Unplug and recharge: 7 signs you need a mental health day

If you're physically sick, you know to stay home from work. Staying home helps you rest and recover. But if you're struggling with your mental health, you may not think to take a day off — and to some, it may even seem inappropriate.

Staying home from work to improve your mental wellness is often referred to as a "mental health day." Mental health days are one of the best ways to recharge, but people may put off taking one due to reasons such as:

• Not thinking they need one
• Believing it's not worth the trouble
• Worrying that other people wouldn't understand

Benefits of a mental health day

"Mental health days can reduce feelings of burnout and loneliness as well as reduce your risk of a mental health crisis and future absences," says Margi C. Shah, MD, a psychiatrist at Mirmont Outpatient Center – Broomall, part of Main Line Health.

The benefits of a mental health day can continue once you return to work because the time off improves your:

• Morale
• Productivity
• Resiliency

Seven signs to take a mental health day

1. You've lost your motivation to succeed.

At one point, you were excited to go to work. You looked forward to accomplishing your goals, learning how to be a better employee and growing as a person.

Now, you don't have that same motivation. You go through the day on autopilot, sometimes not even remembering (or caring about) what you got done.

Without the chance to recharge, motivation can decrease over time. A mental health day allows you to check out for a day — so you can check back in with more motivation than before.

2. You have symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Burnout is a common culprit for depression and anxiety, both at work and at home. Signs of anxiety and depression due to burnout include:

• Worrying excessively about your work
• Experiencing unhappiness at work
• Feeling unusually worried or sad when at home

A personal health day can help ease these feelings, recharging and reigniting your passion for what you do. Keep in mind: clinical depression and anxiety can't be addressed with a day off. If you're feeling symptoms of depression and anxiety that seem more severe, talk to your healthcare clinician for support.

3. You're not sleeping well.

"Sleep quality is often a reflection of your overall health. While feeling burned out can make you exhausted and ready to go to sleep, you may not get the shuteye that you'd expect," says Dr. Shah. "Instead, you might be sleeping too little or too much. Or, your sleep might be poor quality, leaving you feeling perpetually tired."

Taking the day to recharge can reset your sleep schedule. You can take an afternoon nap and then focus on getting a full night of quality sleep.

4. Your body is telling you it's time for a break.

Stress can do more than affect your mental state, it can also impact you physically. If your job is stressing you out, it might show up as:

• Headaches
• Dizziness
• High blood pressure
• Stomach or digestion problems
• Chest discomfort
• Muscle pain or tension

You may also find that you're getting sick more frequently, which can be a result of a weakened immune system. Stress can also impact your libido, making you less interested in sex.

All of these signs are a wake-up call from your body telling you to take a day off to get well.

5. You're not as productive as you once were.

Your to-do list is never-ending, your inbox is overflowing and you are having a hard time getting things done. You've transformed from a go-getter to trying to dodge new assignments simply because you can't manage it all — despite your workload and hours not having changed.

You may be less productive than you once were because burnout makes it hard to:

• Plan your tasks
• Focus on working on and completing tasks
• Follow through at work

To combat this, a mental health day will give you the mental reset you need to come back with a fresh set of eyes and a refreshed ability to check items off your list.

6. You're mentally taking your work home with you.

Work is meant to take up only a portion of your day, leaving the rest of the time to do whatever you choose, whether spending time with family, engaging in personal hobbies or doing things that make you happy.

Focusing on work well past your normal schedule can manifest as:

• Being constantly anxious about what you need to get done — even outside your normal working hours
• Working past the point you know is healthy

A mental health day can serve as a reminder of what taking time for yourself feels like and how it improves your mood. It can also help you stay present in activities outside of work and focus on things that bring you joy.

7. You feel angry or irritable.

If you've been snapping at friends, family or coworkers over small or nonexistent problems, not only can that make you unpleasant to be around, but it can also be a sign of stress. When you're stressed, it's more difficult to control your reactions. Things that normally wouldn't bother you suddenly become triggers.

Taking a day off can refill your reserves of patience and understanding and help you gain perspective. You'll be able to approach minor and major problems more gracefully, avoiding making issues worse down the road.

Changing your perspective with a mental health day

Work can play a fairly central role in your life. While this isn't a problem in itself, it can be if you're feeling burned out, stressed or generally unhappy. By taking a day to yourself here and there, you'll change your outlook on your responsibilities, whether at work or in your personal life.

What restores your mental health

It's important that you keep your mental health day restorative by not filling it with personal chores, errands and cognitive labor. Your brain needs rest from those as well as the assignments from your paid job. Spending your mental health day outside "touching grass" or doing something physical or creative can help restore your brain.

A mental health day may be a day off, but it will leave you refreshed, recharged and ready to get back to work. If you continue to struggle after your mental health days, consider making an appointment with a behavioral health therapist.

Next steps

Learn more about behavioral and mental health care at Main Line Health

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