Every working mom needs to stay energetic enough to do what is planned for the day. It would help if moms were able to finish off their days work with the right level of energy. Unfortunately, it’s natural that our human bodies will tire and become exhausted at some point in the day.
If you are feeling is constant tiredness, and constantly feeling low on energy and motivation then you could be suffering from extreme fatigue. With fatigue you tend to feel overly tired all the time, with no motivation or energy whatsoever to do anything. And it may lead to burnout.
Common causes of fatigue are overworking, poor sleep, poor working environment, poor nutrition and poor health among others. If this is the case, then you can fight off fatigue and burnout by not overworking, find enablers for good sleep, get help with house-help, change your work environment, good nutrition, see a doctor, find out what motivates you intrinsically and practice self-care.
Causes of Fatigue and Burnout in Working Moms
Before you can deal with your fatigue and burnout, you must identify what is causing your tiredness. There are so many reasons and causes of fatigue that could be the culprit for your burn out. The following are the major causes of fatigue in working moms
- Overworking with low downtime –
- Poor-Inadequate sleeping – you need 8 hours of sleep
- Exhausting Housework-
- Poor working environment-
- Poor Diet Choices-
- Poor Health and Illnesses
To start getting your energy back and recover from burnout, list the possible causes for your fatigue. Eliminate all that do not carry much weight and focus on your top causes of fatigue and burnout. Once you have identified where your fatigue and burnout may be coming from, you are ready to recover from burnout and fatigue.
Read: Importance of Self-care for Working Moms
Proven Methods of Recovering from Burnout and Fatigue
1. Take Work Slow- Avoid Overworking
At some point in work, we may be working on an intense project that requires our optimum energy and time. The rewards and goals achieved are great but if the work is done without enough breaks and time offs, the body and mind take the toil.
If you have narrowed down on this as your main cause of fatigue, then you need some time off. Your natural body energy needs to be replenished. Avoiding putting too much strain on your body as the tiredness and fatigue will lead to burnout and other health complications.
How to Avoid Overworking and Too Much at Work
- Organize with your manager to have a colleague relieve you off your duties as you take some time off to avoid working too long without resting.
- Use the time off work to re-energize and focus your mind. While on this break do all that you need to do to get your mind and body refocused through personal care to help prevent a burn out and constant tiredness.
- Self-care is very crucial in preventing burnout and fatigue. Eat better, sleep better, exercise and enjoy relaxing moments.
- If the work seems too much for your team, consider adding more staff to help ease down the work you have. Productivity relies on quality of work, and under- staffing affects productivity and leads to burn out.
- Delegate the tasks that other people can help on to prevent tiredness and burn out. Only work on what is an absolute priority for you to work on or what is your responsibility.
- Find a routine that works for you business-wise and one that does not exhaust you in return too.
- Divide up Big Tasks/Projects- Chances are some projects are too big and you can avoid fatigue and burnout by dividing them up and work on the bigger project progressively. Smaller tasks are easier to work on, see the results and be more productive than big tasks. Divide up big tasks and work on the bigger project progressively to avoid them making you too tired.
- For instance, start a 24-hour delivery service for high seasons if you work in the delivery service. If you are product design, delegate each product component to a team and work on the final project together.
Read: How to Set and Reinforce Work Boundaries
I have worked with people who would rather work late than delegate part of the tasks to other members of the team. I have also encountered working moms who would never hire a house help.
While there are many factors considered before the decision was made in each of these cases, you do need to also consider the implications of the decision on yourself. Doing too much work while you can get help unnecessarily tires you and leads to fatigue and burnout. Do what you can and what you can’t let some else do it.
2. Find Enablers for Good Sleep
Quality and adequate sleep is very important both in preventing and recovering from burnout. As such you should ensure that you are getting 8 hours of sleep.
Experiment and find those factors that enable you to have that deep sleep. Think of Which ideal environment enables you to have a more relaxing and fulfilling sleep? Is it music? A good mattress? A nice bath before sleep?
Whatever you find that works wonders to your sleep pattern, adopt it and stick to it. Invest in a good mattress if you need one. Soak in the bath for a few minutes before sleep if that does the trick.
3. Get Help for housework to Prevent Fatigue
It could be that you are working harder on taking care of the family in addition to the work you put in for your business or career. Even though you have your work pan out as planned but have exhausting housework later, you will probably be fatigued.
You need to ask yourself these questions. Is the amount of your housework too much for one person? If yes do you have someone to help you with the chores and taking care of your kids? If not it’s time to get help, to prevent you from getting too tired or having a burn out.
There are multiple options you can choose from depending on the work you need help on. If it’s taking care of kids, you can choose to get a live-in nanny or daycare child services. If its housework you can get a live-in house help or a day burg who does the cleaning, laundry, cooking and other general housework.
When all this is done, you should not need to do any more tasks at home after your long day at work. You now have some precious time to spend with your family and re-energize for another day.
Read: How to Get your Husband Help with Housework
4. Change your Work Environment
Numerous studies have documented the negative effects that the modern office has on the body. Many people who work in offices all day often report back pains among other conditions.
Working all day on the office chair in front of the screen day in day out will eventually have its toll on your body, literally. The monotonous work, too much screen light and lack of physical movement can cause fatigue and burnout.
If this sound like your case then you need to adjust your working environment. To make your work environment more accommodating and conducive, you can do the following;
How to Make Work Environment Conducive
- Avoid working on the computer all day
- Work off the computer if you can and other time work in the field to get the body off the office chair and moving.
- Have your employer invest in a good ergonomic chair and office setup that eases pressure on your back, legs and other parts of the body
- Take breaks in between work to stretch too
- Find your natural productive curve. Some people work better in the morning and others in the afternoon or some other time of the day. When do you feel you are most energetic and productive at? Identify the hours where you are more productive and try working on your most exhaustive and intensive tasks. Leave the easier tasks for the rest of the day to avoid feeling overwhelmed. By doing so, you will avoid constant tiredness.
Read: Best Mom Friendly Careers
5. Make Good Diet Choices for Recovery
It is very important to mind what you are giving your body. You need a well-balanced nutrition plan that gives you and your family all the energy you need. Take enough meals during the day too to top up on your energy.
However, there are certain food items that you need to avoid, especially that affect your sleep pattern because they affect energy and lead to burnout. As such avoid taking too many caffeinated drinks such as coffee or tea. Avoid alcohol and energy drinks and rely mostly on giving your body natural energy.
Drink more water instead as it helps in digestion, and keep your energy level elevated. Water is also crucial in hydrating your body and hence preventing burnout. Medical practitioners advise a daily water intake of eight standard glasses. Try to achieve this daily and your body will thank you for it.
6. See a Doctor
There’s a chance that your fatigue and burnout is related to a health condition. You may have tried the above approaches to no success and it is a high time you see a doctor for a proper diagnosis.
There are many health conditions related to fatigue such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression, among others. From the diagnosis, your doctor will advise on the best course of treatment or fatigue management for you.
7. Find Intrinsic Motivation
Motivation is directly related to your energy and focus. When you are demotivated, you will have no reason or purpose in doing what you are doing. In such a case you are highly likely to have burn out.
To retain high productive levels therefore you need motivating factors from within yourself. It could be your family, your business accomplishments or the impact that your work has on society. Identify what gets get you going and hang in there and recover from burnout.
8. Practice Self Care
Take care of your body because how well you treat your body will eventually show. Be nice to yourself, try some relaxation techniques after that long day at work. Eventually you will recover from constant tiredness, fatigue and burnout.
Some relaxation ideas for burnout may include:
- Have a full or half body massage
- Soak in the bathtub
- Meditate
- Do mild exercise e.g. take a walk
- Take a bath and enjoy some scented candles
