- Medical Communication Intern, Summer2025 Cohort
With work demands increasing every day, it’s easy to overlook the importance of mental health. Since a long time, organizations have acknowledged that sick days were necessary for employees who were physically ill. However, they are only recently starting to realize that mental health days are just as needed.
A mental health day is a day when you use
your time outside of work to focus on relaxing and caring for your mental
wellness. It allows you to take a break from your routine stress and relax
mentally and emotionally when you’re feeling too much stress or anxiety or are
close to burnout.
If you slow down when you have the flu, it helps you bounce back faster and
may stop you from infecting people. Similarly, taking a day out for your mind
helps stop emotional stress in the long run.
Why mental health days are becoming more important
Several things are encouraging more
companies to recognize mental health days.
In late 2019, the World Health
Organization recognized _‘burnout’_ as the official name for ongoing stress at
work.
Young people are recognizing and sharing
their mental health needs more easily and organizations are responding.
Improved mental health allows workers to
think creatively, choose wise goals and produce more effectively.
Every year, companies lose billions because of workers who have mental distress and perform less effectively on their jobs.
It can be hard to relax, but watching out for these signs is helpful.
- Burnout, weariness or tiredness
- Having trouble concentrating or deciding
- Worrying a lot, having a bad mood or feeling like no emotions exist
- Sleep problems or eating less
- Not wanting to do the things you usually pick as activities you find fun doing.
Ways employers can assist employees on mental health days
To make mental health days respected, it
must start with the leaders themselves.
Organizations can help by providing the following:
- Normalize conversation about stress and burnout throughout the organization.
- Modify current leave guidelines, if needed. Sick leaves should be used to address both physical and mental health problems.
- Train supervisors. Supervisors should be able to recognize signs of stress presents and respond to workers with empathy.
- Encourage your staff to switch off after work and plan for time off.
When the organization helps their employees
in this manner, it will also boost its own output and growth.
Ensure you have a happy and relaxing mental health day
- Disconnect from your job by turning off email and work chatting.
- Before going to bed, spend a few minutes in calm nature, read something heartening or meditate.
- Connect with someone you trust, whether it’s a friend or a therapist.
There’s no reason to feel guilty when you
need a break from your feelings.
While mental health days won’t solve
everything, they can be a real help if you use them right.
Caring for your mental health is something you cannot ignore; it’s crucial. Taking a mental health day prevents exhaustion, energizes you and supports your productivity over the long run. Most importantly, they allow us to remain humane in a tough environment. Just like paid sick days, mental health days will soon be considered a requirement for companies.
References
Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642
World Health Organization (WHO): https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/promotion-prevention/mental-health-in-the-workplace
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC): https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2024/04/15/workplace-mental-health-resources/
