When is Blue Monday and what does it mean?

• How did Blue Monday originate?
• When is it and what does it mean?
• Is Blue Monday backed by science?

Blue Monday is a phenomenon that floods social media and it began almost two decades ago. But do you know when Blue Monday takes place or what it means? We will explain why everyone is talking about it on social networks like Twitter or TikTok.

Blue Monday started as part of an advertising campaign, however the term took hold on its own and now people are talking about it on social media. Whether or not it makes sense scientifically is up for debate.

What is Blue Monday?

Blue Monday, or Sad Monday, is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. What started almost twenty years ago has become a tradition. Blue Monday was created in 2005 thanks to the advertising campaign of a British company called Sky Travel.

The term was coined by psychologist Cliff Arnall, who was charged with creating an equation to determine the saddest day of the year. Sky Travel was hoping to come up with the perfect date to start planning for summer holidays and thus improve sales.

How was the day chosen?

Arnall’s equation apparently took into account the weather, end-of-year debts and other data as variables. The name Blue Monday refers to having «the blues».

The color blue is associated with sadness, so much so being sad is called «having the blues». In the northern hemisphere, days are usually shorter in the winter and the absence of light is sometimes gloomy.

When is Blue Monday?

Arnall’s equation determined that the third Monday of January is the saddest day of the year, so he called it Blue Monday. However, members of the scientific community have disagreed with how he came to this day.

«To say that a specific day is the saddest of the year is somewhat risky, since people’s moods are not made up of unique and mathematical events,» explained Rubén Ángel Sillas, a psychology specialist at Tec Monterrey to CONECTA.

Does Blue Monday really exist?

According to the UNAM Foundation, Hugo Sánchez, an academic from the Faculty of Psychology, explained why people tend to feel sad on Blue Monday. It turns out that once the holiday season is over, many people take the month of January for evaluation and self-criticism, as well as reflection or even melancholy.

However, he points out these January doldrums are not necessary a pathological situation. On Twitter, the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM points out that this day is really just a marketing gimmick. Do you think you are affected by this day?