Are you feeling anxious, depressed, or just stressed? You’re not alone. Approximately 40 million American adults deal with anxiety on a regular basis.
Sometimes this anxiety requires advanced help. Sometimes though, you can use a mental health day to work through the problem. The trick is to make sure you take a mental health day off for the right reasons.
How do you know when it’s okay to take a mental health day? While the need for a mental health day can take many forms, there are five factors to look out for.
What is a Mental Health Day?
A mental health day is a time you take for yourself to recharge and deal with underlying issues causing you stress. It is one aspect of practicing self-care when things are piling up. Most people use a personal or sick day when they need this time.
Taking a mental health day can look different for each person depending on their needs. Your mental health day from work could look like
- Taking the day to relax and decompress
- Taking the time to eliminate other stressors from your life
- Taking time to do something fun
- Taking time to get outside help for mental health issues
The most important thing is to take time to plan what you’ll do to deal with the anxiety and stress. If possible, planning ahead at work will also help eliminate further stressors when you come back.
Reasons for Taking a Mental Health Day
The reasons for taking time for mental health differ for each person. If you’re feeling extra stress from work, family, or other areas, taking time to deal with these things is useful.
How can you tell it’s time to take a mental health day though? The best thing to do is to analyze your productivity and ability to cope with situations around you.
Have You Ignored Stress?
If you’ve ignored the stressors piling up, it may be time to take a mental health day to deal with these things. If things keep piling up and you aren’t dealing with them, schedule time to deal with them.
You can make a list of your responsibilities or factors causing stress and figure out how to reduce these things. Letting stress get the better of you can decrease your productivity at work. Taking time to deal with these things is a valid reason to step away from work for a day.
Is Something Else Requiring Your Attention?
Sometimes taking a mental health day is about dealing with non-work situations that need your attention. If your focus is at work you can’t get through these situations properly.
- Family emergencies
- Dealing with neglected repairs
- Working on relationships
These neglected factors can take many forms. Make sure you take the time to deal with them so you can get your focus back. If you’re dwelling on these outside factors without dealing with them you’re actually decreasing your work productivity.
Are You Experiencing Work Burnout?
If you’ve let work stress overwhelm you, this can turn into work burnout. Burnout can leave you exhausted and unable to cope with your daily tasks. Some common symptoms of work burnout include
- Physical and emotional exhaustion
- Getting sick regularly due to a weakened immune system
- Withdrawing from social interaction
- An inability to concentrate on tasks
- An inability to cope with daily tasks
- Apathy towards your work
- Growing hatred of a job
If you experience any of these issues you may want to take a day to step away so you can assess what’s causing the burnout. You could just need the day away. You could just need to figure out how to fix the situation to reduce the burnout.
If you take a day to deal with burnout, you can also figure out some coping mechanisms to help you at work. Something as simple as going for a walk or practicing breathing exercises can help. You could also pick up a new hobby to help you cope.
Burnout Can Occur in Other Areas as Well
Burnout doesn’t just occur with work. If you’re experiencing burnout in any area of your life, taking a mental health day can help you cope with these situations.
Make sure your mental health day gives you time away from whatever is causing the burnout. This helps you analyze what’s causing it. It also helps you determine the best coping techniques.
Do You Need to Address More Severe Mental Health Issues?
If you deal with depression, anxiety disorders, or any other form of mental health issues, a mental health day is a good time to address these issues. Taking some time to schedule needed appointments is a good way to help you cope.
If you’ve neglected to get the help you need, schedule a day to meet with someone. Don’t let these issues go neglected. Ignoring your mental health could cause serious issues in every aspect of your life.
How to Take a Mental Health Day
Make sure you take a mental health day for the right reasons. If you are just unmotivated that day, taking a mental health day could turn into a habit which works against learning to cope.
It’s best to schedule the day ahead of time if possible. Get all work in order before you’re out so you don’t add to the stress when you come back.
It’s acceptable to take a personal or sick day for this. You don’t want to lie about your time off, but use caution if your boss is not understanding.
Don’t just use the mental health day to ignore everything. Take time to deal with the underlying stressors so you can come back able to move forward. Be honest with yourself so you can cope with the anxiety and stress in your life.
Taking Care of Your Mental Health Every Day
The point of a mental health day is to help you cope with the everyday situations. If you’re feeling extra anxiety and stress, make sure you take time for regular personal care throughout your day.
The mental health day can help you learn these personal care techniques. If you need more information to help you learn coping strategies, check out some of our other mental health tips.