How tired are you? The perceived need for multitasking during so much of the day often has you pumping adrenaline as you try to get it all done. Then the reaction after you get past the adrenaline rush is commonly exhaustion.

When you do not use effective time management techniques, you may be extremely busy throughout the day without accomplishing as much as you could have within an allotted period. It is easy to become reactive in responding to immediate requests and deadlines without getting the important activities done. There is not an automatic correlation between being busy and getting things done.

So many busy people now cite being tired as a major factor in their lives. This is not limited to business professionals. Children, as well as parents, are struggling to cope with this tired syndrome. Kids’ schedules are packed with before- and after-school activities. Squeezing homework in can be difficult, and they often stay up late to get that done. Add in internet and social hours, and you end up with a child who starts every day tired.

Parents are unable to demonstrate alternatives when their own lives are also flooded with requirements, including the shuttling of those children plus a full work day.

Some school districts are now recognizing the problem and actually limiting the amount of homework that can be assigned. The National PTA and the National Education Association guidelines say that for kindergarten through second grades homework should not exceed twenty minutes. Grades 3 - 6 can handle from thirty to sixty minutes in limiting stress build-up while being an effective task.

Stressed Out Students, a Stanford University program, is working with 52 schools to help find ways to decrease the pressures associated with stress and the subsequent tiredness. 30 other schools have asked to join the program.

Ten years ago a web designer, Mike Kuniavsky, bought a domain, tired.com, and simply asked people why they were tired. Email responses came back within hours, and he now has 52,000 responses in his inbox.

What makes you tired? Feel free to comment on your daily challenges.