It’s all too common to feel like you’re being pulled in various directions by texts, emails, and to-do lists, especially during the holiday season.
This constant pull, combined with social media feeds and 24-hour news cycles, can increase stress levels and lead to feelings of overwhelm, which can take a toll on your mental health.
The long-term effects of stress can contribute to anxiety, rumination, sleep disturbances, and difficulty concentrating.
While the idea of an invisible day has been around for a while, the term is relatively new. An invisible day is a day to unplug, rather than distancing yourself from friends, family, or nonnegotiable obligations, such as parenting or work. Here’s how it works.
What is an invisible day?
Think of an invisible day as a structured pause that allows the body and mind to reset by reducing the noise of external demands.
You can think of it as time spent outside of your typical routine. When taking an invisible day, you set aside as many of your usual roles and responsibilities as possible, acting as though you are invisible.
For many people, it may begin simply by setting boundaries with their smartphones.
“Phones are contributing heavily to the high stress levels… giving each of us more access to information than we need,” said Menije Boduryan-Turner, PsyD, a licensed psychologist and founder of Embracing You Therapy.
“Unfortunately, not all information is useful. The underlying issue is access to the information and how that information is landing on us [or is] being processed in our minds,” she told Healthline.
Georgina Sturmer, MBACP, a licensed online counsellor in the United Kingdom, agreed, saying: “Our busy, overwhelming lives can often leave us feeling as if we are stuck in a loop, and battling to keep up. Answering messages, responding to requests, working hard, and keeping ourselves up to date with what’s been going on in the world. And that’s all before the endless minutes and hours that we spend mindlessly scrolling.”
Sturmer told us that invisible days can be an antidote to this. They are an opportunity to step back from the demands on our lives, allowing us to reset, retreat, and reconnect with what truly matters.
The idea behind an invisible day is to go completely “off grid” for up to 24 hours to help offset some of these symptoms and rest your mind.
This means that no one can reach you unless it’s an emergency, and you don’t need to respond to anyone during your pause unless absolutely necessary. You simply “disappear” for a day.
Tips for practicing an invisible day
Invisible days may not be suitable or even doable for everyone.
For example, people experiencing depression may find invisible days difficult. This is because the concept of being invisible without any connection or support can exacerbate some mental health symptoms.
Other people, such as parents or caregivers, may not have the luxury to go entirely “invisible” for a day, but perhaps they could lean on other loved ones or members of their community for support to go invisible in smaller chunks.
Boduryan-Turner said that it may not be about who should or should not take invisible days.
Sturmer explained that invisible days may be “particularly helpful for those of us who struggle to put boundaries in place, in particular those with a tendency towards ‘people-pleasing’.”
“On an everyday basis, they might struggle to say no to others and put themselves first. Having a framework like an ‘invisible day’ might be exactly what they need, in order to give themselves permission to take time out,” she added.
Boduryan-Turner further noted that individuals should be more intentional by taking a good look at their needs, asking themselves questions like “How many hours do I need off?” and “What should I be doing?”
Some people may only need a 2-hour break, while others may require a longer break, even 48 hours.
“I would highly recommend self-compassion because there are many things that are out of our control, and, unfortunately, turning our phone or tablet off doesn’t make them go away,” she said.
“They will still be there when you ‘return’ to your phone and/or tablet. Hence, when dealing with stress and overwhelm, the best thing we can do is be kind and graceful to ourselves. It is truly a very powerful mantra to say, ‘I am doing the best I can with what I am going through’.”
Mark Hoelterhoff, PhD, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of Edinburgh, in the U.K. offered the following tips for those considering taking an invisible day:
- Be clear about what you want the time to serve.
- Frame the day around a value or strength, such as steadiness or curiosity, to give it direction without turning it into another task.
- Reduce digital noise and set gentle boundaries to allow the day to feel genuinely autonomous. Small restorative activities tend to work better than long stretches of unstructured time. Even a short walk or a simple routine can support the sense of recharging rather than numbing.
- Even though the aim is to step back from demands, some light form of connection usually helps, whether through time in nature or a mindful practice.
Finally, Helterhoff noted that it can be useful to set a plan for the following day, “Before the day ends, it can be useful to decide on one small action for the following morning, which makes the return to ordinary life feel manageable.”
