Ditch The Scaries – 'Blue Monday' Is Likely A Load Of Bull

You might have heard that the third Monday of every month should make any existing Sunday scaries even worse. 

“Blue Monday,” described as the “most depressing day of the year,” is sometimes cited as uniquely miserable because of the combination of post-Christmas sadness, money worries, grim weather, and workload associated with the day. 

But is it even real? And how did we come up with that calculation to being with?

Who invented “Blue Monday”? 

Like the oft-cited (and unscientific) 10,000 steps a day rule, “Blue Monday” actually began as a marketing gimmick. 

Reportedly invented by psychologist Cliff Arnall alongside a now-defunct UK travel agency, the phrase was “calculated” using a formula based on projected debt, failed resolutions, and bad weather. 

This formula was quickly dubbed “pseudoscientific”, “bullshit,” and a “myth” by a UK physician and other scientists.

There is now considered to be no scientific proof that “Blue Monday” is a uniquely depressing day, Dr Philip Clarke, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Derby, told the BBC. He added, “There’s not even proof January sees a rise in mental health referrals, although it may seem that way”. 

“It is not particularly helpful to put that out there,” Arnall himself told The Telegraph years after coining the phrase.

“It is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy that it is the most depressing day... I’m also encouraging people to refute the whole notion of there being a most depressing day and to use the day as a springboard for the things that really matter in your life.” 

Winter blues are, however, real 

This is not to say that winter blues aren’t real. NHS England said that seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, might affect us because the “reduction in sunlight can affect our body’s internal clock and lower our mood and can also affect the chemicals in our body that impact our mood”. 

They add that seasonal factors unrelated to the weather, like the holidays, spending more time indoors, and the cost of living, can make winter even tougher. 

But there’s no need to worry about a specific day; for better or worse, winter’s negative effects on our mood seem to offer an equal-opportunity deal to all days of the season.