something to aim for and focus on. It is those without that that will go on about how "exhausted they are"
I get more rest and sleep than those uni days. I used to be a bloody triathlete and long distance runner. I've dealt with the long term effects of an abusive situation with a goal of escaping over a number of years via University.
All exhaustion is exhausting.
If they keep on about it, maybe ask them to help with a project no matter how big or small, as long as it has a clear end point or goal. You might find they stop telling you how tired they are...