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Sunday scaries: why Sunday evening feels like that, and what helps

· 7 min read

Sunday afternoon is fine. Then, somewhere around dinner, Monday shows up: the inbox, the meeting, the thing you didn't finish on Friday. Your chest tightens and the evening is gone. Here's why the Sunday scaries happen, what your head and body are doing, and a ten-minute routine that gets Monday out of your Sunday.

What the Sunday scaries are

The Sunday scaries are the dread that creeps in late on Sunday, when the weekend is ending and the work or study week comes into view. You're in good company. In a 2018 Harris Poll for LinkedIn, 80% of 1,017 US workers said they get them, more than one in three every week, and over 90% of Millennials and Gen Z[1]. Asked what sets them off, people named their workload (60%), juggling work and personal to-dos (44%) and the tasks they didn't finish the week before (39%)[1].

A larger survey puts it more soberly. Of US adults who work or study, 29% get the Sunday scaries every week or most weeks, and 39% of Gen Z, in a YouGov poll of more than 30,000 people weighted to match the population[2].

It's an evening thing. Across 340,000 Americans, mood on Sundays was as good on average as on Saturdays[3]. The dip comes late in the day, and not everyone gets it. If you do, nothing is wrong with you. Your head is just starting the week early.

Why Monday shows up on Sunday

Seeing it coming costs you twice. In a study that checked in with 175 adults five times a day, people felt worse once they started expecting a stressful event, especially on days full of intrusive thoughts. The stressful event itself wasn't any easier for having seen it coming[4]. The anticipation just added hours of feeling bad beforehand.

Monday itself isn't easier for seeing it coming. The hours before it are added on top.

Worry keeps the stress going. Worrying and going over things again and again keep your body's stress response running, before a stressful event as well as after it[5]. On a Sunday evening there's nothing to do about Monday yet, so the loop just runs.

You stop switching off. Recovering from work depends on what researchers call psychological detachment: not doing or thinking about work in your free time. A heavy workload makes that harder[6]. By Sunday evening, your mind often clocks back in before you do.

Friday follows you home. In a 12-week diary study with 59 employees, more unfinished tasks at the end of the week meant more rumination over the weekend and worse sleep[7]. It matches what the LinkedIn survey heard: last week's open tasks are one of the top triggers.

Your body is planning Monday too

The weekend shifts your clock. Many people, night owls most of all, sleep much later on free days than on workdays. Researchers call the gap social jetlag, and a big gap goes hand in hand with feeling worse[8]. In a small sleep-lab study, sleeping in on the weekend pushed the body clock later and left people sleepier in the week that followed[9]. That's part of why Sunday night sleep can come late and Monday's alarm feels brutal.

Monday morning starts in your hormones. The rise of the stress hormone cortisol after waking up is bigger on workdays than on weekends[10], and more so in people who feel overloaded and worry a lot[11]. That rise is your body gearing up for the day, not a fault. But it shows how much of Monday your body carries in advance.

What helps

Write Monday down. In a sleep-lab study, 57 young adults spent five minutes before bed writing either a to-do list for the next few days or a list of what they had already done. The to-do group fell asleep about nine minutes faster, and the more specific their lists, the faster they fell asleep[12]. The likely reason: unfinished goals keep popping into your head until there's a plan for them. In lab experiments, making a specific plan was enough to stop the intrusions, without doing the task[13]. Even better, close the loops on Friday afternoon, before they follow you into the weekend[7].

A specific plan gives each loose end a place to wait, so it stops popping up.

Give the worry a time slot. When Monday pops up at four in the afternoon, park it: “Monday, 9:15, at my desk.” In a small trial with people who worry a lot, a fixed daily worry period reduced worrying[14]. A large online version didn't work for most people, who found postponing hard[15]. So treat it as something to try, not a sure thing.

Move, ideally outside. A single workout takes the edge off in-the-moment anxiety, a little: that's the honest summary of 36 randomised trials[16]. Being outdoors may add something. In a Stanford study, a 90-minute walk in nature reduced rumination, while the same walk along a busy road didn't[17]. A Sunday afternoon walk in the park is a good use of the weekend's last daylight.

Keep Sunday's wake-up time close to Monday's. A long Sunday lie-in moves your clock later right before the alarm goes off[9]. An hour of extra sleep is fine. The bigger the gap, the harder Monday morning gets.

Breathe out longer than you breathe in. In a month-long Stanford study, five minutes a day of cyclic sighing (a double breath in through the nose, then a long, slow breath out) lifted mood more than the same time spent meditating[18].

Two breaths in through the nose, then one long breath out. The breath out is the long part.

Give your hands something better than the inbox. There's no study on fidgeting and the Sunday scaries. What people do say is that keeping their hands busy with a fidget object helps them calm down and focus[19]. Sunday evening's classic move, checking work email “just quickly”, does the opposite: it ends the weekend early. A few minutes with your hands busy and your eyes off the inbox is the better swap.

A ten-minute Sunday-evening routine

Around 6 pm, before the dread has a chance to settle in:

  1. Write Monday down (5 minutes). Every task for the next two days, as specific as you can: “send Sara the budget draft”, not “budget”. Put the first one at the top[12].
  2. Park the rest. Anything still circling gets a time and a place: “Monday, 9:15”[13].
  3. Five long breaths out. Double inhale through the nose, long exhale through the mouth[18].
  4. Two minutes for your hands. A fidget, a pen, a world on SoundFidget. Not the inbox, not the feed. What to do instead of doomscrolling explains why that swap helps.
  5. Plan one good thing for Monday. Coffee somewhere nice, a walk at lunch, a call with a friend. Small, concrete and in the calendar, so Monday has something in it you look forward to.
  6. Set the alarm, then put the phone down. The list is done. Monday can wait until Monday.

When it's more than Sunday

If the dread isn't only on Sunday evening but most days, and it comes with exhaustion, a growing distance from your job and the sense that you can't get anything done, that's the pattern the World Health Organization describes as burnout: chronic workplace stress that hasn't been successfully managed[20]. It's not a personal failing, and it's worth talking about with your doctor, a counsellor, your employee assistance programme or someone you trust. SoundFidget is a tool for a Sunday evening, not a treatment.

Where SoundFidget fits

SoundFidget is made for the moment after the list is written and before the evening slips into the inbox. Put your thumb on the screen and sound, haptics and light answer your hand. Slow down and the world slows with you. Stay as long as you like and feel the edge come off. On the sofa, with headphones and a slow world like Deep Blue Whale, it becomes the evening version: SoundFidget for the eveninghas more ideas. It won't do your Monday for you, but it gives your hands something better to do than refreshing your email. The science page shows the research behind each part.

References

  1. LinkedIn, The Harris Poll (2018). Your Guide to Winning @Work: Decoding the Sunday Scaries. LinkedIn Official Blog, 28 September 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/blog/member/career/your-guide-to-winning-work-decoding-the-sunday-scariesOnline survey, n=1,017 employed US adults
  2. Ballard J (2021). Struck by the Sunday scaries? You're not alone. YouGov America, 13 August 2021. https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/37488-sunday-scaries-poll-dataSurvey, n=30,431 US adults, weighted to be representative
  3. Stone AA, Schneider S, Harter JK (2012). Day-of-week mood patterns in the United States: On the existence of 'Blue Monday', 'Thank God it's Friday' and weekend effects. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(4), 306–314. doi:10.1080/17439760.2012.691980National survey, n=340,000
  4. Neubauer AB, Smyth JM, Sliwinski MJ (2018). When you see it coming: Stressor anticipation modulates stress effects on negative affect. Emotion, 18(3), 342–354. doi:10.1037/emo0000381Smartphone diary study, n=175 adults
  5. Brosschot JF, Gerin W, Thayer JF (2006). The perseverative cognition hypothesis: A review of worry, prolonged stress-related physiological activation, and health. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60(2), 113–124. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.06.074Theory and review
  6. Sonnentag S, Fritz C (2015). Recovery from job stress: The stressor-detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S72–S103. doi:10.1002/job.1924Review
  7. Syrek CJ, Weigelt O, Peifer C, Antoni CH (2017). Zeigarnik's sleepless nights: How unfinished tasks at the end of the week impair employee sleep on the weekend through rumination. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(2), 225–238. doi:10.1037/ocp000003112-week diary study, n=59 employees
  8. Wittmann M, Dinich J, Merrow M, Roenneberg T (2006). Social jetlag: Misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiology International, 23(1–2), 497–509. doi:10.1080/07420520500545979Questionnaire study, n=501
  9. Taylor A, Wright HR, Lack LC (2008). Sleeping-in on the weekend delays circadian phase and increases sleepiness the following week. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 6(3), 172–179. doi:10.1111/j.1479-8425.2008.00356.xSmall sleep-lab study
  10. Kunz-Ebrecht SR, Kirschbaum C, Marmot M, Steptoe A (2004). Differences in cortisol awakening response on work days and weekends in women and men from the Whitehall II cohort. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29(4), 516–528. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(03)00072-6Cohort study, n=196
  11. Schlotz W, Hellhammer J, Schulz P, Stone AA (2004). Perceived work overload and chronic worrying predict weekend–weekday differences in the cortisol awakening response. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66(2), 207–214. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000116715.78238.56Six-day saliva study, n=219
  12. Scullin MK, Krueger ML, Ballard HK, Pruett N, Bliwise DL (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139–146. doi:10.1037/xge0000374Randomised sleep-lab study, n=57
  13. Masicampo EJ, Baumeister RF (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667–683. doi:10.1037/a0024192Five lab experiments
  14. McGowan SK, Behar E (2013). A preliminary investigation of stimulus control training for worry: Effects on anxiety and insomnia. Behavior Modification, 37(1), 90–112. doi:10.1177/0145445512455661Randomised trial, n=53
  15. Versluis A, Verkuil B, Brosschot JF (2016). Reducing worry and subjective health complaints: A randomized trial of an internet-delivered worry postponement intervention. British Journal of Health Psychology, 21(2), 318–335. doi:10.1111/bjhp.12170Randomised online trial, 361 completers
  16. Ensari I, Greenlee TA, Motl RW, Petruzzello SJ (2015). Meta-analysis of acute exercise effects on state anxiety: An update of randomized controlled trials over the past 25 years. Depression and Anxiety, 32(8), 624–634. doi:10.1002/da.22370Meta-analysis, 36 randomised trials
  17. Bratman GN, Hamilton JP, Hahn KS, Daily GC, Gross JJ (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. PNAS, 112(28), 8567–8572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1510459112Randomised experiment, n=38
  18. Balban MY, et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), 100895. doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895Randomised trial, n=108
  19. Karlesky M, Isbister K (2016). Understanding Fidget Widgets: Exploring the Design Space of Embodied Self-Regulation. Proceedings of the 9th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordiCHI '16). doi:10.1145/2971485.2971557Design research
  20. World Health Organization (2019). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. WHO news release, 28 May 2019. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseasesDefinition

This guide is for everyday stress and isn't medical advice. If stress or panic is with you most days, or you feel unsafe, please talk to a doctor or a mental health professional.