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Strong Enough to Rest: Why Rest Is a Mental Health Issue for Women

Home » Strong Enough to Rest: Why Rest Is a Mental Health Issue for Women

Women are often praised for how much they can handle.

For juggling work and caregiving. For holding families together. For being resilient, adaptable, dependable — even when systems aren’t.

What women are rarely encouraged to do is pause.

This International Women’s Day, CMHA is reframing rest not as something women must earn, but as something we all deserve — and as a critical part of mental health.

Explore the 7 types of rest and discover what type resonates most with you right now.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Women’s mental health is under strain — and it’s not because women aren’t coping

In Canada, women experience higher levels of psychological distress than men and are more likely to report anxiety, depression, and burnout. Young women, in particular, report some of the highest levels of distress nationally. Women are also more likely to seek mental health support — and more likely to face long wait times and unmet needs.

This isn’t because women are less resilient. It’s because women are carrying more.

More paid work. More unpaid caregiving. More emotional labour. More responsibility for holding families, workplaces, and communities together.

In Canada, women perform significantly more unpaid caregiving and household labour than men, even when working full-time.

Statistics Canada estimates that women perform about 6.3 more hours per week of unpaid labour and that unpaid household labour in Canada was worth somewhere between $516.9 and $860.2 billion in 2019, or about 25.2-37.2% of Canada’s GDP, which is more than the contribution of all the manufacturing, wholesale and retail industries combined.ⁱ

Women are more likely to be primary caregivers for children, aging parents, and family members with health needs.

Caregiving responsibilities are strongly associated with higher stress, anxiety, and burnout.

Women in Canada continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid household and caregiving work, even when working full-time. Over time, this constant pressure and responsibility take a toll on mental health.

This is not a failure of self-care.

It’s what happens when strong people are asked to carry too much for too long. It’s because women are carrying more: more paid work, more unpaid care, more emotional labour, more responsibility for holding families, workplaces, and communities together. They are doing this within systems that were not designed to support them — and often actively working against them.

In fact, women’s mental health is under-resourced long before support is ever needed. Persistent under-investment in women’s wellbeing means that even understanding the full scope of the challenge is difficult. When women’s mental health is not adequately researched or prioritized, gaps appear downstream — in the policies we shape, the interventions we design, and the supports intended to meet women where they are.

This systemic lack of investment reinforces a cycle where women are expected to cope, rather than be properly supported.

Rest is more than sleep — and most women aren’t getting enough of it

When we talk about rest, we often mean sleep or time off. While both matter, they don’t fully address the kind of exhaustion many women experience.

Mental health depends on multiple forms of rest — including mental, emotional, social, sensory, creative, and spiritual rest. These are the kinds of rest that allow the nervous system to settle, the mind to quiet, and emotional capacity to replenish.

Many women remain outwardly “high-functioning” while deeply depleted:

Always thinking ahead, planning, and problem-solving
Managing other people’s emotions with little space for their own
Staying productive while feeling disconnected from joy, creativity, or ease

Sleep alone can’t restore what constant vigilance and responsibility deplete.

Rest, in its full sense, is one of the most effective — and most overlooked — supports for mental health.

Rest isn’t weakness. It’s mental health

Rest isn’t a luxury.
It isn’t a reward.
And it isn’t a sign that something is wrong.

Rest is a basic requirement for good mental health.

Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.

― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

When women are able to rest — truly rest — they experience lower anxiety, improved mood, greater emotional resilience, and a stronger sense of connection to themselves and others. Rest supports recovery and prevention. It helps people feel human again.

Too often, women are encouraged to push through exhaustion as proof of strength. This International Women’s Day, we’re challenging that idea.

Women are strong enough to rest.
And strong enough to name when rest is missing.

Not all women have equal access to rest

It’s also important to name a harder truth: rest is not equally available to all women.

Who gets to rest — and who doesn’t — is shaped by income, job security, caregiving responsibilities, disability, race, Indigeneity, immigration status, and access to mental health care. These intersecting realities determine whether rest is possible or out of reach.

For many women, “just resting” isn’t realistic when they’re navigating:

Unpaid or under-recognized caregiving
Financial pressure or precarious work
Long wait times for mental health services
Limited community or social support

When systems don’t support women, rest becomes a privilege instead of a right.

This is not an individual responsibility.
It’s a structural one.

CMHA’s role: creating the conditions that make rest possible

At CMHA, we know mental health isn’t just about individual coping strategies. It’s about the conditions people live in.

Our work focuses on strengthening the social fabric and community supports that make rest possible — especially for women facing systemic barriers. That includes:

Advocating for accessible, community-based mental health care
Investing in prevention and early support, not just crisis response
Strengthening community connections that reduce isolation and emotional load
Advancing policies that recognize mental health, equity, and caregiving as deeply connected

When communities are better supported, women don’t have to carry everything alone.

And when women are supported to rest, recover, and reconnect — everyone benefits.

Rest is not equally accessible to all women.

Who gets to rest — and who doesn’t — is shaped by income, caregiving responsibilities, job security, disability, race, Indigeneity, immigration status, and access to mental health care. These intersecting realities determine whether rest is possible or out of reach.

For many women, “just resting” isn’t realistic when they’re navigating:

Unpaid or under-recognized caregiving
Systemic racism
Financial pressure or precarious work
Domestic violence
Long wait times for mental health services
Limited community or social support

When systems don’t support women, rest becomes a privilege instead of a right. This is not an individual failure or responsibility. It’s a structural one.

This International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day, we’re honouring women’s strength — and expanding what strength looks like.

Strength is showing up. Strength is caring for others. And strength is knowing when to rest.

Strong Enough to Rest is about making women’s mental health visible, naming what’s missing, and working together to build systems, workplaces, and communities that make rest possible.

Because rest isn’t weakness.
It’s mental health.
And it’s something every woman deserves.

The 7 Types of Rest

Rest is more than sleep

When we talk about rest, we often mean sleep or time off. But mental health depends on many kinds of rest — and most women are missing at least one of them.

Here’s a quick guide.

Physical Rest

Letting the body recover

Sleep, slowing down, and allowing the body to rest instead of pushing through exhaustion.

Mental Rest

Giving your mind a break

Relief from constant thinking, planning, decision-making, and holding everything in your head.

Emotional Rest

Space to be honest

Being able to express how you really feel — without managing others’ emotions or being “the strong one.”

Relationships that don’t drain you

Spending time with people who feel easy, safe, and familiar — without pressure to perform.

Sensory Rest

Relief from stimulation

Reducing noise, screens, notifications, and sensory overload so your nervous system can settle.

Creative Rest

Reconnecting with joy and curiosity

Experiencing beauty, play, or inspiration without pressure to produce or achieve.

Spiritual Rest

A sense of grounding or belonging

Feeling connected to your values, nature, faith, community, or something larger than yourself.

You don’t need all seven at once.

Noticing which type of rest you need most is often the first step toward feeling better.

Strong Enough to Rest.

Strong Enough to Rest

Made possible with the support of Laura Canada, whose partnership helps advance important conversations about women’s mental health, rest, and the conditions that allow women to thrive.

With their support this International Women’s Day, Laura Canada’s commitment to helping women look and feel their best shines a light on the realities women face — and the role communities, workplaces, and systems play in sharing the load.

We’re grateful for partners who understand that supporting women’s mental health means more than awareness — it means standing for change.