Mombie self care: spring cleaning for your routine
Victoria S.
March 21, 2019

How do you know if you’re a mombie? Look for these 5 signs
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Should you just power through it?
Please don’t. Pushing yourself when you’re mentally and physically exhausted leads to way more negative outcomes than positive ones. Here are some of the reasons why:Sleep deprivation is unhealthy for you and your family
It makes everything from chopping vegetables to driving a car more dangerous. And it’s not just because you’re at risk of dozing off. Here are some other side effects of not getting your rest.- Exhaustion impairs your memory. You’re more likely to forget about items on your to-do list, work tasks, and even basic things like paying a bill or bringing the grocery list to the store. And with kids to care for, that’s far from ideal.
- Your brain power is on low-battery mode. That means it’s difficult or impossible to make quick judgement calls and use critical thinking skills. It also means your physical reaction time is delayed. And that can be dangerous.
Chronic stress is unhealthy—even more than you’d expect
Maybe all the things slipping through the cracks these days makes you a stressed out mom. Maybe the responsibility of guiding your child on the path towards independent, functioning adulthood is daunting. Whatever the case, chronic stress leads to all sorts of undesirable outcomes.- Chronic stress is different than normal bad stress. When we’re stressed, our bodies produce cortisol. It’s a hormone that helps us get out of a bad situation in the short term, but kind of makes a mess of things when the cause of our stress (and the cortisol) stick around long-term. Everything from our mental state to the quality of our sleep to our blood pressure is fair game, so for the sake of your personal health, it’s best to find a way to deal with stress.
- When you’re stressed, you are unable to be as empathetic or patient as you would normally be. And as moms, that’s pretty much what we’re expected to do day-in, day-out. Maybe it manifests in yelling when the kids are out of control. Maybe you are unkind to yourself when you are truly doing the best you can under the circumstances.
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