Four Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health When Running a Business

Running a business is not your typical job. Because of the longer hours and, on average, greater stress inducers, it’s important that entrepreneurs take stock of their mental health as often as possible. This isn’t just guesswork. In research by students, PhDs, and MDs from Berkeley, Stanford, and the University of California San Francisco, it was found that entrepreneurs are “reported [to have] significantly more symptoms than the comparison participants.” To be specific: 49% reported having at least one mental health condition. So, what can you do to take care of your mental health while building and scaling your startup?

Here are four tips.

1. Hold yourself accountable to taking time off.

In an age where the “hustle” and working overtime is romanticized, it can feel impossible to close the laptop, set your startup aside, and spend a day with friends, family, or a good movie. But taking time off actually helps you bounce back stronger - meaning you’ll be more productive overall. In an article for the Scientific American, Ferris Jabr shares that “Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieve our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life."

2. When you take breaks, meditate or engage in physical activity.

You can amplify the benefit of your time off by allocating time to meditate. Mental Health America presented research from over 600 studies on the correlation between meditation and improved mental health, and found that meditation has a notable impact on stress reduction. Physical activity is also a great way to manage stress levels, promote endorphins, and return to work more energized. In research by The Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, it was noted that activities such as jogging, swimming, cycling, and walking are proven to reduce anxiety and depression due to their impact on the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis. This axis sends messages to the parts of the brain that determine motivation, stress, memory, and mood.

3. Learn to gauge how burnt out you are.

Entrepreneurs often struggle with knowing when they're burnt out and need to take a break. Because running a business requires persistent creativity, checking in with your ability to create may be a good idea. Kiyomi LaFleur is a business owner herself, and the founder of Awaken Into Love, which is an online community that supports people who struggle with relationship OCD. She can tell that she needs a recharge when her creative channels run dry. "When I'm doing something creative, I can feel whether my creativity feels full and giving, or coming from a place that's empty and ridden with fear," she says. Rachel Wright is a licensed psychotherapist and the co-founder of the Wright Wellness Center. On her website, she noted that she tells her clients they’re likely burnt out when they “don’t enjoy anything anymore.” When the work you once loved starts to lose its magic, it’s time to take a day or two off.

4. Join a community or support group of other entrepreneurs.

Being a part of a community of other entrepreneurs who get the stress and demands of building a startup can be very helpful. One of the most common ways entrepreneurs fall into a depression is by isolating themselves and, as a result, having few people to talk to about their stress. The American Psychological Association says that social support is one of the five key ways to reduce stress - but, the social support needs to be from someone who can validate what you’re going through, and oftentimes, relate. Talking through your entrepreneurship-related stress with friends who aren’t startup founders may not have the same effectiveness as talking with those who go through the same stress as you do on a daily basis.

The combination of these four tips will be sure to have you taking care of your mental health. Your business - and your life - depends on it.