You wake up feeling fatigued from all the stressors in your life. You don’t have a cough or a temperature, but your body is calling for something similar: a rest day. The term “Mental Health Day” has been a used phrase since October 10th was declared World Mental Health day in 1922. The term has since complexified itself from just one day out of the year, to a more relaxed format. A mental health day is no longer a singular day but any time frame during which one can take a pause in everyday activities.
In doing this, some have said to find themselves more resilient towards future stressors. However, others believe that these “mental health days” are used for the purpose of leisure, and powering through those hard days strengthens their emotional stability.
The Red & Black asked UGA students to share their opinion on the inclusion of mental health days as excusable absences.
(Courtesy/Olivia Pearson)
Olivia Pearson, junior graphic design major
“I think it’s okay to be lazy.Doing absolutely nothing can be good for your mental health; to take a break from all the responsibilities that we have as students. I know a lot of people working part time jobs along with being full time students… I think professors forget sometimes that we have other responsibilities outside of homework and course material… If somebody needs time to just completely relax, I think that’s 100% valid.” Pearson said. “Especially because the [studio classes] that I have run really long… so sometimes the thought of being in a classroom for like three and a half hours is the exact opposite of what I need in that moment.”
(Courtesy/Dylan Riegert
Dylan Riegert, sophomore graphic design major
“[Mental health day absences] would cause me stress to catch up on work that I didn’t necessarily need to be missing” Riegert said. “If there’s not a way to properly incorporate [the mental health day] without missing work [ I don’t think] that would be the best… catching up on work that you don’t need to miss…I think that if there was an optional day, that might be better.”
(Courtesy/Jah Duncombe)
Jah Duncombe, junior mechanical engineering major
“I think [everyone] needs [a mental health day] because some people really do overwork themselves. [I think] especially in engineering, it’s way too normalized that we don’t take care of ourselves and it sucks that [it’s normalized]… the fact that people are going to bed at 5 a.m, [students normalizing this], is not okay” Duncombe said “I think the grind is good but if you have [students who] aren’t going to bed and [not] taking care of themselves, that is taking a toll on them because they can’t [function] correctly.”
(Courtesy/Julie Aldridge)
Julie Aldridge, sophomore music and music theory major
“Part of my anxiety comes from school, [which] is hard to deal with, but I have been blessed with a good support system [to help me]” Aldridge said. “[I think] to an extent mental health days are acceptable… If you have a class [that has] three excused absences [including] funerals, doctors note, family emergencies, I think having two or three additional days where you just take the time off to either sleep in, do homework [ect.] [that would be] very beneficial.”