Blue Monday? That's Today

Mondays have always made me blue, all that stress about the week ahead and what it may bring.  Rememer all the Monday songs?  "Monday, Monday," the Mamas and the Papas sang.  "Can't trust that day."  And if you don't, what about "Just Another Manic Monday, wish it was Sunday!"?

Don't remember either?  Well, you won't forget this. Apparently today is the bluest Monday of all.

That's because, "The first Monday after the holidays can be a depressing time for people coping with a post-holiday letdown and a type of depression triggered by short days," according to newswise.com.

Couple that with the brutal temperatures much of the country is experiencing and well, you just don't want to get out of bed.

“All these factors will have a cumulative effect,” the Web site quotes Loyola University Medical Center psychiatrist Dr. Angelos Halaris, who specializes in treating depression. “We could see an uptick in depression this coming week and for the rest of the month.”

For many people, newswise.com adds, the holidays are a time of too much eating and drinking, combined with family stresses and relationship issues. They begin the new year mentally and physically exhausted. (And I began the new year with a broken wrist!)

I find the start of new years to be very depressing.  No matter how bad the year before was (see: wrist), I hate giving up the old one.  Maybe I'm just afraid of change.

By about early February I've pretty much settled in and embracing the year, which, judging by other years, has redeemed itself.  This is a big year in our house.  We will have a teenager and he will go through the Jewish ceremony that makes him a man.

As a Christian (and an elder, deacon and Sunday school teacher), this is all very new for me.  At first I fought it because I wanted my child raised in my religion, but my husband won out and I've been charmed by the richness of the culture and what it has added to my life.

I also will hit a milestone in both my life and marriage,and though it's a big one, after a serious illness, I'm grateful that I am here to see it.

But back to Mondays.  Environmental stresses, such as brutally cold weather, can help trigger depression in people who already are vulnerable due to post-holiday blues or other factors, Halaris said.  And Mondays? they just add to it.

So, what to do?  Maybe a long, hot soak in the tub, or a back rub, or a night out with friends.  But bundle up!


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