How Can I Improve My Mental Health This Summer? (2026 Update)

Back in 2023, I wrote this post with 8 tidy tips: stay hydrated, get some sun, make a summer playlist. All still true. None of it was the whole story.

Since then I’ve written a lot more openly about what’s actually going on underneath the “just drink more water” advice — my catastrophic anxiety, an adult ADHD diagnosis, what overstimulation actually feels like in my body as a mom of three. So this year, instead of just refreshing the list, I wanted to update this post with what I’ve actually learned since — because summer still gets me every time, just not always for the reasons I expected in 2023.

Why do I feel stressed out and anxious during the summer?

During the summer, I find myself on a mental rollercoaster with mixed periods of low anxiety and high stress. According to experts, some people experience increased anxiety and panic attacks due to disrupted sleep, climate anxiety and pressure to make the most of the summer months (source). There is nothing worse than missing out on an opportunity to make a beautiful summer memory due to poor mental health.

Picture this: Inside Out 2‘s Anxiety is in charge of packing for the family vacation. The wild haired toothy grinned orange creature is zooming back and forth in your mind as you make packing lists, tidy the house, and create itineraries. Am I the only parent who stresses myself out in the days leading up to a family trip? Anxiety can be somewhat expected for parents before a vacation if you feel a perceived lack of control, worry of the trip itself, or thoughts that packing is a constraint.

Even though the feelings are expected, there is no reason why Anxiety should carry over into the vacation itself. The solution: leave your emotions in the moment where they belong. Vacations are meant to be fun, but don’t pack the pre-trip stress and anxiety too!

What I Said in 2023

The original 8 tips for summer mental health are still solid basics, and I’m keeping them below because they work as a baseline:

1. Stay hydrated
2. Get some sunlight
3. Keep your sleep environment cool
4. Make a summer playlist / pick up a book
5. Spend time away from social media
6. Limit alcohol and indulgent meals
7. Wear what actually makes you feel good
8. Don’t hesitate to see a therapist

Good advice. Also — kind of surface-level for anyone whose summer struggle isn’t about hydration.

What I’ve Learned Since

On catastrophic anxiety: I’ve written about living with catastrophic anxiety — the “what if” spiral that turns a minor worry into a full disaster movie in my head. Summer, with its packing lists, trip logistics, and pressure to make every day count, is prime territory for this. What’s helped isn’t a tip, it’s a practice: catching the spiral early and asking what’s actually true right now, not what might be true later.

On overstimulation: After my third daughter and, more recently, a mild adult ADHD diagnosis, I started understanding why summer noise — the constant togetherness, the lack of school-day structure, the sheer volume of a house full of kids all day — hits me so hard. I wrote a full post on overstimulation and parenting with strategies like the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method and turning your phone into a white noise machine. These get more use in July and August than almost any other tip I’ve ever shared.

On knowing when I’m “tapped out”: My family knows the phrase now. When I say it, I’m stepping away before I combust — not because I’m failing at summer, but because naming it early is the only thing that actually prevents the bigger blowup.

Is mental health better in the summer? According to the American Psychological Association, taking summer vacations help reduce stress by removing people from environments and activities that are associated with stress or anxiety. This study feels controversial considering many parents do not vacation for the entire summer. And if a vacations does occur, parents may not feel as relaxed as one expects.

So What Actually Helps Now

If I were rewriting the original list today, knowing what I know now, it would look less like a wellness checklist and more like this:

• Notice the spiral before it becomes a storyline (catastrophic anxiety)
• Have an actual reset tool ready — not just “take a break,” but something specific like the 5-4-3-2-1 method or a background sound (overstimulation)
• Say “I’m tapped out” out loud before you hit the wall, not after
• Keep the basics — sun, water, sleep — as the floor, not the whole plan
• Therapy isn’t a last resort tip at the bottom of a list. It’s the thing that made all of the above possible to even recognize in myself

Still True

Summer isn’t automatically restorative just because school’s out. If your mental health doesn’t magically improve in June, you’re not doing it wrong — you might just need different tools than “drink more water,” and that’s okay. I needed a few years and a couple of re-evaluations to figure that out myself.

If you’re navigating your own version of this, I’d start with catastrophic anxiety or overstimulation — whichever sounds more like you.