Most days, kids are not too fond of waking up in the morning and preparing for school, having a day of lectures, work, and boredom awaiting them. This appears to be a common feeling among most teenagers, but sometimes, the feeling gets worse. Sometimes you can feel like crying when presented with the idea of having to go to school. Sometimes you just have no energy or motivation to get up in the morning and drag yourself to your first period, let alone get through all six of them.
Many times when students experience this, they decide to fake being sick to stay home, sleep in, and relax. But for some people, this can cause guilt and fear of being caught in their lie, which can cause restlessness and the inability to relax, diminishing why they stayed home in the first place.
But what if taking days off for the sake of mental health was seen as just as acceptable as taking days off for sickness or physical health? Both mental and physical health are equally important, as they contribute to a person’s overall well-being. These are facts that everyone knows, especially the people who run school districts. Schools are eager to provide places for students to go if they have mental health issues. They are always having assemblies about such issues relating to mental health, bullying, suicide, and more.
Even though schools do all of this, they seem not to understand that sometimes all students need is a day off. A break. And yet when students take a day off, even if it’s for sickness, which is allowed, they suffer consequences. They have a ton of work to make up, and a bunch of grades to stress about. And although nothing can be done about that, as there needs to be some way for the students to learn back what they missed, there can be something done about taking breaks.
Instead of students who take days off for mental health having no option of explaining the real reason they missed school, they can be understood and accepted for taking a break and a day to rest and put aside anxiety.
This would help students truly experience the benefits of taking breaks from stress, as long as they don’t abuse this privilege. Too many “Mental Health Days” can cause a drop in grades and an increase in work, which can cause stress levels to rise. But an occasional day off will allow people to focus on self-care and rest, and stress levels can be lowered.
When stress is reduced, it is scientifically proven that people can experience better sleep, lower blood pressure, improved digestion, reduced muscle tension, and boosted immune system. These are all very important to wellbeing, and could even improve the way people function in school.
If students allowed themselves to take a “Mental Health Day”, they would be able to acquire a lower level of anxiety, have better focus in class, and be able to retain more information. It would also allow for better functions of memory, planning, and problem-solving.
These benefits can be obtained through these days off, although allowing this could possibly come with some consequences. You never know when kids are needing a day off, so you can’t judge whether they are just being lazy, or are actually in need of a break. So teachers can’t punish students for taking too many days off. But students who take too many days off will experience the consequences themselves. Their grades will drop and they will have much work piled on top of them. This could be motivation enough to only take days off when needed, or it can be a minor obstacle, and seem insignificant compared to the freedom of skipping school whenever they want. This could cause problems, but precautions like limiting the amount of Mental Health Days kids take can be easy solutions.
Overall, the benefits can very much outweigh the cost, and mental health should always be treated just as important as physical health. So the next time a student wants to take a break from school because they just need a break that day, they should not be shamed but supported.