Blue Monday

With the New Year holidays and Christmas, not only pleasant chores and joyful events come into our lives, but also sadness, loss of strength and depression The first to draw attention to this feature was the British psychologist Cliff Arnall, who in 2005 calculated, using a mathematical formula, the saddest and most oppressive day of the year, the so-called Blue Monday It turned out to be the third Monday of January The psychologist noticed that a drop in vitality and depression occur not only because the holiday euphoria is replaced by everyday work Blue Monday marks the repayment period for loans taken by Europeans and Americans to buy gifts for loved ones for Christmas Even though the winter solstice has already passed and the length of the day has begun to increase, people still lack the sun and its energy to accomplish things large and small In addition, on Sad Monday, which has become a landmark date in the calendar, one comes to the realization that most of the promises a person made to himself on New Year’s Eve remained words Someone did not quit smoking, someone did not start playing sports 3 times a week, did not complete renovations in the house, did not go to a doctor’s consultation, etc Failure to keep vows and vows psychologically suppresses and reduces the level of motivation of people Cliff Arnall's conclusions and observations were taken into account by the British channel Sky Travel, the brainchild of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch Like any successful businessman, he decided to monetize the Blue Monday theory: on the eve of the saddest day of the year, travel programs began to be shown, advertising travel as a way to combat depression According to one version, Sky Travel itself was the customer of Arnall’s developments, which were recognized by his colleagues as pseudoscientific and were repeatedly criticized Psychologists noted that, according to statistics, Blue Monday is not the day of the year that accounts for a jump in relapses of mental illness and suicide, an increase in mortality and changes in other public health indicators Depression from mild to severe forms occurs in 10% of people in winter due to a lack of sunlight, and therefore vitamin D, a decrease in social activity due to cold weather and short days Sadness and loss of strength are a natural reaction to the end of the New Year and Christmas holidays Therefore, giving the winter blues some kind of special status is wrong Despite criticism of the idea of ​​Sad Monday, for many years, articles on how to deal with post-New Year's depression have begun to appear in the media on the eve of Blue Monday To overcome stress, it is recommended to start doing breathing exercises and meditation, spend more time outdoors, play sports and your favorite hobbies Laughter, chatting with friends and walking with pets will relieve sadness and melancholy and make Blue Monday a regular Monday in January