7 therapist-approved tips for making the most of a mental health day while your home is also your office

Therapists recommend taking days off work to unwind, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.Joey Hadden/Business Insider

• It's more important than ever to take days off, therapist Nicole O-Pries told Business Insider.
• That's because the boundaries between work life and home life are blurring for many people who are working from home during the pandemic.
• Taking time off actually makes you more productive, therapist Mark Loewen told Business Insider.
• Here are seven tips for taking time off while working from home.

Mental health days provide people with the space to be productive, creative problem solvers.

That's according to a Richmond, Virginia-based therapist named Mark Loewen. He noted that shifting focus away from work helps the brain reboot.

"The problem is that we figuratively overheat certain parts of the brain," Loewen told Business Insider. "Disconnecting from one thing to focus on something else literally makes different areas of the brain light up."

Another therapist based in Richmond, Virginia, Nicole O-Pries, said teleworkers might not currently be taking time off because the pandemic limits travel. Nonetheless, our minds need a break, O-Pries said.

"Even if stepping away doesn't mean stepping away from your home," O-Pries added, "stepping away from the work within your home is really important."

Here are seven therapist-backed tips for taking mental health days while working remotely