Are Kids Bad for Your Health?

Pros and cons of small humans in your home

Last week the surgeon general wrote an opinion piece and released a health advisory saying that parents’ and caregivers’ mental and physical health are both impacted negatively by parenting duties. Dr. Vivek Murthy wrote:

The joys are indeed abundant, but as fulfilling as parenting has been, the truth is it has also been more stressful than any job I’ve had. I’ve had many moments of feeling lost and exhausted. So many parents I encounter as I travel across America tell me they have the same experience: They feel lucky to be raising kids, but they are struggling, often in silence and alone.

I can’t disagree with any of this.

I’m writing this as I’m sitting in a paper robe waiting for my exhausted GP to come in for my annual physical. I say exhausted GP because our healthcare system is yet another of the painfully broken things in this country and she always seems totally beaten down by the system. I could switch doctors but that also seems like a massive dumpster fire of bureaucracy with our insurance company and I like her.

Anyway I’m mostly healthy-ish except for the fact that I’m having a hard time sleeping so my energy gets low and I’m gaining weight faster than ever even as I eat better and work out more.

During today’s appointment my doctor picked up two handfuls of my belly fat.

“I can pick it up so it isn’t ovarian cancer,” she said.

“Yay,” I answered. I tried to muster joy at not having cancer. “Please place the fat back down,” I whispered.

I’m getting my hormones checked today to find out what’s going on but I think we all know the answer so welcome to my perimenopause journey. I am clearly now a perimenopause influencer.

So are my kids bad for my health?

Let’s weigh the good and the bad and try to do a kind of cost benefit analysis.