Elena Elisseeva
If you managed to get through Monday, only to feel worse today, a report published in the Journal of Positive Psychology suggests you're not alone.
The authors of a study entitled "Day-of-week mood patterns in the United States: On the existence of 'Blue Monday', 'Thank God it's Friday' and weekend effects" concluded that people tend to dislike all workdays almost equally. Except, of course, for Friday.
The study used a random national telephone survey to question 340,000 people about their moods throughout the week. "Strong support was found for better mood on weekends and Fridays, but there was minimal support for a Blue Monday effect and no differences were observed between Saturdays and Sundays," the authors explain.
While the authors assert that the notion of Miserable Mondays is widely exaggerated, they don't appear to account for non-traditional workweeks – people whose Friday is Tuesday, for example. And judging by the comments on the BBC's coverage of the study, Friday is not a universal favourite.
The authors do concede that "day-of-week" (DOW) effects are associated with mood, "but not always in ways we believe."
The research also does not address the more recent popularization of Wednesday as "Humpday," a coinage that refers to its equidistant position between Monday and Friday. For some, getting over the Wednesday hump can be worse than a Monday morning.
In a perfect world, people would approach every day optimistically. Until then, perhaps we should simply invoke and paraphrase George Orwell: All days are created equal, but some days are more equal than others.
Which day do you loathe most? Which day do you love?
Amy Verner