How to Stop Having Horrible Mondays

"There is no other day like Monday in the U.S. While we "thank God" for Friday, celebrate the weekend, and at least tolerate Tuesday through Thursday, Monday to most people is the emotional equivalent of the rock in Charlie Brown's Halloween candy. Against otherwise near universal antipathy, perhaps Mondays only saving grace is being the most common day for federal holidays. Unpopularity is only the beginning of Monday's problems, however. Monday, for example, is associated with the highest levels of emotional stress, the lowest rates of work productivity, and higher rates of suicides for both men and women (1). And these adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes are paralleled with remarkable precision by increases in negative physical health outcomes such as workplace accidents and even strokes and heart attacks (2). Arguably the most infamous and dangerous Monday of all is the "spring forward" Monday following the March daylight saving time weekend. Studies indicate that a 6% to 8% increase in fatal car accidents—translating to two to three dozen excess deaths each year—occur on this grim Monday.

To understand the solution, it is first necessary to explain the surprising power of sleep deprivation and circadian dysfunction. Subjectively, most people underestimate the effects of changing their sleep patterns on their health and function. Although laboratory studies, for example, indicate that even one to two hours of reduced sleep produces measurable cognitive impairment, hormone disruption, accelerated biological aging, and even adverse patterns of gene activation, most of these changes are invisible to our conscious awareness. Only when the effects reach a threshold of high intensity—such as jet lag or episodes of insomnia—do we typically notice them. In the case of jet lag, most adults are familiar with the combination of fatigue, mental slowing, and increased negative affect that results from traveling across multiple time zones, as well as the days of recovery often needed to restore normal feelings and function. Jet lag is an example of the circadian disruption that occurs when our sleep-wake cycle becomes misaligned with the 24-hour schedule with which our body is accustomed. And the cognitive, emotional, and physical side effects of jet lag are caused by a complex collection of hormones whose careful regulation has gone awry."

Read the full available article at Psychology Today

Reflection: Do you have horrible Mondays? If so, what do you do to make them "less horrible"?

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