Tired All the Time? The 7 Types of Rest Tired Parents Might Be Missing
Tired parents aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re depleted in ways sleep alone can’t refill. Discover how the 7 types of rest can help you reclaim your energy so you get to show up for what truly matters - including your ambitions and dreams.
Created by Nadine Stille
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a tired parent running on empty - and wondering why even a full night’s sleep (when you can get it) and the self-care you’re doing doesn’t leave you feeling restored. You’re not alone.
Parenthood is demanding, beautiful, and all-consuming. It’s also exhausting in ways that go far beyond sleep deprivation. And if you’re someone who’s not only raising tiny humans but also holding onto big dreams, ambitions, and passions of your own?
You need more than sleep. You need real, soul-nourishing rest.
Let’s take a look at why so many tired parents feel depleted all the time, and what you can do about it - without shame or hustle.
Why We Need Rest (Beyond Sleep)
Rest is more than just a pause. It’s what allows your body, mind, and spirit to recover - and to refuel for what matters most to you.
Because you know that when you’re constantly tired all the time, everything feels harder: the parenting, the patience, the creativity, the motivation to pursue the things you love.
Sleep can help, sure. That’s non-negotiable. But for many tired parents, even good sleep doesn’t scratch the surface. You can log eight hours and still wake up feeling heavy, foggy, or wired. That’s because sleep and rest are not the same.
Here’s where it gets interesting: real rest helps improve both the quality and the quantity of your sleep.
It’s not always about sleeping more. It’s also about getting the right kind of rest - so your energy isn’t just about surviving the day, but also about nourishing you and fueling the life you want to lead.
The 7 Types of Rest Tired Parents Need
Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith - board-certified physician, researcher, mother, and author of Sacred Rest - identified seven distinct types of rest that go far beyond the usual sleep advice. For parents, especially those who also dream of building something meaningful alongside their families, this model can be life-changing.
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
1. Physical Rest
Yes, this includes sleep. But it also means giving your body relief through gentle movement, stretching, or simply pausing. If your muscles ache or your eyelids feel heavy by 10 a.m., your body’s asking for more than another cup of coffee.
2. Mental Rest
Parents make a million micro-decisions a day! If your brain feels foggy or like you’re forgetting your own thoughts mid-sentence, you might need mental rest. Moments of quiet, journaling, or a screen break can go a long way.
3. Emotional Rest
Holding it all together emotionally - especially for your family - can wear you down. Emotional rest is about having safe, honest spaces to be yourself, without always being the strong one.
4. Social Rest
Not all social time is restorative. If you feel drained even around others, you might need to pull back from performative or demanding social interactions - or, if at all possible, seek out people who energize and uplift you.
5. Sensory Rest
Parents are constantly bombarded: toys, screens, background noise, demands, mess. Sensory rest is crucial. It might look like sitting in a quiet room, dimming lights, or turning off notifications on your screen for a while (or always).
6. Creative Rest
If you are stuck in the daily grind or feel uninspired, you might need creative rest. This means time to take in beauty, play, or make something with no expectations. Even a short walk in nature or flipping through a magazine (not an online-version) can help.
7. Spiritual Rest
Whether it’s through nature, meditation, prayer, or purpose-driven work, spiritual rest connects you to something bigger. It reminds you that you’re more than your to-do list. For ambitious parents, it helps reconnect your why.
The Mental Load & Default Parent Exhaustion
If you’re the default parent - the one who remembers the snacks, the school emails, the emotional temperature of the whole house - you’re carrying an invisible weight that rarely gets acknowledged.
This mental load is relentless and often leaves you drained in ways that need a more comprehensive approach.
It’s not just mental rest you might be missing - it could be emotional, sensory, and even spiritual rest, too. That’s why so many tired parents need a combination of the 7 types of rest to feel truly restored.
You’re carrying a lot. And you deserve support that matches the load.
Rest as a Radical, Kind Choice
If you’re a parent who is tired all the time, it’s not a failure. It’s a message. Your body and mind are asking for rest - not laziness, not quitting, not escaping. Just restful nourishment and restoration.
And for parents who are also entrepreneurs, driven career professionals, creatives, dreamers, and doers?
Rest is not a barrier to your ambition - it’s what makes it possible.
The more restored you feel, the more energy you have to devote to the people, projects, and passions that matter most to you.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about being mindful and giving yourself permission to start small. One shift at a time.
Ready to Find Your Missing Rest?
If you're tired of being tired - and you suspect there's a kind of rest you've been missing - here’s something for you.
Download The Rest Reset Guide - a simple, powerful tool to help you:
Pinpoint the exact kind of rest you’re missing with a simple self-audit.
Take small, doable steps toward real rest
Create rest habits that fuel your energy (without adding pressure)
Whether you're dreaming of following a passion project, going for a career pivot, carving out time for creativity, or just wanting to enjoy your evenings again without crashing - you deserve rest that truly restores you.