Self-employment can be a great option if you’re looking for flexibility over your career, and the opportunities that come with being your own boss. However, it can also come with some drawbacks. Financial uncertainty, burnout and little or no sick pay are some of the negative aspects that self-employment can bring.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there were sharp falls in self-employment from a peak of 5 million at the end of 2019 down to 4.2 million in early 2022.1 But, self-employment numbers have since been on the rise. In Q2 2025, there were 4.4 million self-employed workers in the UK1, making up 13% of the working population.2
The recent rise in self-employment may be driven by a number of different factors, including greater flexibility and freedom when compared to being an employee, as well as advances in technology making it easier for many people to work from anywhere.
In this guide, we cover some of the issues facing the self-employed and include tips on how you can look after your health and wellbeing to ensure you are happy in your working life as well as your personal life.
*Phone lines are open 8:30am-5:30pm Monday to Friday. We may record and/or monitor calls for quality assurance, training and as a record of our conversation.
Tips for looking after your mental health when you're self-employed
Prioritising your mental health is important for both your professional and your personal life. Ensuring that you make time for yourself away from work, and regularly taking breaks can help you to avoid burnout. One study from 2023 found one in three small business owners were working over 46 hours a week, with three quarters saying they took fewer than 20 days of annual leave per year.3
Nicola Baxter, Psychological Training and Development Practitioner at AXA Health shares her tips for how to look after your mental health when you’re self-employed:
- Make time for regular temperature checks and see how you’re doing. It’s easy to put everyone and everything else first but you can’t pour from an empty cup. Create time to do this weekly, and ask yourself how you’re really doing. You might find it helpful to ask yourself what’s working well and what could be better. This helps you to find balance and opportunities to work on things that could be improved
- Stay connected. Make time for social and networking events to keep connected to others. This helps to keep a sense of community and reduce feelings of isolation as a business owner
- Be your own coach. Create some SMART Goals to ensure you’re being realistic with your expectations. Ensure your goals are:
- Specific - clearly define your goals and time frame to achieve them
- Measurable - How will you track or measure your success?
- Achievable - Set a realistic goal that can be accomplished
- Relevant - How does this goal align with your business and values
- Time bound - Set an achievable deadline with regular review points to help you stay on track and motivated
How to prevent burnout when you're self-employed
Nicola shares her tips for preventing burnout when you’re self-employed:
Prioritise self-care
Self-care is vital as a business owner and prioritising your own health and wellbeing allows you to stay at your best. Building your own self-care toolkit of what helps you to relax, feel energised or just feel good can help you to be more mindful of your wellbeing. Creating protected time for self-care can help you to feel your best and avoid burnout.
Have protected time
As a business owner you’re likely to be contacted via different means around the clock. Set realistic expectations of when you’ll reply and allow yourself time to establish a work-life boundary. Switching your work phone off, or stopping work-related notifications past a certain time, can also help you to mentally switch off from work.
Staying connected
Making time for friends and family can help you feel connected to others. Challenge yourself to be present and leave work out of your conversations. This can help you to create boundaries between work and home life and feel you have a sense of balance.
Take time off
Many business owners will struggle to take time off, fearing they’ll let people down or their business will struggle. Long working patterns and little time off can elevate stress levels and increase the chance of experiencing burnout. This doesn’t need to be long periods of time off, but it can help you to decompress and prioritise what’s important to you and leave you feeling more refreshed and motivated when you return to work.
How to identify when you might need help with mental health
Nicola shares her tips for how to identify when you might need help with mental health:
- Know your normal: Knowing what is typical for us in how we feel can help us identify changes in our mental health. We can get into ‘doing mode’ where we don’t always recognise when something has changed. A traffic light system is a great tool to understanding our mental health and also changes to how we’re coping.
- Green (Go mode): What are you like on a good day? What are you doing, thinking and feeling? What helps you stay in this zone?
- Amber (Slowing down mode): What do you notice when you aren’t feeling your usual self? What things impact this?
- Red (Stop mode): What do you notice when you’re struggling or not coping? What things impact this?
- Seek support: It’s normal to have periods of worry, stress or anxiety, but when they persist it can be a sign of declining mental health. If you notice your day to day life is being impacted by your thoughts, feelings or behaviours it may be time to seek support. Seeking help from your support network, GP or health professional can help you to work through your feelings and look at coping techniques.
Looking after your physical health when you're self-employed
A key part of overall wellbeing is staying physically active — but activity doesn’t have to mean long gym sessions. The priority should be on building movement into your existing routine in sustainable, realistic ways and choosing activities that work for you. Whether you work mainly from home or are constantly on the go, looking after your physical health is essential.
Ollie Smith, Physiologist, shares some practical strategies to help you proactively stay on top of your physical health while at work.
- Physical activity and movement
If your role requires long periods at a desk, staying active can often feel more challenging. Current guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week. While this may sound like a lot, you can reach that target simply by incorporating around 30 minutes of movement into each working day. Breaking up long sedentary periods doesn’t just support physical health, it can reduce the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity5,6, and offers significant psychological benefits too.
If you work from home, you may have greater flexibility. Consider taking a ‘fake commute’, a short walk before and after work, or walking around the house while taking calls to increase your daily steps.
If you work in an office, try scheduling informal check-ins as walking meetings. Even finishing meetings 2–5 minutes early gives you time to stretch, reset and move between calls.
What’s most important is understanding your own routine. If you know you’re someone who easily falls into periods of inactivity, put simple, practical measures in place, such as scheduled movement breaks or step targets to help prevent this and keep your energy and wellbeing on track.
2. Forming healthy habits and setting boundaries
If you work from home, it can be more challenging to switch off from work as there is less separation from you and ‘your office’. Building a healthy routine supports work-life balance, and productivity.7 Aim to have regular start and finish times and planned breaks for meals and movement. The purpose of a routine isn’t to be rigid, it’s to ensure work doesn’t overflow into personal time.
If you’re working from home, it’s a good idea to pack away your laptop and work equipment so you’re not tempted to check emails after your scheduled finish time.
3. Creating a healthy workspace
Your workspace can have a significant impact on your physical wellbeing. A supportive chair, proper desk height, and a monitor positioned at eye level can help to reduce stress and strain on your back. If you spend lots of time sitting during the working day, alternating between sitting and standing throughout the day is also recommended to reduce fatigue in your neck and back.8
4. A healthy diet to fuel your work
When you’re juggling work on your own, it can be easy to skip meals or opt for convenience foods to keep you going. Eating a stable and balanced diet supports energy, focus, and overall health. You could try preparing some healthy meals or snacks like fruit or nut bowls and setting regular mealtimes across the week to help you stay consistent and fuel your productivity.
In the office, a good option to promote healthy dietary choices is to keep fruit bowls in communal areas and opting for balanced meal options when possible.
5. Other lifestyle factors
When work becomes your priority it can be easy to neglect your own health and wellbeing. Your resilience, energy and overall performance will inevitably suffer. It’s important to monitor and manage the lifestyle habits that keep you functioning at your best.
Make sure you are:
- Achieving the level of sleep that’s right for you. Good-quality sleep improves decision-making, mood and productivity.
- Staying hydrated. Consider how you make water accessible during your day (a bottle on your desk, regular refill reminders, etc.).
- Listening to your body, physically and mentally. Notice early signs of fatigue, tension or overwhelm.
- If you need time away, switch off intentionally. Step out of the office environment, take a short walk, or choose an activity that clears your mind and helps you reset. Even brief periods of rest and respite can help you return in a clearer, more focused, and more resilient state.
4NHS
6NHS
What are the benefits of health insurance when you're self-employed?
When you’re self-employed, taking time off work due to ill health can have a big impact on your business and your life. Unlike when you’re an employee, you don’t get statutory sick pay meaning that time off work can result in a loss of earnings.
Business health insurance can help get you back to work quickly through prompt access to diagnosis and treatment, subject to the cover options chosen. You will also have flexibility and control over your appointments, and can often choose an appointment at a time and place that works for you.
At AXA Health, our business health insurance also gives you access to health professionals, including nurses and counsellors, through our 24/7 health information phone line. This gives you someone to talk to about health concerns day or night, so you don’t have to spend time worrying.
What are the benefits of AXA Health business health insurance?
At AXA Health, you can be confident we're here to support your health and wellbeing, every step of the way. From fast access to our online GP service, diagnosis and treatment, to guidance and tools that help you manage your everyday health, not just when there's a problem.
Choose from our range of cover options to create a healthcare package that's right for you. And when it comes to getting the support you need, our customer care team will be there to help. Because the human touch can make all the difference.
We were founded by doctors and hospitals working together to give more people better access to healthcare. In the 85 years since, we've grown to become part of one of the biggest insurance groups in the world, with all the reassurance that brings. With us, your health will always come first.
When you take out business health insurance with AXA Health, you’ll get access to the following included as standard:
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24/7 online GP service
Access to video or phone appointments with a GP or Advanced Clinical Practitioner. Appointments are subject to availability. Advanced Clinical Practitioners are available 8am-10pm.
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Care for cancer and heart conditions
Our experienced healthcare practitioners are available at the end of the phone day or night. Speak to our specialist heart and cancer nurses 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. Outside these hours, our experienced nurses and counsellors provide round the clock support by phone.
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Muscles, bones and joints support
Access to our muscles, bones and joints service to help you manage or alleviate joint and muscle pain. A physiotherapist will assess your symptoms online or over the phone and talk you through what they could mean. Available for members aged 18 and over.
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Health information and support
Get help and support day and night with our 24/7 health information support line.
How much does business health insurance cost when you're self-employed?
Example prices based on one person (aged 35), living in Guildford, with a £100 excess and two year moratorium on pre-existing conditions. Costs are correct as of October 2025, and prices will vary depending on location, cover options and age. When you are buying cover for 1-2 people only, you will need to include the Diagnostics Only option or the Treatment option on your plan.
Example 1 - from £15.05 per month
- Diagnostics Only option - This option offers fast access to outpatient specialist consultations and diagnostic tests, to find out what's wrong if you become unwell
- Therapies option - Cover for outpatient treatment when you're referred to an osteopath, physiotherapist, acupuncturist or chiropractor
- Employee Assistance Programme Essentials -If you're going through difficult times, such as divorce or money problems, this option gives you a professionally trained expert to talk to; on the phone or in person, depending on the chosen programme
Example 2 -from £50.02 per month
- Therapies option - Cover for outpatient treatment when you're referred to an osteopath, physiotherapist, acupuncturist or chiropractor
- Standard Outpatient option - Ensures, after GP referral, you are seen quickly by a specialist at a time and place suitable for you
- Treatment option - Cover for hospital procedures and operations, including surgery
- Employee Assistance Programme Essentials - If you're going through difficult times, such as divorce or money problems, this option gives you a professionally trained expert to talk to; on the phone or in person, depending on the chosen programme
Example 3 - from £80.96 per month
- Mental health option - Look after more than just your physical health with cover for mental health treatment
- Treatment option - Cover for hospital procedures and operations, including surgery
- Extended Cover option - Provides even greater flexibility and choice over where you're treated. Plus, extra cover for planned, pre-approved treatment abroad and cover for the routine management of specified chronic conditions
- Full Outpatient option - Ensures that, with a GP referral, you are seen quickly by a specialist at a time and place that suits you. The Full Outpatient option has no yearly limit on specialist consultations, diagnostic tests and fees for practitioners
Build a plan that's right for you
Find out more about our business health insurance, including what is and isn't covered, and get a quote
Supporting small business owners
Small business guide to health insurance
This guide covers:
- How might a small business owner benefit from business health insurance?
- How does business health insurance impact tax?
- Why choose AXA Health and what cover options are available?
- How does the claims process usually work?
Small business guide to mental health
This guide covers:
- What are the signs that a team member may be experiencing a mental health problem?
- What should I do to normalise mental health discussions at work?
- How can I look after my team's mental health at work?
- How can I look after my own mental health at work?
Small business guide to online health services
This guide covers:
- What are the benefits of online health appointments?
- How to prepare for an online health appointment
- What can I expect from an online appointment?
*Phone lines are open 8:30am-5:30pm Monday to Friday. We may record and/or monitor calls for quality assurance, training and as a record of our conversation.