Do you often feel tired? Exhausted? Like you always have too much work to do? And when dealing with your family, are you often irritable or short-tempered for no reason at all?

You could be suffering from Depleted Mother Syndrome (DMS).

One important factor behind DMS is: workload. It is the result of the over-all feeling of physical and emotional stress commonly experienced by mothers.

A stay-at home mothers do about 40 hours of housework per week. Working mothers do about 20 hours of housework plus an additional 40 hours of office work and business.

As a result, mothers often have less time for proper nutrition, exercise and sleep. This depletes their body of key nutrients such as amino acids, B-vitamins and essential fatty acids.

If physical depletion continues over time, the mother becomes less capable of handling her responsibilities and more guilty about her supposed shortcomings. Then emotional depletion sets in.

The effect of DMS can be serious for the mother, but potentially more damaging for her children. Children are affected by their mother's stress and lack of joy. If a mother truly want to be there for her children in the way they need her to be, she must boost her energy and turn up the joy on a daily basis.

Many women are simply juggling too many responsibilities, and that's what makes most of them feel so tired.

Here are some energy tips for the depleted mother:

Count the hours. Write down your tasks, estimate the time needed for each, then add up the hours. If you're trying to do 23 hours' worth of work in 16 hours, adjust your hours downward.

Eat healthy. Eat green, leafy vegetables (for hormone balance), and foods rich in taurine (for energy and relaxation) and magnesium (essential for sleep).

Find time for exercise. Simple exercise like walking, jogging and swimming burns off stress-related chemicals and strenghtens your body to withstand the ravages of work.

Simplify your household chores. Find products that can help you do the job faster and easier. Laundry, for instance, tops the list of chores that mothers find tiring.

Resouces: To learn more about Depleted Mother Syndrome, you can visit http://www.nurturemom.com

This is a site put up by well-known psychologist Rick Hanson and acupuncturist and nutritionist Jan Hanson.

Another not to be missed is Susan Schenkel, psychologist and author of "Giving Away Success." Schenkel explains how women end up being susceptible to falling into helplessness as a result of uncontrollability.