Five Surefire Antidotes to Monday Morning Blues
By: Bean Jones
Don't blame it on Monday. Workplace stress has no specific schedules--and this video shows just how bad it can get at any given day.
Monday has been tagged as the day when Murphy's Law reigns. I've listened to The Carpenters harmonize about Mondays always getting people down in "Rainy Days and Mondays" and the Boomtown Rats sing about just plain not liking them in "I Don't Like Mondays." Yet, I still don't get why Monday gets all the flak.
Monday Madness
As it turns out, the Carpenters and the Boomtown Rats may have been on to something. In 2003, the American Journal of Hypertension published the results of a study done by Japan's Tokyo Women's University. The study showed that many workers have significant increase in blood pressure on Mondays. It went on to state that there are 20 percent more heart attacks on Mondays than on any other days. This was especially true for office workers, as they reportedly got worked up over anticipated Monday morning office chaos.
Just this year, a poll conducted by online career network Monster revealed that 51 percent of US and 53 percent of UK office workers suffered sleepless Sunday nights because they feared Monday. In yet another survey commissioned by the hotel chain Travelodge, 60 percent of the 3,500 respondents claimed that their Monday morning dread caused their Sunday night insomnia.
Busting the Blues
Then again, Monday morning--or Sunday night--can only take so much blame. The folks at Monster surmised, that the Monday morning blues phenomenon is a myth. After all, they said, a few practical moves can save you from it. Aside from making sure that you get enough sleep on Sunday, the Monster crew and health experts suggest that you:
1. Think about something good that happened at the office instead of the problems.2. Plan and organize your tasks. List down what you want to achieve for the day with the help of the Daily Target Praxis (DTP) highlighted in Simpleology 101.
3. Get out in the sunlight--bright light prompts your body to heat up its internal clock.
4. Take a cold shower or exercise in the morning to release those feel-good endorphins.
5. Don't race away from a messy office desk on Fridays. Get it in order so that you'll be greeted with a neat desk come Monday morning.
Reinvented Day
Bottom line: The so-called "blues" will set in if we let them--it won't matter what day it is. As for The Carpenters and the Boomtown Rats...I guess they only sang about Mondays being blue because they had poetic license to to do. So, from hereon I'm getting rid of my anti-Monday sentiments. Better late than never, right?
Suggested Resource: Make sure that your Mondays are always stress-free. Sign up for Simpleology 101: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want to learn how you can keep your sanity when you show up for the first day of the workweek.
Comments
What works for me: Keep my weekday sleeping schedule over the weekend--go to sleep and get up the same times as during the week. Many folks stay up late Friday night, sleep in an hour or so on Sat, then stay up even later on Sat, and sleep in even later on Sunday. By now their body clock has begun to adjust to this 25-hour schedule, then Monday they're jerked back to having to get up for work! Hence the traditional Monday morning grogginess.
Dreading Monday mornings may have more to do with management than which day it is. If your work experience is being compromised by a "psycho boss", Mondays are probably NOT your problem! Also ... try inserting any other day of the week into either of the ditties mentioned by Bean. I did, and "Monday" is the only one that seems to fit!! :)
I have tried not to run away from my work on Friday and organizing things, then on Monday all goes smoothly. The hardest is to overcome laziness at every daily step. We might need a motivitingthought. \
rgds, Mary
DTP may sound too simple, but the results are very promising, if done at least every work day. In fact I like doing it on weekends also, b'cos I am able to achieve more even on holidays easily and effortlessly.
You make some good points there. I have a friend who likes to party on the weekends-Sat and Sun. His Mondays seem to be his worst day of the work-week. Do you think there just might be a connection between weekend partying and Monday Morning Blues?
I love this book so much Sir.
Hi Bean. I enjoyed reading your article on "Mondays" and why people don't like them. I'd like to add another angle, one that applies to me.....sometimes is isn't that I fear the chaos, or that I don't like the work that I am doing...in fact I really enjoy my current job....it's about getting up to an alarm clock, racing around to get ready and crawling through the traffic or the public transport system just to get "there"! And that's all before I even start work!! And there's another four days of "same old same old" to follow!!! However, I don't plan to have a heart attack over it and I sleep better than I have for years, so something's working whatever day it is!
Cheers!!
Shazan
Hey Bean
I actually enjoy Monday mornings can't wait till Friday ! I dread Monday mornings when I don't have time to do all the stuff I want to do or when my schedule is off, sometimes I find myself taking half a day of to do my house stuff that I didn't have time to do on the weekend or during the week. I really need to stay focused on my daily target praxis that makes Monday morning much more enjoyable.
Thank for the info !
Exercise is the best pre-work day tension relieve available. I'm not talking about a gentle stroll in the park, but a real physical challenge! The Mercs and BMWs in the Gym carpark at the crack of dawn cant be wrong.
Exercise = Less stress = more success.