Excellent article in the New Scientist magazine (January 23, 2021) about “Parental Burnout” – which you can read online HERE – or see the highlighted PDF below.
As an author of many books about stress and burnout, here are some of the points that stood out to me…
Burnout (severe emotional exhaustion) was more likely in highly educated women who were trying to “do it all” – and especially among women who had kids at home and who had to continue working defusing COVID lockdowns.
These women had stress hormone (cortisol) levels that were double those of other “normally stressed” parents – and those levels were even higher than patients with severe chronic (physical) pain.
One study outlined in there article indicated that “mindfulness” therapies aren’t particularly effective for many parents – and might actually be harmful because it adds just another thing to do to an already long to-do list (and makes you feel even worse with guilt when you fail to get around to your mindfulness session).
The solution for burnout? I have a number of effective natural options in a recent article on the topic…
