Take a mental health day

Did you know that last year 55% of Americans did NOT use all of their vacation days? Is that crazy?!? If you don’t use your vacation days—days off that you’ve earned—it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that you don’t use your sick days either, unless you are physically unable to crawl out the house.

What happens when you are mentally unable to leave the house?

I know. That sounds so weird. But it only sounds weird because we use other terms like burnout and wasted to describe—and then go on to ignore—the mental fatigue that leaves us dragging and pretty much useless.

I used to be like you and think that a mental health day was shirking—until I took a really needed day off. What a difference a day makes!

Research is just piling up that says time off is REQUIRED for productivity and happiness. All of us actually need to recharge in order to be better at work, better at home, and better at life.

Go ahead. Take that mental health day. Maybe you could use it to plan your next vacation.

You won’t regret it. Neither will your boss.

2 thoughts on “Take a mental health day

  1. This is an important topic! In fitness, we recognize that this constant ‘go, go, go’ mentality effects our bodies’ physiology by way of the sympathetic nervous system. Basically, your body is always in high alert mode, which effects things like hormones, muscles, and mental processes. In short, taking a break is not just a mental thing, it really changes your body on a physical level.

  2. Andrew,
    Thanks for bringing in the physical. You are SO right. Not only is a healthy body a healthy mind. It turns out that a healthy mind helps a healthy body, too!
    Go ahead! Take that mental health day!

    Dr. Mo

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