The most depressing day of the year does not exist
It's that time of year again. In early January, several reports will appear in the press (e.g. The Sun ) suggesting that the third Monday of January has been identified as the most depressing day of the year. This is false. Previous Weekday Research It is true that some days of the week evoke strong emotional responses . In fact, a small body of research has identified regularities between weekday and behaviour, and also between weekday and mood. Across studies on these topics, two main patterns are emphasised. One is the so-called Blue Monday effect. In a wide range of situations and measures, outcomes are especially negative on Mondays. Many of these situations are non-trivial, as they pertain to health and economic matters. For example, heart attack risk is higher, suicide rate is higher, reported mood is lower, and stock returns are lower. Even emails sent on a Monday also contain more grammatical mistakes and are less positive. Especially positive outcomes on Fr...