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Friday 31 May 2019

Stress levels increase (up to 40%) for working mothers !


As regular readers know, this blog brings a variety of articles, studies, thoughts, photographs, music and recipes! It is presented in a magazine style - we hope something for everyone. Our main focus is about the Low Carb Higher (Healthy) Fat lifestyle, LCHF for short, and you can read/find out more about that here
But we have something different today, and special mention to Dr Katharine Morrison at The Diabetes Diet Blog for this post ... 

Bring back the 50s ?
Mothers in full time work are significantly stressed.

"Being a working mother doesn’t just feel stressful, it alters your physiology. 

Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Essex studied 6025 people. They collected information about their working and home lives. Hormonal levels and blood pressure were checked too. 

When 11 biomarkers of stress were tested, these were 40% higher in women who worked full time and were raising two children at the same time. One child raised the levels by 18%. Part time workers, job sharers and those with flexible working arrangements where fewer hours were worked had less stress. Flexible working or remote working with no reduction in hours did not lower stress levels. 

The authors said, ” Work-family conflict is associated with increased psychological strain, with higher levels of stress and lower levels of well being. Parents of young children are at particular risk of family-work conflict."

The above snippet taken from an article, which you can read in full here

Do please share your views on this. I think it can affect both mums and dads …
When I think back to my childhood, my mother did not work, there somehow seemed more time available. As a family we used to do things together, sit down and eat together (far more than families seem to do now), talk together. There was more structure to the day, more defined lines. So many people say to me that they struggle with finding a good life balance these days, and I’m sure it is having a detrimental affect on many people’s health. Another thought how do the children feel?

All the best Jan

24 comments:

Jules said...

I read somewhere recently that women are expected to raise children as if they do not work, and to work as if they are not also raising children. There are so many pressures on families these days.

Miss Val's Creations said...

Such an emotional subject. Since I do not have any children, I have no experience here. I can't even begin to imagine what parents go through.

Valerie-Jael said...

Balancing work and family is always hard. Valerie

Jordi López Pérez said...

Siempre interesantes y muy productivos tus reportajes. Me gusta!
Un abrazo.

Lowcarb team member said...

Jordi López Pérez said...
Siempre interesantes y muy productivos tus reportajes. Me gusta!
Un abrazo.

Google translate:
Always interesting and very productive your reports. I like it!
A hug.

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

And mothers who do not work often feel quite guilty about this.

Christine said...

Very stressful for working moms, I was lucky to have a supportive husband who helped out a lot.

DeniseinVA said...

Very interesting article Jan, thank you!

Elephant's Child said...

My mother went back to work when I was ten or eleven. While I don't dispute the findings of this study, my mother was MUCH happier at work than at home and we all benefited.
Horses for courses.

Chatty Crone said...

Stress kills! It is not good for us at all. sandie

Kay said...

It wasn't easy when I was teaching and raising two kids way back when. However, I was lucky because my husband always tried to do 55% of the work. We made sure we had our dinners together, and though there was stress, I wouldn't trade my life for anything else. This was a very interesting post and I found Jules' comment very interesting as well.

William Kendall said...

My mother did some part time work, particularly after kids were in school.

Caty said...

Very interesting this article Jan, thank you very much for sharing it. It is true that the life of a woman today is very stressful, between work that takes many hours, and children. The father increasingly collaborates more in the care of the children, and in the maintenance of the hours. However, we live in a very stressful time, and we have to learn to enjoy everything we can from the good times of life.
I wish you a very nice weekend,
Big hugs, Caty

Susan Kane said...

My farmer wife/mother worked over time and then some on the farm. But she was there with us all the time.

I was home with the kids in one way or another (they were with me) until the oldest was middle-school. then I was teaching. Always with them, though.

Anonymous said...

The working mums of today have so much stress, it’s almost impossible to survive on one wage today, pressuring women to work even if they would rather not, I feel bad for them,

DUTA said...

Work stress is number one killer for everyone: men, women, mothers or not. Even those who like their job are unaware of the amount of stress it carries with it. People should often check their environment and the amount of stress it generates.

Suzan said...

Ihated being a working mother. My husband was difficult and working was a nightmare.

My daughter does better as a mother who works. She works two days most weeks and childcare for her little girl is shared between family members. At present this is working well.

No matter which path a mother chooses she is often criticised for her choices.

Tom said...

...I don't know how my two daughters do it!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What a truly unique and important study. I've also enjoyed reading the other comments, too. I am single, have no children, so have no way to compare myself to others. I so enjoyed reading this, though.

mamasmercantile said...

My heart goes out to all those poor Mums who have to work. It is not a want these days it is a necessity. I am not at all surprised about the stress levels.

Iris Flavia said...

My Brother works 3 1/2 days a week - it´s his little shop 7 km away, so he can make it work. His wife works 50 km apart every day fulltime.
They are stressed.
They tried for a third child but never could make it happen. I feel very sad for them.

Ygraine said...

I wholeheartedly agree! After my son was born and I returned to work, my stress levels gradually increased until I began to become unwell. First, it was just those kind of trivial illnesses, like constant colds and flu. Then it became more serious, bronchitis and depression. Fortunately, I made the decision to quit work and become a full time mum. My health improved immensely.
Also, growing up at home was so different than it is today...my mum was always there for us children, so life was calm and free of anxiety.
I know which lifestyle I prefer!😊

Hugs xxx

baili said...

i worked few times in life for few years and i can easily say that when our attention divides in to many directions we get stress inevitably

years of job have totally different effect on my mental and physical health

being housewife is full time job but it does not divert our attention in completely opposite sides so brain finds it easy to manage the physical functions more simply

Snowbird said...

I found it horrendous working full-time and raising a child, especially with all the extra activities each evening. 18 years went by in a blur.xxx