As you’ve seen from one of my previous posts, due to my insomnia, overactive brain and chronic fatigue I find it hard to sleep and get the adequate rest I need so I use a bedtime ritual/routine and implement several techniques to try and help me sleep, however, sometimes of course even when you stick to all this, you still can’t sleep, and most of the time this can be down to dealing with stressful situations over a long period of time.
When you get to the point of pure exhaustion it takes you much longer to get yourself back to normal and this is when you need to take a rest day- in other words “a mental health day”.
Mental health day/ sick days and self care tips.
A mental health day is when people take time off to deal with their mental health.
The Office for National Statistics statistics found that last year, Britons took 137 million sick days and of these, 15.8 million were for mental health issues (stress, depression, anxiety, bipolar or anything else). In comparison, 34 million days were taken due to minor illnesses such as coughs and colds.But of course, due to the stigma around discussing mental health issues with workmates and bosses, it’s likely the amount of people who needed mental health days off were actually a lot higher than what was reported.
Personally I have taken plenty of days off work due to mental health but I have never disclosed that mental health was the true reason for my sick day at all due to the stigma attached to it.
I have disclosed to my previous employers in two jobs about my mental illnesses; the first one I got let go shortly after and the second I got tormented and bullied, so I’m not keen to repeat that again.
When you need a ‘mental health day’ or ‘rest day’, here’s what I recommend.
I always take this time to enjoy my hobbies and enjoy the simple things in life, it is a time to do simple pleasurable things that reduce physical activity and most importantly reduce stress.
There is no shame in doing what your body needs. It’s so hard still to explain this to people despite mental health being ever so apparent in the media and it’s also hard facing the reality that you don’t have the same energy or abilities to juggle as much as other people but that is the card you’ve been dealt and all you can do is take care of your body because it’s your body you rely on.
Thanks for reading, I hope this article has been an interesting read.
Post again soon.
Faye x
#mentalhealth #sickdays #mentalhealthsickdays #recoup #recouperation #exhaustion #sleep #badmentalhealthday #mentalhealthawareness #lackofsleep #ptsd #anxiety
The gal chasing the green dream with chronic illnesses 