Motherhood is the greatest of all joys. The journey from pregnancy to infant stage to toddlers till teenagers is a great experience but can get difficult at times especially taking a toll on your health. Mothers have to juggle between many responsibilities irrespective of being a working or a stay at home mom. From the seemingly endless sleepless nights and toil of the new-born weeks to the patience-testing times of toddlerhood and then the grey-hair inducing times of parenting teenagers. Being a mother can be exhausting. Taking your kids to loads of extracurricular activities, reading stories, packing school tiffins, looking after their overall development, assisting them in school projects, the list is endless. This Mother’s Day take a break, spend a few minutes by yourself and pay special attention to your health too.
Mothers across the world are conditioned to put the needs of children and family ahead of their own. However, it’s good, occasionally, to put yourself first – and this is also good for your family! Mother’s tend to ignore their fitness routine, ignore healthy meals, and overall health issues. They tend to procrastinate a doctor visit or take medications only when it is the last resort. This often harms the body and may make the disease even more serious and difficult to treat. While juggling between motherhood, work life and social commitments a mother’s health often takes a backseat and manifests as a host of different medical conditions. With the kind of hectic lifestyles and sedentary jobs that many of us have, there are many lifestyle diseases that mothers are being affected with.
Here are a few health precautions to take care of your health :
- Manage headaches better. Headaches are a classic manifestation of stress, dehydration and sleep deprivation, all conditions that are common among mothers. Many women are starved of adequate sleep because of workplace priorities and responsibilities at home. Make sure you are well rested and sufficiently hydrated.
- Eat a healthy diet and take minerals and vitamins if necessary. Treat yourself to some basic skin care routine. Avoid junk foods and focus on multi coloured fruits and vegetables in your diet.
- Make to do lists. It helps you manage work and home life better without forgetting things. Thus avoiding stressful situations.
- Long hours spent hunched over a desk and the weight of carrying your tot around may cause backaches. Regular movement is key to preventing deep-seated back pain. It is important to avoid dropping your shoulders while seated and keep changing positions, to avoid stressing specific areas of your body.
- Are you anxious all the time? A combination of motherhood and corporate life can stir up a wealth of overwhelming emotions. Multi-tasking can take a toll on mental health and peace of mind and lead to stress and frenzy. You may have a million priorities that leave little time for self-care. Whether it is unwinding with a coffee, connecting with a friend or hitting the gym it is important in keeping anxiety at bay and connecting with your inner self.
- New moms, are you facing the dreaded Mastitis? Working moms who are still nursing may find it a challenge to pump breast milk regularly at the workplace. However, if breast milk is left to accumulate for long periods, it can lead to engorgement, blocked milk ducts and mastitis. Mastitis is a painful condition that can warrant an antibiotic-based treatment plan. Setting aside time to pump milk is essential.. Seek medical help immediately if you are suffering from Mastitis.
- Balancing a home life, career and kids can compromise eating habits of moms, leaving many deficient in iron and vitamin B12. For moms who are still nursing, this depletion exhibits amplified effects. A nutritious meal plan is the best way to stock your body with essential nutrients. However, if you still fall short on the nutrition scale, speak to your doctor about seeking multivitamin and iron supplements.
- Take care of your maternal health. Pregnancy complications lead to many maternal deaths of which a majority of the cases could be avoided if women received timely and effective care.
This Mother’s Day, gift yourself a resolution to make your health a priority. As the backbone of your family, nobody deserves this more than you do. So this mother’s day, celebrate motherhood and support improvements to maternal health.
