There's the ideal of having it all, and then there's the dream of being able to do it all. While many women strive to be high-achievers, juggling motherhood with stressful jobs and hectic lifestyles, trying to live like the highly successful Facebook chief Sheryl Sandberg may be detrimental to your health and well-being.
The desire to be a high-powered modern woman, according to a report in Grazia magazine, in part stems from a widespread ambition of emulating women like Sandberg, who manages to run the world's top tech firm while managing motherhood and her secondary career as a motivational speaker. Sandberg's latest book, "Lean In," encourages men to step up and pull their weight at home, and health experts confirm why this is so important.
"On average women need 20 minutes more sleep than men," Professor Jim Horne, author of "Sleepfaring: A Journey Through The Science Of Sleep", told Grazia magazine. "Because women tend to multi-task, they use more of their actual brain than men do during the day, so their need to go into recovery mode and disengage from the senses is greater."
Bragging about how tired you are on social media may encourage ambitious women to strive to pull off the most on the least amount of sleep, Grazia magazine argues, pointing out that Sandberg admits that having it all comes with the hefty price of eternal fatigue, in part why she is so adamant about male partners pulling their weight when it comes to everyday tasks and chores.
But why might striving to be just as successful as men so difficult for the modern woman?
"Women are still working what is known as 'The Second Shift'," occupational psychologist Almuth McDowell said to Grazia. "They're often the ones who have to do the little things - remembering birthdays, paying bills, booking holidays. Research shows there are genuine gender differences in who takes care of these tasks within the home."
While a backlash against gender disparity has already began, according to the Daily Mail, pointing out the newly released book "Getting To 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All" by former executives Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober, it can be difficult to admit to oneself that their fatigue is getting in the way of living a healthy life.
"Women are often their own worst enemies because our expectations of ourselves are so high," McDowall said. "It can be useful to think that things don't have to be perfect - just good enough."
Sleep deprivation is not just caused by a hectic day with constant distractions and without much time to rest, however, as the National Sleep Foundation reports that people who are under a considerable amount of stress are prone to developing insomnia and restlessness.
"Often, our sleep deficit is related to too much caffeine, nicotine, alcohol. Often it's related to work - stress from work, putting in long hours at work, working night shifts, working on the home computer until the second we go to sleep," according to Meir Kryger, MD, director of the Sleep Disorders Centre at St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre at the University of Manitoba, via WebMD. Sleep experts maintain that many in the U.S. are sleep deprived and unaware, as it's become common to feel drained and worn out during a busy day.
However, Sandberg argues that it can be done, despite the stress and sleep deprivation that may come along with it.
"I don't hold myself up as a role model or pretend I have the answers for all women," Sandberg, the nicknamed Queen of Silicon Valley, who earned a reported $200 million in 2011, said to Grazia magazine back in March. "But there are things in the book that I want women to learn. Relative to men, we don't believe in ourselves enough. Relative to men, we are not encouraged to lead."
