Did you know the average mum gets interrupted around 400 times a day? That’s once every three minutes. Over a year, it adds up to around 85,000 cries for her attention. If that happened in an office, people would call it harassment. In motherhood, society simply expects it. But here’s what no one says out loud: endless interruptions don’t just irritate, they damage your well-being. These cries for help are draining mothers of sleep, frying their brains, and slowly wrecking their health.

The never-ending job

You can’t clock off from the job of motherhood. Unlike corporate jobs, there are no paid breaks, no annual leave, and no sick days. You are on-call 24/7, and the emergencies range from “I can’t find my other shoe” to “I need a snack this very second or civilisation will collapse.”

Psychologists warn that this constant demand rewires your brain into a permanent state of high alert. Dr Pree Benton, who studies parental burnout, points out that the stop-start rhythm of motherhood reduces concentration and piles on stress. It’s why mothers often feel frazzled and resentful even if, on paper, nothing major has happened that day.

And as if daytime wasn’t enough, the nights are just as brutal. Research shows that working mothers are two and a half times more likely than fathers to be woken for caregiving at night. On average, mums lose 44 minutes of sleep each night. That’s almost a full night of sleep every week. Yet it is these sleep-deprived mothers who keep their entire households running.

The myth of being a super mom

The interruption isn’t the only tough part. Getting back to your task after that interruption also requires extra time. Studies show that once someone interrupts you, your brain can take 23 minutes or more to get back on track. Now, imagine a mother juggling tasks while constant interruptions pull her away. She never gets back in the flow. Instead, her whole day becomes a string of half-finished chores, half-thoughts, and half-drunk cups of tea.

It’s not just annoying, it’s cognitively exhausting. One study even found that people asked to write essays while being interrupted produced significantly worse work. Imagine that happening to your entire life, every single day. Here’s the kicker: all these little interruptions don’t just leave you tired. They physically affect your body. These interruptions cause stress and drain your working memory. Constant stress spikes cortisol, the hormone linked to weight gain, high blood pressure, and weakened immunity.

Health workers who deal with repeated disruptions report more back and neck pain, because stress makes you rush, cut corners, and strain your body. Swap the hospital ward for a home kitchen and the principle is the same: constant interruption is a health hazard.

Related: Women, Stop Being Super Moms. You Deserve Better

Burnout in mothers is inevitable

The injustice is hard to ignore: mothers still carry the bulk of the so-called “mental load.” They’re the ones remembering school forms, meal plans, doctor’s appointments — all while fielding those endless “Mum?” cries. Fathers may chip in, but study after study shows the imbalance remains.

During the pandemic, when the mental load on women ballooned, a study done on Australian mothers found that mothers dealing with work–family clashes had much higher levels of anxiety and depression, even if their mental health was fine before. In other words, the load itself is breaking women down.

The truth is, you can’t eliminate interruptions. But you can set boundaries that protect your sanity. Some mothers swear by a “ten-minute rule”: unless it’s an emergency, don’t interrupt. Others are teaching kids to solve small problems themselves — find their shoes, pour a drink, so that the mother isn’t their first responder to every minor crisis. And let’s not forget the obvious one: partners need to step up and take on their fair share.

Being interrupted 85,000 times a year is not just part of the job. It’s a health crisis hiding in plain sight. It wears women down, chips away at their focus, and leaves them with bodies and minds that never get to recover.

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Related: If Stay-At-Home Moms Start Getting Paid, Most Will Out-Earn Their Husbands