Working Moms and Mental Health
Women, today are achieving every success milestone possible. They are not just working in multiple fields but they are also fulfilling their roles in the households of being good wives and great Mothers!
But What does it mean for their Mental Health?
The traditional roles have been challenged by women in different ways possible. Women are no longer just moms, now they have become working moms. Their multi-tasking skills have expanded considerably.
But what is at stake? In one way, every mom is a working mom, whether she gets paid or not. After all, taking care of children is a full-time job. But we are specifically talking about those women who are raising their children and in addition to making their own identity and working tremendously hard to be independent to make an income to support their family financially.
According to the US census bureau 2018, Two-thirds out of 23.5 million people in the US are working moms who work full time. It is not easy to maintain a balance between home and job, especially in a nuclear family, and in families where the roles are defined based on gender.
Everything has to be done by moms from fulfilling the basic needs of a child to educating about good values. In a nuclear family, the security of a child after both the parents go to work is also becoming a major concern today.
Her Role & The guilt of a Never-ending to-do List
The entire day a working mom goes in dealing with the stress. From waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night, moms go through the whole day under stress and anxiety. It is difficult to imagine the pressure, especially given the number of tasks a working mom has to do in a day. Apart from all of this, her pertinent fear is that she may lose her identity if she is unable to focus on her job. This even affects her mental health severely.
Let’s discuss below the most common mental health issues faced by working moms.
Working Moms and Mental health Issues They Face!
It’s not an easy job to be a mom and especially a working mom. She goes through many mental health issues and pains. Here are the three common mental health issues faced by working moms.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
It is panicking or worrying excessively about daily activities. In the UK, there are 20,000 instances of GAD each year, with slightly more cases affecting women than males and most commonly affecting people between the ages of 35 and 59. Working moms usually face generalized anxiety disorder or GAD because she has to do a lot of multitasking in their daily routine. This often results in constant worry and a fear of missing out on important things. Check your Anxiety levels
Smiling Depression
In this condition, a person is depressed from the inside but tries to show happiness from the outside with a smiling face. Working moms are always stressed because of all the responsibilities of the household, children, husband, and job. But she never shows it to her kids and family instead keeps smiling. Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression than men.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a kind of sleep disorder in which a person is not able to take sleep properly. It could be due to depression, stress, anxiety, etc. it is found that working moms usually suffer from insomnia. According to Dr. Michael Awad, women suffer from insomnia 40% more than men.
Steps that Working Moms Need to Follow to Take Care of their Mental Health
Here are some steps that working moms can follow to overcome their mental health issues.
Meditation
Meditation is one of the best practices to improve mental health. Meditation is not just important but needed for working women who deal with everyday stress and anxiety. It helps in lowering stress and anxiety. Working moms can try to meditate for 10-15 minutes a day to enhance their physical and emotional well-being.
To know more about how to practice meditation, read this out-
How to meditate-ultimate guide for beginners (2021). or Listen to our podcasts.
Selfcare
There is nothing wrong with taking out some time from your daily hectic schedule and practicing self-care. Along with work, taking out time and relaxing is also important for mental health. Self-care truly helps in managing stress and refilling energy to work efficiently.
Yoga
As stress is very common among working moms because they manage home, children, and work altogether. yoga is always advised by Ayurveda to improve mental health. Yoga helps in dealing with generalized anxiety disorder. According to a study, it is proven that yoga is much effective in improving mental health conditions.
Therapy sessions
Therapy is wonderful for the working mom who faces stress and anxiety. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the effective remedies for reducing stress. There are other forms of therapies available too. Book a session now!
Remain positive
Living in positivity can help a lot in overcoming various mental health issues. It is seen that positive thinking results in lower rates of stress, anxiety, depression, and mental health problems. For positivity, reading out positive quotes could be a solution.
I hope this would be beneficial for all the working moms out there. Do focus on your mental health as it is very important to have a good state of mind to lead a Happier Life!