Decoding the Science of Work-Life Balance

Having It All

At a time when people are under pressure to excel at work while being fully present at home, it creates pressure to be all things to everyone while maintaining the perfect veneer of balance, and calm; the perfect life. The pursuit of “having it all” comes at a cost to physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing where we are burning the candle at both ends – mentally fatigued from work pressures, physically tired from sandwiching catchups and sports clubs around work, less downtime and the inevitable lack of sleep – a perfect cocktail for burnout. ?But fear not, there are things we can do to manage our full lives and using scientific data from physiological measurements of heart rate variability I can show you exactly how your body is dealing with “having it all” and how these scientific insights can boost your energy and resilience.?

From Work-Life Balance to Work-Life Fit

Work-life balance involves understanding the various factors that impact an individual when they are managing both work and non-work commitments. In finding the elusive “work-life balance” you need to take into account job and life satisfaction, health and, overall wellbeing (Casper, Vaziri, Wayne, DeHauw, & Greenhaus, 2018). Attempting to find this “balance” can lead to huge frustrations, as the opposing pulls from both work and home life mean that one or other, or indeed both, are compromised in a quest to get everything “right”. This quest for perfection leads to additional stress which can result in chronic health problems including cardiovascular disease and burnout.?

What can we do to avoid the health repercussions of trying to do it all while attaining a healthy work-life balance? The best place to start is with how we even think about work-life balance. More recently researchers and practitioners within this area are re-examining work-life balance as a concept that implies reaching a level of perfection that doesn’t exist. Many people feel the pressure to “do it all”; that can often lead to comparisons with others who appear to have it all, and the inevitable thought “so why can’t I?” Thought leaders in this area Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis from Amazing If provide a pragmatic approach that reframes work-life balance into work-life fit. Where the elements of your life are seen as individual jigsaw pieces that fit together when you adopt the right wellbeing strategies. This perspective highlights the individualised nature of life, finding out what is most important for you and fitting together the pieces of your life in the best way for you. This reframing of work-life balance to work-life fit allows a more individualised view of work and life where each person finds the right fit for them – there is no one size fits all!

Finding your ideal-work life fit is a complex process impacted by a range of internal and external factors such as skill and education level, gender, work style, personality, out-of-work demands, and personal beliefs and values (Drew & Murtagh, 2005). While work-life fit is a challenge for everyone, research consistently shows that demands of home life commitments placed on women are higher than men. Indeed, research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies showed that when there are two parents of opposite gender, women have traditionally carried the brunt of household responsibilities, averaging two hours per day in additional household chores. The impact of gender differences in work-life fit shows up time and time again in consultations with clients. In our work of scientifically analysing everyday rest and recovery we can understand the pressures of finding work-life balance and decode the data to find ways to restore balance and find the right work-life fit for clients.

As a transformational wellbeing coach with a unique blend of expertise and experience following a background spanning over 15 years in high performance sport and 10 years in corporate wellbeing, I'm dedicated to helping individuals optimise their wellbeing and performance.

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