How To Deal With The Sunday Scaries!

Sunday is often a chance to catch up with friends, lost sleep, and recover from last night’s hangover. But for many of us, by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around, a feeling of intense anxiety and dread sets in – often referred to as the “Sunday scaries.”

According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 66% of professionals say that they face anxiety ahead of the start of the workweek.

The survey defines the phenomenon as “stress and anxiousness” that falls on a Sunday night before a person is set to return to work the following day.

The research shows Sunday is our unhappiest day of the week – with Saturday being the peak. There are a number of reasons why the Sunday scaries happen, and how you spend your weekend can play a big role.

Research shows people who spend a lot of time on their computers tend to feel more anxious in general. 

Abundant alcohol and drug use can also cause your mood to plummet and cause anxiety levels to soar the following day. So if you spent your Saturday night partying, it might explain why you feel down or anxious by Sunday afternoon.

For many people, the Sunday scaries also happen due to the work they left behind on Friday evening. The anticipation of the next day, the work you might have to do and all the emails you’ll need to catch up on can cause anxiety. But working through the weekend isn’t the answer either – and could actually leave your mental health worse off.

One of the most effective ways of getting rid of the Sunday scaries is to prevent them from happening to begin with. This means trying to finish any tasks you need to do before the weekend, instead of leaving it until Monday morning.

But regardless of the reasons you may get the Sunday scaries, remember that we often tend to overexaggerate our anxieties in our heads – and often these fears turn out to be unfounded.

Here is how to help prevent the Sunday Scaries...

1.  Don’t leave half-finished tasks for Monday.  You’re more likely to have work anxiety over the weekend when you’ve left something unfinished on Friday.  So try to tie up loose ends, and don’t leave half-done things for Monday morning.  If you’re in the middle of a long-term project, just try to finish the specific task you’ve been on.  Kind of like it’s one chapter in a book.

2.  Positive anticipation.  Another thing that causes anxiety is dreading things about your job that you hate.  So combat that by planning things to look forward to.  Like meeting a friend for lunch on Wednesday, or hitting a movie after work.

3.  Write it down.  If you can’t pinpoint why you feel nervous on Sundays, start a journal, or record yourself talking about it.  It might help you figure out what it is about your job, or your co-workers, that makes you so anxious.