Time to Talk Day: 4 ways talking about your feelings actually helps
Talking about how you’re feeling isn’t always easy, but it’s proven to make a real difference.
Time to Talk Day, led by the mental health charity Mind, exists to remind us of exactly that. It’s also why our Time to Talk? campaign shares its name: opening up, in whatever way feels right for you, is a significant step forward.
For some, talking can be daunting and societal or cultural pressures can make it feel harder than it should (a theme that student Digby explores in his blog on men’s mental health). Yet research shows there are clear psychological and biological benefits to speaking about your mental health.
Below, we share four of those benefits, with insight from one of our own UoB therapeutic practitioners.
1. It helps your brain make sense of emotions
When thoughts stay in your head, they often feel louder and more overwhelming. Speaking them out loud activates the parts of the brain responsible for organisation and reasoning, helping you turn a swirl of feelings into something more manageable. This process is called emotional processing, and it can reduce distress even without solving the problem.
2. Naming feelings reduces their intensity
Research shows that putting emotions into words (sometimes called ‘affect labelling’) can lower activity in the amygdala – the part of the brain linked to fear and stress – while increasing activity in areas of the brain linked to regulation and calm. In short: saying how you feel can make those feelings less intense.
UoB Therapeutic Practitioner Mike Buckle explains why this process can be so impactful:
‘Admitting to distressing thoughts helps us to label them and if we can do this by saying it aloud in front of someone we trust, then this process helps to facilitate an objective kind of distancing. We can see them for what they really are and look at them rather than from them.’
3. Connection protects mental health
Humans are wired for connection. Talking to someone supportive releases oxytocin, a hormone linked to trust and bonding, which helps counteract stress and anxiety. Feeling understood by another person can reduce loneliness, which is a common cause of poor mental health in students.
4. It interrupts unhelpful thought loops
When you’re stressed or low, your mind can get stuck in repetitive cycles of worry or self-criticism. Talking introduces a pause. It creates space for perspective, reassurance, or simply being heard, all of which can break that loop.
Mike also shares this quote by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl on the power of pausing and gaining perspective:
‘Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.’
Small conversations still count
Support doesn’t have to mean a crisis conversation. Brief check-ins, drop-ins or phone calls can still have a positive impact. Regular, low-pressure conversations are linked with better emotional resilience over time.
You don’t have to know exactly what’s wrong for talking to help you. Many people only understand what they’re feeling by talking. Confusion, uncertainty and “I don’t know why I feel like this” are all valid starting points.
Talking to someone at UoB
Whether you want a quick chat or more ongoing support, there are confidential options available – and using them does not affect your academic record in any way.
Access from anywhere:
On-campus options:
Talking to any of these services is confidential, free, and there to support you.
Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, a bit stuck, or just need to talk something through, support is there when you need it.
This Time to Talk Day, you don’t have to have all the answers; starting a conversation can be enough.