Let’s hope running around after small children really does burn the extra calories, along with standing on the side of a soccer field watching older kids play sport.
Because finding time for much else when it comes to exercise can be a serious stretch for working parents, especially women.
Men exercise more than women at every age, according to data revealed in the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia Survey, studying a massive 17,000 Australians – and interestingly, male smokers exercise more than non smokers. The number of minutes a woman spends exercising significantly drops during the “childbearing years”.
So what’s a working mother to do when it comes to finding time for exercise? Well you could get up early and eat into your precious sleep – which you’re probably not getting enough of either. According to the HILDA study, just one fifth of Australians report getting enough sleep with women being more likely to have “bad” or “fairly bad” nights of sleep. Meanwhile parents with kids under two report having significantly less sleep. And just in case you need the reminder and added pressure: Poor sleep quality is strongly associated with “poorer health” and “lower life satisfaction”.
You could always try and “squeeze in” the workout on your lunch break, and risk forgetting to eat. Or you could be super, super productive (more so than you already are) so you can leave work on time and get to the gym for an efficient 45 minute spin class. As Women’s Health helpfully told us a couple of years back, “As busy as you are, there are extra minute hiding in your day that you could use more efficiently if you knew how to pinpoint them.” Time to play hide and seek to find the spare minutes you have! You’ll be doing squats while your kids eat their cornflakes in no time, or potentially looking at investing in an exercise bike desk because, practical.
Alongside all this, you need to be a “good mum” — not like those “Bad Moms” in the new Hollywood flick staring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn, featuring fed-up and exhausted mothers who “go wild” after escaping their responsibilities.
According to a poll of 1000 Australian mothers by Ballamy’s Organic, nine out of 10 are forsaking their health and nutrition due to the pressures of being a “good mum”.
To add to those pressures, the study also found that more than half (53%) feel judged about their appearance when out in public, while two thirds (66%) feel judged if they don’t lose the baby weight quickly after childbirth. Meanwhile, 83% of mothers say they feel judged when their kids misbehave in public.
Lack of sleep, unwanted kilos, no time for exercise, and the pressure to be a “good mum”? That’s a lot to deal with. When you finally get to work, it’s lucky there’s then no gender pay gap, unconscious bias and expensive childcare to also navigate. Oh.