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Why People Talk More When They're Tired: Cognitive Fatigue and Communication

What fatigue amplifies


Two women on swings in a park, smiling at each other. One wears blue pants, the other black. Trees and playground equipment in background.

Ever noticed how the end of a long day is more chaotic than the start, where meetings overrun, conversations loop and people explain things they don’t need to. Well, this all reinforces evidence that suggests that Fatigue doesn’t silence us. Lets talk about Cognitive Fatigue and Communication.


People talk more when they’re tired, not necessarily with more meaning, but certainly with more volume, words, tangents, trailing sentences that try to land somewhere, eventually.

This may look like poor communication, or a lack of direction clarity. But often, it’s the cognitive and emotional cost of sustained effort shaping how we show up and speak at work. Research on speech production under cognitive strain shows measurable increases in speech output, reduced precision, and altered vocal control when cognitive load rises (Christodoulides, 2016; Pyfrom et al., 2023).


When precision is too expensive


Fatigue is a physiological and psychological shift in how we process the world. In occupational psychology, we talk about cognitive load: the total mental effort being used in the working memory. As load increases, through back-to-back meetings, decision fatigue, information switching, emotional labour, the brain starts to economise like a computer running on low-power mode.


One of the first things to go is self-regulation. Self-regulation governs filtering, summarising, and impression management. Experimental work shows that as regulatory resources are depleted, people become less able to monitor and edit their speech, resulting in greater verbosity and reduced strategic control (Vohs & Baumeister, 2005; Reif, 2014).


When we’re fresh, we plan our words. When we’re tired, we offload, externalise thinking and speak to process rather than to land meaning. From a cognitive standpoint, summarising and selecting is effortful; rambling is cheap. Linguistic studies confirm that under increased cognitive load, individuals rely more on extended explanations and repetition as a coping mechanism (Arvan et al., 2023).


Talking more is often easier than thinking harder as summarising takes effort. Rambling is cognitively cheap.


The content of cognitive fatigue and communication


You may notice a return to familiar language or default metaphors, repetition of well-worn stories or phrases, emotional irritation, defensiveness, or sudden vulnerability, drops in complexity and longer explanations for simple things, or overcompensation for uncertainty. This is usually clearer in people we know.


Acoustic and psychophysiological research shows that higher cognitive load is associated with measurable changes in speech structure, vocal control, and autonomic arousal, signals that mental effort is being redirected away from nuance and regulation (MacPherson et al., 2017; Tomassi et al., 2025).


When people are tired, they may speak more but listen less, their reflection narrows and in groups, it can become contagious. I speak about the importance of listening here: https://www.georgiaspsywork.co.uk/post/listening-is-a-skill-we-rarely-teach-and-pay-for-when-we-don-t


What cognitive fatigue and communication tells us about working life


Woman in a blue shirt, resting head on hand, appears thoughtful in a bright, modern office with blurred foreground and light tones.

In organisational settings, verbosity is often misunderstood. It’s attributed to poor facilitation, dominant personalities, or a lack of communication training. Those may be true. but sometimes, it’s simply a sign that people are spent.


When teams are operating near cognitive saturation, the cost of precision rises. Leaders noticing longer updates, circular discussions, and meeting drift may be observing a system under sustained load rather than a skills deficit. Studies on trust, communication, and cognitive demand indicate that overload degrades clarity, judgment and interpersonal regulation (Chen, 2013).


In leadership, if you’re noticing more long-winded updates, tangents, or circular conversations, it's likely a cue to look at workload, cognitive demand, and recovery. Therefore, verbose meetings don’t always need better chairs.


The Message


Talking more isn't always about having more to say. Sometimes, it’s about not having the resource to say it any other way. Therefore, Fatigue doesn’t just mute us, it distorts what we bring forward, especially in systems where noise is rising, and clarity feels increasingly rare.


About The Author


Georgia Hodkinson is an Organisational Psychologist specialising in fatigue, wellbeing, communication, and performance under pressure. Based in Leicester, her work focuses on evidence-based psychology and real organisational challenge, helping teams and leaders perform sustainably in complex, high-demand environments.


Georgia is the Founder of Georgia’s PsyWork Ltd, where she partners with organisations to address issues such as burnout, disengagement, communication breakdowns, and inconsistent performance. Her approach focuses on system design rather than individual blame, translating psychological research into practical interventions that improve clarity, decision-making, and psychological safety at work.



Alongside her consultancy, Georgia is Director of Operations & Marketing at the Psychology Business Incubator (PBI), where she supports psychologists, practitioners, and consultants to collaborate, build capability, and apply psychology beyond academia. Through PBI, she co-creates workshops, learning programmes, and resources that strengthen psychologically informed leadership and organisational practice.


Georgia is currently completing Stage 2 of the British Psychological Society’s Qualification in Occupational Psychology, working towards Chartered status. Her professional work is informed by formal training, applied consultancy experience across multiple sectors, and lived experience of fatigue and cognitive overload, giving her a grounded, human perspective on wellbeing and performance.


Georgia’s work is a belief that many organisational problems, from churn and missed targets to low morale, are clarity, fatigue, and system design problems. Her mission is to bring psychology to life in ways that help people think more clearly, communicate more openly, and work in environments that support both performance and mental health.


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