Taking a Mental Health Day

Dr. Jim Applegate joins us to discuss signs you need to take a mental health day from work. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I spend a lot of time talking about kids health

(00:01):
here on the show, especially as we are all back
to school. This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly
and I see Bret Bikita and Lauren Smith. Doc Applegate
is in studio with us today to talk about us.
Good morning, Doc, Good morning. So if you get a
mental health day, or maybe a couple of them as
part of your employment agreement, what does that constitute and

(00:23):
when should I burn one of those days? Doc?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, first of all, it's important to remember your mental
health is important even at work. And secondly that if
you need to take a mental health day, it's not
a sign of weakness. It's a sign that something's wrong upstairs.
And to improve your not only your health but your work,
you need to take a day off. So I sat
down and think about some of the things that would

(00:47):
trigger me, maybe me, but other people to have a
mental health day. The first one is if you have
anxiety about going to work, if you really feel that
sort of aching in the pit of your stomach, if
you don't feel good, if you feel.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Overwhelmed backing up a laptop right.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
The second one is if you feel burnt out. Then
it's time because you're not going to be good. If
you have that fatigue where it's just sort of overwhelming,
you feel burnouts, it's time to step back take a
mental health day. Another one is if you have problems concentrating.
This one is really common. We all have sort of
a routine to our work, and if it takes us
longer to do it, it takes us longer to recover

(01:27):
from it. If we can't do it at the speed
we used to, that's a sign that, Okay, it's maybe
a time to step back and to take a mental
health day. Another one that's really common for me when
I need a mental health day is overeating. You know,
you just can't feel full, and especially sugary foods, high carbs. Man,
I'm at the cookies all the day. If and it's

(01:50):
a sign and my team knows that, it's like, uh,
maybe you need a mental health day. You're just you're
into those carbs. You're really heavy today, Doc.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
How does that work? As far as not that I'm
going to use it for my own self, but I'm
just wondering do more companies because we always talk about
things that are changing, right and the benefits that they
offer their employees or things that are hot buttons. How
does that work if you really do need a mental
health theay, can that be considered a sick day?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Or That's what I think most companies do. They recognize
first of all, they put it in the language to
recognize it. Now in this incredibly hectic, high paced work
environment that we're in, that sometimes you need to take
a step back, and that you know that varies from
individual to individual. It varies for a person to person
what's going on in your life. But I think they're

(02:35):
beginning to recognize that because we talked about the problems concentrating.
If you have problems concentrating getting your work done, it's
a lot slower. You know what, Maybe you need to
take a day off because when you come back, you're
ready to go, you're ready to energize, you're ready to
focus on your work. And like I say, it's not
a sign of weakness, it's a sign that you're just
overwhelmed and you need to give your brain a break.

(02:56):
For lack of a better term, another one that I
see a lot, somebody's constantly sick. You know, they'll get
everything that blows through town. You know, as a mom,
you'll get sick more because the kids bring home stuff
from school. But if you're you know, if you're a
middle aged person, it just like everything that blows through
the office, you're getting everything that is in your neighborhood,
you're getting. Remember that when you have chronic stress, which

(03:19):
is what we're sort of talking about here, or work stress,
it suppresses your T cell function. That's one of your
immune cells that helps you fight disease. So if you're
getting sick all the time, you know it might be
time to step back a little bit and just take
a mental health day and do nothing. If you get
agitated he easily, you know, when something just sets you
off and you just go in somebody's face, either a

(03:42):
co worker or maybe somebody at the office, maybe somebody
who's coming to your office, somebody that you work with,
maybe a child at school. If you really go off
very easily, that's definitely a sign for mental health day,
because then not only is what's going on you're burnout
affecting you, it's affecting other people too. So if you

(04:04):
get easily angered at work, you probably need to take
a day or two off just for your mental health
and listen to your family, because there's been a few
moments where my loving husband's been like, hey, you brought
it home, and it's really affecting everyone exactly, because those
are the people who love you the most. Those are
the people who care the most. I like to say,
you know, I want to have a good friend that

(04:25):
gets down in the mud with me if I'm having
a bad day, that's willing to sit there and have
very critical conversations about you're not doing good.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Right now, I'll just tell you guys, right now, oh boy,
not going to be it on Monday.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, mine's loose now at Green Bay.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
I won't be here Monday. I know we've got time,
had like the feature and everything, but listen, I just
might all as well get it out there now.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
You're racing everything you just talked about for the last
five minutes. No, I'm not, doctor Jim Applegate. Yes you are.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Sports teams are exactly they can be anxious.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Doctor Jim Applegate. Thank you for been in today. Great
to see you man.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Nice thing you all