Dealing with the Monday blues

By Lionel Wijesiri

It is Sunday afternoon, some time past 4 o’clock. The weekend hourglass is spilling its treasure. Only Sunday night remains before the start of the Monday morning - the return to office or work. Imperceptibly at first, then unmistakably, there is company. The ‘Monday Blues’ have dropped by for a visit: Flip side of TGIF (Thank God, It’s Friday).

Yes, it’s the flip side of TGIF. The weekend, which started with such bright promise, is now inexorably rolling towards a conclusion. Even if things are going right, those Monday blues have mysteriously reappeared, bringing mild depression, echoes of loneliness or a twinge of unease or sadness.

Sunday is a special day when you could allocate a great deal of time to your children

Not everyone gets them, and it is impossible to quantify how many people do, but the anecdotal evidence is there. If people are asked whether they have a downward mood swing by late Sunday afternoon, chances are they will recognise the symptoms and confess that the visitation shows up like clockwork.

Some researchers say the problem results from the resetting of internal biological clocks after the weekend disruptions of sleep patterns and activity.

Imbalance

Unsure that something as vague as the Monday blues is a verifiable complaint, scientists nonetheless can generalise from weekend behaviour to try to explain its occurrence. The most likely culprit, they speculate, is the imbalance between the weekend sleep-wake cycles and the internal biological clock set by evolution to the cycle of day and night.

These scientists, called chrono-biologists, say that mood shifts on Sunday afternoon or blues on Monday are not surprising because people usually stay up later and rise later on weekends. Such disruptions can confuse the control centre in the brain that is wired in some primordial soup.

“The demands made upon the circadian (meaning relating to biological processes occurring at 24-hour intervals) pacemaker by weekend behaviour and sleep-wake cycle changes may affect mood,” said Dr. Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard who specialises in sleep disorders. “No one knows the mechanism or, in fact, if it occurs at all, but there is a lot of writing in medical literature that it may take place.”

With some people, sleep-wake cycles over the weekend are so altered that by the time the alarm goes off at 6 in the morning on Monday, the brain (and therefore the body) reacts as if it were 4 in the morning. It’s a sense of dread!

Answers

For some, the answer to Monday blues may be all too obvious.

* Your job isn’t satisfying. Only a lucky few have jobs that are thrilling, satisfying, enjoyable, and enriching every minute of every day. Most of us have a whole lot of routine mixed in with occasional periods of excitement, or at least satisfaction.

If those moments are few and far between, get busy. You could up the portion of the time that you are happy in your work. Is there a project you could take on that would renew your interest? Is there a way to change your job within the company, either by going for a promotion or through a lateral move that would give you new opportunities? Does the human resources department offer workshops you could take to develop new skills?

* Your life is out of balance. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” (or Jane a cranky girl). It’s an old saying that is never irrelevant.

If your life is work, work, work, of course you feel out of sorts. No matter how important our work is, we need to remember to refuel through self-care.

That includes developing a hobby or interest, taking time for some fun and vacations, and doing the usual daily regimen of eating right, sleeping enough, and getting some exercise.

If you only take care of yourself on weekends, Monday morning is the beginning of five days of deprivation. Not good. Take the time to reassess how you are managing the balance of your life during the week.

Monday blues are common to millions of workers worldwide.

* Your job is hostile to your relationships. Jobs that require long hours, or that require you to take work home or put in time on the weekends are killers to family life and friendship maintenance. It’s sad to see parents at children’s events who couldn’t leave their laptops at home. People get impatient with friends who interrupt a social evening to take a business phone call. Yes, these folks are in attendance, but they aren’t really there. Your discontent with your job may be a signal that you are missing out on too much of the warmth and intimacy you need from your relationships. Take a careful look at how you can manage the demands of your job in such a way that it doesn’t cost you love.

* Your attitude towards work needs adjustment. We do get what we expect. For some people, work is a four-letter word. Work is, well, ‘work’. It’s seen as the opposite of fun, the nasty dinner you have to eat before you get to have dessert. When a person has developed an attitude that any work or chore or required activity is a major distraction from enjoyment, Monday morning is, by definition, a downer. If that’s the case, it’s time for an attitude transplant. Unless you are one of the fortunate few to win the lottery or to inherit a trust fund, you’ll be working a great many hours of your life. Better to find a way to embrace it, and, yes, even enjoy it.

* You are struggling with depression. That is right! Depression can sneak up on a person. It may not be the job that is pulling you down. It may be that you are becoming clinically depressed. Is your appetite off? Are you having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep? Has your interest in sex plummeted? Does doing things that used to be pleasurable for you seem like just too much effort? These could be the signs of depression. Consider going to see a mental health counsellor for an evaluation. If you are depressed, the counsellor will discuss possible treatment options. This may include some medication and some talk therapy to help you get back to your old self.

Before you buy into the notion that Sunday evening and Monday morning are awful and simply can’t be changed, take another look. Ask yourself: Why does Monday have to be blue? Just because everyone says so? Well, it doesn’t have to be. Yes, you should ‘reprogram’ the way you see Monday. It may be the day you have to drag your feet back to work after an awesome weekend, but if you look at it as the beginning of a great week ahead, the thought can empower you and propel you to a great start.

Have a great week ahead and cheers!