Students were led to believe that high school was going to be the best years and that the years were going to pass by super fast. Although some parts of it are true, for many, it comes with intense stress and pressure from classes, extracurriculars, and personal expectations. Classes can be very stressful if you have stuff going on outside of school like extra curricular activities, parental expectations and personal goals/ expectations. While stress can sometimes motivate students, too much of it can lead to problems with attendance and missed opportunities. Matt Shenker, A former Elementary counselor stated “a chronically stressed out brain is not in learning mode it is in survival mode.” Although yes this can be very beneficial for students many can also cause problems with attendance and with missing important educational experiences and opportunities.

Mental health days are days to take time off from school to focus on mental, emotional and physical well being. These days allow students to step back, manage stress, and focus on their well-being. The idea of mental health days seems to be growing on many people because mental health can cause a degradation in your physical health.The intention of this day is to rest your brain from your normal high level stress responsibilities. It is supposed to help you restore motivation and improve your mood. It’s normal for it to be just a day so it doesn’t affect you in the long term. 

Mental health days help reduce stress and anxiety by allowing people to decompress allowing cortisol levels to settle down to prevent burn out. Cortisol levels are known as the stress hormone which regulates your metabolism, blood sugar, and blood pressure. Mental health days can help people feel less isolated. Researchers have seen that people who are struggling mentally have that loneliness and isolated feeling because they have so much going on. Making plans with friends can help reduce this feeling. Another good thing about this is that students learn to create boundaries and come to terms with themselves that it’s okay for them to feel this way and for them to take time off for themselves. Mental health days also allow for students to build up their emotional resilience. Emotional resilience is a big thing because it’s how much we can tolerate and allowing mental health days allows students to restore their energy allowing them to be better prepared on how to handle future stress situations.

Although yes there are many benefits to mental health days there are a few concerns from not only parents but from educators as well. The three main concerns people have about mental health days are; potential misuse of these days. Academic disruption and the encouragement of being absent. All these three corns are something we should be worried about because we technically cannot know whether someone is faking having a mental health day. Students could also use this as an excuse to just skip school. Another thing is that these days aren’t guaranteed for students’ mental health to just get better in one day of not going to school and having time for yourself.  These days are intended to be a reset. Academic disruption is also what educators are worried about because even if a student isn’t here for a day the lecture won’t stop. On the contrary, they will keep advancing, potentially causing more stress whenever the student does come back. The encouragement of absences is also a big concern for people. Absences are already a big major concern for some schools and allowing students to take mental health days could potentially just make that problem bigger. 

Mental health days matter, not only because students say they do, but because there’s research to back up this concept. Chronic stress not only affects you mentally but it can affect you physically too. Your sleep is affected, your skin, and even your daily habits like eating. Although stress is a common thing for many people to feel, chronic stress is much more than just being worried. Chronic stress is a long term feeling that doesn’t go away easily  and if left untreated can lead to mental health disorders and health issues, such as; anxiety, depression, heart diseases and high blood pressure. When you are physically unwell or injured it’s easy for people to tell you “take time off to rest and get better” so the same goes for mental health days. If at any point you are feeling overwhelmed then it’s important for you to take time off to recover and decompress. Mental health days shouldn’t replace responsibility, but when used appropriately, they can help students return to school healthier, more focused, and ready to succeed.