How To Know When You Need To Take A Mental Health Day

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Mental health is just as important as physical health. You have a right to take time off from life to take care of yourself. If you need to take a mental health day, this post will teach you why it’s important and why you shouldn’t feel guilty about it.

How important is mental health?

In a word? Extremely!

Mental health includes your psychological, emotional, and social well-being. It affects your feelings, thoughts, and actions.

It also affects how we react to stress, make choices, and interact/relate to others.

How mental health can affect physical health

Poor mental health can affect your physical health, and vice versa.

How?

Extended periods of stress and poor mental health can lead to:

• Weight gain
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Increased risk of heart disease including:
  • Heart attack
  • Stroke

What is a mental health day?

A mental health day is a day that you take just for yourself to regroup, refresh, and rejuvenate. If life seems too overwhelming, or you are having trouble functioning, taking time off is a good thing.

You should never feel guilty about needing to take care of yourself, mentally or physically.

A mental health day can be used to go to a mental health appointment, which is just as important as going to your regular doctor.

Do you need to take a mental health day?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, depressed, highly anxious, irritable, unable to concentrate, or like you are mentally unable to work or function, chances are you need to take a mental health day.

If you feel any of the following for more than 2 weeks at a time, you might need something more than just a day off and you should contact your mental health provider or regular doctor:

• Sleeping too much or too little
• Little or no energy
• Eating too much or not enough
• Feeling hopeless, like nothing matters anymore
• Using alcohol or drugs to cope with or forget your problems
• Fighting with loved ones
• Feeling confused, forgetful, or scared
• Inability to take care of daily tasks
• Feeling like life is too much to handle
• Feeling like you can’t take care of your kids
• Thinking of hurting yourself or someone else

What to say

You can decide if you’d like to disclose truthfully why you aren’t going to be at work, school, etc.

Mental health disorders still (unfortunately) have a stigma attached to them and not everyone understands.

You could say something as simple as, “I’m not feeling well and won’t be in today.”

Or, you could explain what’s going on with you and specifically why you won’t be in.

How to cope

A mental health day should be spent in a way that helps you recharge. You shouldn’t use it to do anything stressful that would make you feel worse.

The following are some suggestions for how to cope.

Meditation

If you’re not familiar with meditation, here’s a great description from the app “Headspace”:

Meditation isn’t about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It’s about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You’re not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You’re learning to observe them without judgment. And eventually, you may start to better understand them as well.

I’ve practiced meditation in the past for my eating disorder and depression and it is difficult at first, I’m not gonna lie. Maybe that’s why it’s called practicing meditation…

It takes some time to let go of life even for just a few minutes.

Just a warning, if you’re tired and try to meditate, you might just meditate yourself into dreamland. (Although that’s not always a bad thing!)

There are plenty of free guided meditation apps available. I’ve personally used Headspace and Calm. I’ve found them both to be helpful.

Journal

Journaling is a great self-care activity, especially when you have journal prompts to help you focus on what’s going on.

Related: How To Do A Brain Dump For Mental Health

Sleep

If you can, go ahead and sleep.

Although, some people are too anxious to take a siesta. If you’re too anxious, try some of the other suggestions while taking your mental health day(s).

I always need white noise to sleep, so I sleep with a fan (or 2). The breeze on my face helps calm me down and cool me off (obviously) if I’m upset.

Read

For me, if there’s any way to get out of my head and focus on something else when I’m in my mental funk, I’m all for it.

If you don’t mind some foul language, here’s a hilarious book and journal all-in-one for you (it’s great for when you’re angry or having a bad day!):

Zen as F*ck: A Journal for Practicing the Mindful Art of Not Giving a Sh*t

Why you shouldn’t feel guilty

Would you feel guilty for calling in sick if you were vomiting and had a fever? I sure hope not. You wouldn’t be able to function properly to do your job if you were all pukey, dizzy, and sweaty.

So, if you believe that mental health is just as important as physical health, don’t you agree you have a right to take time off for your mental health? You need time for yourself to deal with your problems.

Support

Do you have support? Family, friends, and even co-workers can be a support system when you need them. You don’t have to suffer alone.

Fact: People need other people.

Final thoughts

If you need to take a mental health day, do it. Take care of yourself!

I used to feel guilty about taking a mental health day until I realized that I was no good to anyone at work if I couldn’t function at my job.

Need help with your mental health? Take a look at these resources.

Do you have something you do to cope with when you feel like you’re not in a good place with your mental health? Leave it in the comments to help others and share it on Pinterest (pin is below)!

Read Next:

• Antidepressants And Suicidal Thoughts: What You Need To Know
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mental Health Therapy
• Improve Your Body Image and Mental Health: Take the Challenge
• The Incredible Benefits of Writing a Letter to Yourself
• How to Set and Conquer Your Health Goals
• What You Need To Know About Seasonal Affective Disorder

Disclaimer: I am not a mental health expert. If you have concerns about your health, either mental or physical, please contact your doctor or medical provider.