5 Reasons Mondays Suck So Much… & How to Deal

Everyone can relate to the slowly creeping feeling that arrives each Sunday, which can only be attributed to the looming Monday ahead. If your Monday blues keep you from fully enjoying your weekend and actively tackling the following week, we have some suggestions to help you march to a different Monday beat.

Mondays really don’t suck, it is rather the feelings, events and other stressors that come along with the start of the new week that actually get us down. Monday can be a great day signifying the start (or restart) of something awesome. Find out some of the common reasons Mondays might get us down and how to combat the new-week woes so you can see Monday in a whole new light.

Why You Hate Monday… and Why You Don’t Need To:

1. You’re physically tired.

Whether you had a week of intense fitness workouts or exciting social adventures, the open schedule of a weekend can allow you to fit in tons of physical activity into a tiny timeframe. While this is what the weekend was made for, it can leave you feeling sore and insanely drained for the coming week.

How to deal: You can start preemptively by getting a solid eight hours of sleep on Sunday night. But if this still isn’t enough, you need to turn your focus to something else besides the aches and pains. An online resource for mental and physical health suggests turning your energy toward something creative to forget about your physical fatigue. So, listen to some fun music on the way to work, chat with coworkers about the weekend and try to get on the right mental track without over-exhausting your body. You should also try shirking off all the unnecessary morning rituals you would normally do to save energy. So skip the makeup, choose a comfy outfit and grab an energizing breakfast smoothie to get out the door with ease.

2. You’re emotionally tired.

Weekends seem to be the time when just about everything in your life happens. Needless to say, fights, make-ups, break-ups, and so much more can occur in those precious moments between Friday night and Monday morning. It’s important to keep a sour mood from affecting your work life.

How to deal: In order to keep the weekend emotions and drama from saturating your Monday morning, you’ll need to do a bit of mental cleanup. Look at Monday as a restart button. If things were a little hectic on your time off, change your focus to actually acing all your work duties. You should try turning your mind to something you can control such as doing errands, working out or eating healthy. Studies show certain foods can alter your mood and these include sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are present in salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies, flaxseed, seaweed and walnuts!

3. You’re sick (and tired).

A lot of things can happen over the weekend that can take a toll on your immune system and physical health. You may have caught something from a friend, stayed a bit too long at the bar, or maybe you even injured yourself with too many strenuous workouts. If you’ve fallen ill in some form or another over the weekend, you may wake up to a Monday-morning alarm feeling like complete crap.

How to deal: It’s going to be tough, but since you can’t call out with a case of the Mondays, try to treat your body right to help you overcome your sluggish, sickly feelings. Have some vitamin C to jumpstart your immune system (ice-cold orange juice… yes, please)! Consider some soup (or something equally as comforting) for lunch and make sure you’re staying hydrated throughout the day.

4. You’re stressed.

Since you can’t stay under the covers and hide, you might as well try and prepare yourself as best you can to keep from quoting Garfield’s Monday mantra. Whether you have finals, a huge work meeting, a million errands or anything else making you pray for a Monday-morning apocalypse, the sooner you learn what your main stressors are, the better you can manage them.

How to deal: Keep a stress journal where you can jot down all the things that make you pull your hair out on a Sunday night. Once you know the signs of your stress, you can better prepare to manage your stress. To avoid from turning to bad habits to deal with the stress, try practicing meditation on Monday morning before the week starts to center your thoughts. Practicing meditation and mindfulness for even just 10 minutes a day can help you lower your anxiety and stress levels while even reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease. Once you get your mind in the right place, you can fully face the week.

5. You’re off schedule.

The best thing about the weekend has to be that it’s around 50 hours of free time in which you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. You’ll be sleeping in, staying up late and doing whatever you want at any time in between. Monday undoubtedly represents the ripping away of this freedom and the return to morning alarms and long days.

How to deal: While you may not be able to alter your schedule due to the many responsibilities of life, you can jazz up your Monday with some fun things to start off the week in a positive way. Start your Monday with a relaxing stroll or long stretch, your favorite coffee drink, or your most favorite breakfast. Make sure to wear something you love and feel good in so you can take this Monday in stride.