Sunday Scaries Defined: How to Combat Monday Anxiety

The Sunday scaries (or Sunday blues) refer to feelings of anxiety that set in after Sunday morning when thinking about returning to school or work. As the anticipation of the week beginning builds, workers and students might feel a sense of impending dread about their free time coming to an end. Millennials especially report a high level of experiencing this phenomenon. Learning how to address these feelings is an important aspect of mental health care.

If you feel a routine sense of anxiety on Sunday afternoon or evening each weekend, you might not be sure as to why. Here are three of the most common reasons you might experience the Sunday scaries:

1. 1. High degrees of workplace stress: Anticipatory anxiety comes from an expectation that something bad is about to happen. If you work for a company or within an industry that creates high degrees of stress for employees, your anxiety about returning to work each week is understandable. In this case, the Sunday scaries are one way of your body telling you how much it hopes to avoid another week of burnout.
2. 2. Lack of fulfillment: Your case of the Sunday scaries might derive from feeling a lack of fulfillment at work. Just as too much stress at work can cause anxiety, so can too much boredom and disengagement. When you’re left with too much time on your hands or feel like your work has little value, there’s a chance you will develop feelings of sadness and anxiety about returning to a job you find unfulfilling.
3. 3. Unpleasant coworkers: Perhaps your sense of dread about the upcoming week comes from the fact your coworkers treat you unkindly. If you feel alienated, alone, or even mistreated at work, you might very reasonably feel a sense of dread about returning to your office from the relative safety of your home. In contrast, people who feel a genuine sense of community and camaraderie with their coworkers will likely feel less anxiety or disappointment about a new week starting.

Learning how to overcome the Sunday scaries is an important aspect of self-care. Keep these tips in mind as you strive to eliminate this weekly source of stress and maximize your sense of well-being:

• Ask why you’re anxious. As the Sunday evening stressors start to pile up, try to pinpoint what it is that’s stressing you out. Maybe you left too much undone at the office on Friday, so you’re worried about the game of catch-up you’ll have to play on Monday. Perhaps you feel like your entire work-life balance is out of whack. Identifying where your stress comes from specifically helps you learn how to cope with it more effectively.
• Consider exercising. If you have some free time on Sunday, try exercising in a way you find enjoyable to help address your feelings of anxiety. Physical health and wellness go hand in hand with mental stability, acuity, and calm. When you exercise, you help regulate your body’s stress response, thus giving you the upper hand in controlling the Sunday scaries.
• Practice mindfulness. The Sunday scaries—and all anxiety—come from the desire to fight future problems instead of resting comfortably in the present moment. Mindfulness meditation helps ground you in the here and now, enabling you to view your negative thoughts and anxious feelings without becoming too invested in them. Try a meditation app to guide you through the process if you’ve never done it before.
• Reevaluate your career path. When the Sunday scaries become a constant part of your weekly routine, they might be a sign you would be happier at a new job. Talk with loved ones about your innate passions or the talents you wish you could employ at work. Start journaling about what’s making you upset about your current place of employment. As you sort through this, you’ll start to better understand how you could find a greater degree of peace and fulfillment in your career.
• Reward yourself throughout the week. People treat their workdays and weekends very differently, but there’s no reason you can’t enjoy both equally. Find ways to make each day of the week as enjoyable as your weekend. Treat yourself to a cup of coffee or a conversation with a friendly coworker and seek out companies that allow for a good work-life balance.
• Talk with a mental health professional. If the Sunday scaries morph from an inconvenience into something debilitating, you might consider seeking professional help from a clinical psychologist. Cognitive behavioral therapy can give you the tools to live with an underlying anxiety disorder, supposing you receive such a clinical diagnosis from a professional.
• Try a wind-down routine. Treat your anxious feelings in the moment by finding a wind-down routine that works for you. Practicing relaxing yoga can help calm Sunday night anxiety, as can reading a book and drinking a cup of herbal tea. Meditation and breathing exercises can also help you calm down before bed and prepare for the week ahead.

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