Sustainable Wellness for Working Mums: A Realistic Guide

“There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” — Jill Churchill

Some days you might be nailing work deadlines and school runs. Other days, success looks like brushing your hair 45 seconds before your Zoom call. That’s not failure. It’s real life.

In a world obsessed with curated images and colour-coded calendars, the pressure to “have it all together” can quietly wear us down. Especially for working mums, wellness can start to feel like one more thing on the to-do list.

But you don’t need to be perfect to be powerful.

Power doesn’t need kale smoothies or cold plunges. It just needs resilience. You can build resilience by following rituals that sustain you, even when things are messy.

Here are some ways working mums can embrace a sustainable path to wellness, no perfection required.

1. Rethink What “Wellness” Looks Like

Wellness doesn’t equate to 5 am workouts and a fridge full of prepped quinoa.

Psychologist Dr. Kristin Neff, known for her work on self-compassion, says, “When we give ourselves compassion, we are opening our hearts in a way that can transform our lives.”

You can skip the guilt when you’re not ticking all the boxes. Sometimes there’s a less-than-perfect but still-valid compromise. Maybe you swap your 60-minute yoga class for a 6-minute stretch while the kettle boils. That counts. Even if your toddler ate toast for dinner, and you didn’t do laundry. That doesn’t make you any less committed to your family or your well-being.

Micro-habits, like stepping outside for 10 minutes of daylight, can shift your nervous system into a calmer state. Research from Stanford University shows that just ten minutes in nature can lower blood pressure and reduce the production of cortisol, our primary stress hormone.

So let go of the idea that wellness needs to be big and dramatic. Sometimes it looks like drinking water before coffee, or putting your phone down for five minutes. These are not small things. They are the building blocks of balance.

2. Get Strategic About Energy, Not Just Time

Many working parents fall into the trap of over-scheduling; we all do it. But time isn’t the only finite resource; energy is too. You might have 12 hours ahead of you, but if you’re mentally and emotionally depleted by hour two, the rest of the day is going to feel like dragging a bag of bricks.

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, author of Sacred Rest, identifies seven types of rest: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual. Often, we focus only on sleep and ignore the deeper exhaustion building in other areas.

Ask yourself:

• Am I mentally drained from constant decision-making?
• Do I feel emotionally tapped from supporting others?
• Have I had time alone to just think?

Then, restore accordingly. Mental rest might mean a break from multitasking. Emotional rest could be letting yourself cry or journal. Social rest might mean declining an event that feels draining.

Sometimes it’s not another coffee you need, but five minutes of silence. Or a podcast that makes you laugh. Or simply putting on music that makes you feel like yourself again.

3. Understand the Science of Stress

Your stress response isn’t a flaw. It’s your biology doing its job. But modern life means we’re often stuck in chronic fight-or-flight.

Cortisol, your main stress hormone, is meant to spike and then dip. But with non-stop emails, late nights, and snack dinners over the sink, it stays elevated. Over time, this affects your mood, memory, sleep, and even your immune function.

The good news? There are effective, well-researched ways to regulate your nervous system. Practices like deep breathing, mindfulness, regular movement, and better sleep hygiene all help.

This is also where smart supplementation can lend a hand. Adaptogens are natural substances that help the body adapt to stress. One of the most researched is KSM-66 ashwagandha, which has been shown to lower cortisol, reduce anxiety, and improve focus. Nutrition Geeks offers a KSM-66 ashwagandha supplement that fits seamlessly into busy routines. It doesn’t offer perfect; it offers support.

4. Boundaries Are Wellness Too

Saying “no” is a wellness practice.

So is logging off at 6 pm. Or turning off phone notifications during dinner. Or explaining to your child that you’re taking five minutes alone to breathe, and that they’re not being ignored; you’re just human.

As author and researcher Brené Brown puts it, “Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.”

Boundaries help prevent burnout. And burnout, as the World Health Organization classifies it, is not just stress; it’s chronic workplace stress left unmanaged. It doesn’t go away on its own.

Boundaries could mean not checking email after 8 pm. It could mean telling your partner you need an hour to yourself on Sundays. Boundaries can also be internal: not allowing yourself to spiral into comparison every time you scroll social media.

5. Connect to Your Community (Even in Small Doses)

Working mums often isolate because “catching up” feels like one more obligation. But you don’t need a full girls’ night out to benefit from social support.

A five-minute voice note to a friend. A walk with a neighbour. A WhatsApp group of fellow mums sending memes. These moments of connection can buffer against stress and create a sense of belonging.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on happiness, concluded that strong relationships are the most reliable predictor of long-term health and happiness.

So ring someone. Let them hear the mess in the background. Let them hear your real laugh, not the one you save for work meetings.

6. Redefine Power

Power doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it whispers.

Power is showing up to the meeting after a sleepless night. Or breastfeeding during a Zoom call. Power is choosing rest when you’ve been taught to hustle.

You are not powerful despite being a mum. You are powerful because you are a mum.

Let’s stop measuring strength by how much we can endure. Let’s measure it by how well we care for ourselves in the process. And caring for yourself means accepting help, be it from your community, your partner, or even your supplement routine.

Final Thoughts: Sustainable > Perfect

The goal isn’t to have a Pinterest-perfect routine. It’s to create a rhythm that serves you, not the other way around.

Whether that includes five minutes of breathwork, saying no more often, or incorporating adaptogenic support from trusted sources, the key is sustainability. You don’t need to be flawless to thrive. You just need to show up, imperfect, powerful, and absolutely enough.

P.S. A Little List of Where All This Wisdom Comes From:

• Dr. Kristin Neff on the power of self-compassion.
• Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, who brought us the seven types of rest in her book Sacred Rest.
• Harvard Study of Adult Development – decades of proof that connection keeps us healthy and happy.
• Bruce McEwen & George Chrousos, experts on how stress reshapes our bodies.
• Brené Brown, always reminding us that boundaries are brave.
• Jill Churchill, for reminding us there’s no perfect mum, just a million good ones.
• Clinical research on KSM-66 ashwagandha, supporting its role in stress regulation (like the kind Nutrition Geeks makes easier to include in real life) – Sharma, A., Chandraker, A., & Shukla, R. (2020). Efficacy and safety of Ashwagandha root extract in reducing stress and anxiety in adults: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 270, 113743.

Want to unlock greater wellness?

Listen to our friends over at the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast to unlock your best self with Dr. John Lieurance; Founder of MitoZen; creators of the ZEN Spray and Lumetol Blue™ Bars with Methylene Blue.