The Maternal Stress Project

If you are working in any corner of women’s health today, you need to understand the past, the present, and the new FUTURE of biomedical research that will continue to affect the work you do. Basic science has always been skewed by decades of research based on young male animal models. In 2016, NIH started to require all grants include “sex as a biological variable” or justify use of single sex models – the SABV policy. Researchers who would otherwise only include male animals now needed to include female animals in their studies too. In the years since the SABV policy was implemented, the skew towards was FINALLY starting to shift. Female animals were FINALLY being used in research. We were FINALLY starting to explore and find critical sex differences that could relate to women’s health outcomes. Researchers were FINALLY starting to accept that females are not just males with pesky ovaries, and women are not “small men”. And now, every NIH web page that mentioned the SABV policy shows up with the phrase: “Historic document published prior to January 20, 2025”. Prepare for a backslide that could further set back women’s health research and the critical progress we have made in women’s health.?The time for creative solutions to keep moving forward is now. https://lnkd.in/gSGEqDub #womenshealth #maternalhealth

A Valentine's Day PSA: Misogyny is harmful to women's health. Emerging research from the The Maternal Stress Project shared by Molly Dickens, PhD indicates that misogyny is an "overlay" that "fuels an ever-present level of vigilance stress and heightened sense of fear – a stress we cannot shut off." And we all know that stress is detrimental to our health and wellbeing, particularly in times such as the postpartum period, when the body and mind already face significant strain. It might be easy to dismiss these findings - and this post - because misogyny may seem like an extreme set of beliefs. But if you study the definition from psychologist and writer Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD, turns out it lives among us, in our homes, within our corporate structures, and in the content we see on this and other platforms every day. I am profoundly grateful to many of the men here on LinkedIn who are acknowledging their privilege, accepting the impact they could have (both positive and negative) and learning from others. One thoughtful moment at a time, you're unraveling something systemic and pervasive that isn't just "offensive," but truly harmful. Thank you ??

*stress* is... universal and individual, biological and societal, beneficial and detrimental, over-exposed and invisible. ? ? So, how the heck do we separate it all and make it *ACTIONABLE* when it comes to women’s health?! ? I'll be getting into the weeds of stress -- from the basic biology to the stressors of modern American motherhood; from stress-related health risks to the broad opportunities for improving women's health. All in a free webinar next week with plenty of time for Q&A and discussion! Join me! January 29th 9:30amPT/12:30pmET/5:30pmGMT https://lnkd.in/gXHEVqhY

One thing I find so challenging is figuring out how to talk about motherhood in a way that allows for pleasures, joys, pain, challenges, stresses, and burdens. ???? As such, it was a true intellectual and emotional pleasure to talk about stress and motherhood with an actual stress scientist/ physiologist Molly Dickens, PhD who thinks deeply about such matters for The Maternal Stress Project. We attempt to parse out which of the hard parts of motherhood have the capacity to be generative and productive, and which are just crappy. For a long time the story was that motherhood was powerful because of the harmony and ease it brings to our lives. That was, of course, B.S. Now we are starting to unpack how motherhood is powerful because of, and not in spite of, the friction it produces. But which frictions? When? And for whom? Molly and I would love to hear your thoughts. WHICH OF THE CHALLENGES OF PARENTHOOD PUSHED YOU TO GROW OR EXPAND YOUR IDEA OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT THE GOOD LIFE IS? AND WHICH FELT UNNECESSARY AND BURDENSOME?

Dignifying the work of caregivers means not exacerbating their personal, emotional, and financial resources -- which is exactly what happens all too often. Then, we quit the bedside nursing work, have a mental health crisis among healthcare workers, caregivers no longer tolerate poor client to staff ratios despite loving their work, and the list goes on. I look to the spaces where there is perhaps some control and even useful cultural regulation around not exacerbating caregivers. Let's look at an example from the private sector. Nanny agencies, often back nanny industry standards that set up appropriate pay, boundaries, and support the health and well-being of the caregivers they work with. Although no two agencies are the same, there is generally a huge cultural push in this industry to do the right thing by caregivers. In many cases, these standards lead to happy and long nanny and in-home care careers that breed, well, joy. Would love to see the public sector catch up by building a better value prop around not only pay, but the degree of stress deemed reasonable for say physicians, nurses, and childcare center workers. See more on maternal stress and Molly Dickens, PhD work on the subject, always gets me thinking.

When I first read Elissa Strauss’ excellent book, “When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others”, my brain broke a little bit. Before reading, I had crafted my thoughts on The Maternal Stress Project to categorize how parenting and caregiving could negatively affect women's health and where the opportunities to lighten the stress load played into how we address and support the challenges more broadly. I had never considered that simply being a parent and caring for another human being could be, in and of itself, a *stress buffer* — having a positive effect on our health and wellbeing. Enter Elissa’s beautiful writing and reporting. Of course, it’s not that simple. And so I jumped at the chance to get into the weeds of it all with her.? In this week’s newsletter, Elissa and I teamed up to explore the two sides of the care coin — how the challenges can be stressful or expansive or both. We discuss how support and control flip that coin. And we go looking for the overlap between the challenges and the benefits to examine the ways to expand the joy and meaning making and positives of life as a parent and/or caregiver. It will not be shocking to anyone working in the care space that the key to flipping that coin is SUPPORTING THE CAREGIVERS. I loved this discussion so much. My wheels are TURNING! https://lnkd.in/gkXqxNyP #CareCantWait #ChildcareIsHealthcare #PaidLeaveForAll #maternalmentalhealth #parentingstress

One thing I find so challenging is figuring out how to talk about motherhood in a way that allows for pleasures, joys, pain, challenges, stresses, and burdens. ???? As such, it was a true intellectual and emotional pleasure to talk about stress and motherhood with an actual stress scientist/ physiologist Molly Dickens, PhD who thinks deeply about such matters for The Maternal Stress Project. We attempt to parse out which of the hard parts of motherhood have the capacity to be generative and productive, and which are just crappy. For a long time the story was that motherhood was powerful because of the harmony and ease it brings to our lives. That was, of course, B.S. Now we are starting to unpack how motherhood is powerful because of, and not in spite of, the friction it produces. But which frictions? When? And for whom? Molly and I would love to hear your thoughts. WHICH OF THE CHALLENGES OF PARENTHOOD PUSHED YOU TO GROW OR EXPAND YOUR IDEA OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT THE GOOD LIFE IS? AND WHICH FELT UNNECESSARY AND BURDENSOME?

“My interest in mental load came down to not being satisfied by the answers that are currently out there.” – Haley Swenson This point came up in a long discussion with Haley about mental load (the first part of that discussion linked below). The comment resonated with me deeply because it aligned with something I hadn’t been able to put my finger on as I have become interested in this topic. Mental load as a missing piece. Haley is starting to see mental load as a missing piece in the puzzle of gender equity issues in the home and workplace. I am starting to see mental load as a missing piece connecting the disproportionate stress load on mothers.? I think we both gravitate towards to “missing piece” of it all because it feels like an invisible force field standing in the way of progress: *If we can’t see and quantify and fix the disproportionate mental load that falls to women, how far can the needle actually move?* To flip that towards solutions -- how can we better see, quantify, and fix the disproportionate mental load that falls to women? https://lnkd.in/gYsjDvPP #MentalLoad #parentalstress (Leah Ruppanner, Lauren Berry, Eve Rodsky, Kate Mangino, Jodi Pawluski, Darby Saxbe, Jessica Calarco, Work Life Everything, The Fair Play Policy Institute)?

Another thing missing in the Surgeon General Advisory on parental stress and mental health…?? Zero mention of MENTAL LOAD. (well, ok, there was one paragraph about “the significant mental labor involved with parenting” but… )? Perhaps this oversight relates to the disproportionate mental load on mothers and how the advisory completely avoided discussing the gender imbalance in parental stress? (Despite the fact that the citation for that paragraph on the “significant mental labor with parenting” came from a review article on the gender differences! ??)? Or maybe it relates to the fact that research connecting the mental load of parenting with stress and mental health is still in very early stages? Either way, I wrestle with mental load as parental stressor too – the concept of carrying around a *constant to-do list* in your brain doesn’t fit neatly into my definitions of stress. That does not mean that mental load isn’t stressful. It just means that we have work to do to define it from a stress perspective. Here is where my thinking goes: ??– When does mental load become stressful? Why would the brain perceive mental load as a stressor??? ??– Is the stress related to the emotional labor of mental load?? Or is it related to holding a range of cognitive tasks that add elements of lack of control and unpredictability that trigger the stress alarm? ??– As it relates to our body, our brain, and our health, exactly *what IS the stress of mental load?* I seek granularity because I feel like the answers could directly relate to the effectiveness of solutions targeting mental load reduction, and, therefore, reduce parental stress (especially for mothers). To get there, I am starting to dissect all things mental load with Haley Swenson. Those discussions coming soon! In the meantime, I dug into what we know and what I’m hoping to learn more about when it comes to the mental load of parenting as it relates to stress: https://lnkd.in/gw4SvJEG (highlighting the important research from Leah Ruppanner, Liz Dean, Brendan Churchill, Allison Daminger, Richard Petts, Darby Saxbe, Eve Rodsky, Elizabeth Aviv, Jodi Pawluski) #MentalLoad #maternalhealth #parentalstress