Too tired to exercise? You may have postnatal depletion.

In a culture where phrases like “go hard or go hard home” and “bounce back” are the norm, it’s refreshing to see the conversation about depletion open up. 

All humans, regardless of whether or not they have had a baby, have a capacity for what is know as total physiological load. 

This is a summation of all the stressors in our life, poured into one big "cup", inside of our bodies, in order for us to process. 

And for everyone - once the cup is full, it’s at capacity. So if we keep adding to it, we experience burnout. 

*Physiological stressors can include (but are not limited to) the:

- Biochemical 

- Nutritional 

- Mental/Emotional

- Biomechanical 

- Thermal 

- Hormonal 

Essentially these all go into that one big cup inside our body that handles the total amount of load, or ‘stress’ we experience. 

If it goes into our cup with plenty of room, generally these stressors aren’t experienced as stressful.

 But once the cup is full, there’s literally no more room for any stressors, without potential negative consequences to our health.

What about the term 'postnatal depletion'?

Coined by Australian Dr Oscar Serrallach, it refers to the enormous toll that growing a baby takes on a woman's body - and - our lack of time and space to make a full recovery. 

If the stressors continue to come in, our bodies can reduce their capacity to heal, think and cope with daily life (baby brain anyone?).

If you're already exhausted, caffeinating more and working harder isn't the answer (I've been there - I've burned out from it).

You don't have to be experiencing depression to be depleted. 

 

Over time we can develop physical aches and pains, anxiety, depression, and be more susceptible to illness. .

So what can we do?

SLEEP.

EAT LOTS OF VEGETABLES.

SLEEP.

GET NATURAL LIGHT AND FRESH AIR.

DO A RESTORATIVE CORE PROGRAM (like The Postpartum Method).

SLEEP. 

If you aren't able to sleep because you have a baby to take care of and this is out of your control, try 10 minutes of meditation in a small window of time each day instead. The benefits on the nervous system are enormous. 

Taking stock of how we are feeling about what’s coming in at us daily, and how we feel on the inside, can often give us a great indication of how much load we are currently experiencing. 

Do you feel short tempered? Quick to tears?  Overwhelmed?  Our feelings can tell us so much about our current load. 

If you’re a mum,  know that recovering from birth, combined with looking after a tiny new human, are 2 huge stressors going into that cup.  And for most women, these 2 things alone means our cups are full.   

This isn’t us 'not coping'.  This is physiologically normal. 

Feeling overwhelmed by how much we have to do doesn’t mean we’re not doing a good enough job (which is often how new mums can feel).

It just means it’s time to remove some items from the cup.

______________________________________

Kristy Ahale, Exercise Scientist.

Exercise can add to our total physiological load.  Ensure that if you are already depleted, you're undertaking a postpartum exercise program it's designed to heal, and sequentially build up in intensity, so as not to overload you. 

The Postpartum Method - Core and Pelvic Floor program -  is sequenced and divided into 3 levels with this concept of physiological load as a guiding principle.

*from "How to eat, move and be healthy" by Paul Chek