According to Brady's head coach, Todd Bowles, the seven-time Super Bowl champ took an 11-day leave of absence in August to "deal with personal things". Video / AP
Tom Brady has been "working at" finding ways to ease stress.
The 45-year-old quarterback - whose marriage to Gisele Bündchen is rumoured to be in trouble - shone a spotlight on World Mental Health Day on Monday and reflected on the different forms of therapy he's tried over the years to ensure his mental wellbeing.
Speaking to Jim Gray on their Let's Go! podcast, he said: "Everyone has different situations, you know, in their life and children and, you know, you worry about their mental health. You worry about your parents [and] obviously yourself.
"I think I've had to learn a lot of things over a long period of time in sports. I think there's an intense amount of stress that we all deal with, and how do you relieve stress so that you're not inflicting so much damage on yourself through kind of stress response?
"So [it's] something I've always continued to try to work at, and it's obviously a challenge for me and different forms of whether it's physical therapy or mental therapy, you know, all those things I've definitely done over the years."
The sportsman warned people are not "robots" and shouldn't ignore their mental health, particularly living in today's fast-paced society.
He continued: "I think there was a part of us where we felt like, you know, suck it up and deal with it. And I think you realise that there's a lot, especially in today's day and age, with how fast things are happening in life for all of us, and the amount of responsibilities we have.
Brady opened up about mental health challenges amid rumours he's split from supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Photo / AP
"You know, you hear this a lot from people that say, you know, 'I'm only human.' We are only human. We're not inhuman. We're not immune to a lot of the things that just life brings us. We're not robots."
Brady believes it is important to have a good support system in place to help understand the best places to commit "time and energy" to.
He said: "You wake up every day trying to do the best you can do, understanding that life has its stresses and to deal with them with a great support system and understanding and having some introspectiveness in your life where you can look at yourself and say, where do I need to commit my time and energy to?
"And how can I lessen some of the stress and lessen the burden on me so that I can be good for people around me.
"It's life. And you learn to grow up and you learn to deal with life. And that's what we're all trying to do. We're trying to do it the best way we can."
