Neuroscientist calls whole 'Blue Monday' equation 'rubbish'
Credit to Author: Denise Ryan| Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2020 01:13:02 +0000
If you’ve heard that the third Monday of January, known as “Blue Monday,” is the saddest day of the year, or that through some dark magic the date has power over your life or mood, don’t believe it.
Cardiff, Wales, neuroscientist Dean Burnett was forced to become a reluctant but tireless warrior fighting what he calls the “ludicrous” concept of Blue Monday after being quoted without context in an article about the day some years ago.
The idea of Blue Monday was first put forward in 2005 by a holiday company called Sky Travel, and uses an equation that factors in variables such as weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failure of new year’s resolutions and so on, and has become a popular hook for publicists promoting everything from retail to vacation therapies.
Burnett calls the equation, and the whole concept, “rubbish.”
“It’s not a thing,” said Burnett. “This nonsensical equation was made up by a travel company to encourage people to take more holidays this time of year, and they found an academic to put his name to it.”
Burnett, who has spent years working in psychiatry and has an extensive background in mental health, said: “There is no such thing as a 24-hour depression, like a flu. Mental health just doesn’t work that way and the idea that it does is actually quite harmful.”
Nonetheless, the idea gets a lot of traction through social media.
“It’s a work of genius: mid-January everyone is a bit bleak. If you are led to believe it’s the most depressing day of the year, it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy. Any other day you might not give any attention to the little negative things that happen, but, ‘Oh, it’s Blue Monday’ legitimizes focusing on it,” Burnett said.
He hopes to turn the day around and use it to promote mental health by encouraging people to support mental-health charities, as he is doing through a gofundme page.
“If we can associate it with a more genuinely positive thing, then we can help redirect it to something more positive. Mental health is an ongoing problem, not something that happens one day a year,” Burnett said.
Although the so-called saddest day of the year doesn’t exist, there may be very real reasons you may be feeling blue this time of year.
Myriam Juda, a researcher and adjunct professor in psychology at Simon Fraser University, also dismissed the Blue Monday formula, but said: “What is true is that often general depression increases in frequency and severity in the winder months and there is also seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression that starts in the fall and decreases in spring.”
The disorder, or SAD, is more prevalent the farther away we live from the equator.
“We don’t exactly understand it, but we have evidence for multiple hypothesis, including the shortening of the days and lack of light, which affects circadian rhythms,” she said.
Juda recommends the use of light therapy, even for those not suffering from depression or SAD.
“Light has a direct effect on mood. You want to increase light exposure during the day by getting outside for two hours a day, or cheat with a light box of 10,000 lux or more for 15 minutes each morning,” Juda said.
Laurie Campbell, CEO of Credit Canada, a non-profit group that helps Canadians cope with and reduce debt, also wants to use the debunked Blue Monday to bring attention to ways in which people can manage another seasonal stressor: Debt.
“The ‘saddest day of the year’ comes at the same time in January as the credit card statements and the realization the holidays are over,” said Campbell.
She advises people caught in the post-holiday debt trap that they’re not alone.
“Talk to friends and family about it,” said Campbell, “and if you find yourself struggling, try to get an unbiased opinion on ways in which you can better manage your money.”
Whatever you do, said Campbell, “don’t suffer in silence.”