Day 5 - The Science of Mondays

Mondays suck. If you listen to popular opinion about the matter, that is. There are hundreds of memes on the subject, and all of them both funny and lame. Here's a funny fact about Mondays. They always follow Sundays. Totally mind-blowing, isn't it?

Today, rather than regale this blog with the details of my day, etc, I'm going to discuss the science of why Mondays suck.

The first one is pretty straightforward:

Mondays suck because you have to go back to work!

Just about anyone that works a desk job has a Monday-Friday work week. Let's forget about retail, hospitality, etc. Mondays are sacred for those areas, because they are usually the first day off after a long weekend of work. I'm very grateful I don't deal with that anymore...

But for those that work Mon-Fri, the weekend is sacred. It's the only time you can get those things done you don't do during the week. Like shopping, hanging out with friends, or... vacuuming, mowing the lawns, laundry, cooking. ughhhh...

This is an accurate representation.

Weekends are the way you plan your week. You set something special for Saturday so you have something to look forward to.  Or weekends are a chore. One big, long chore. I'm pretty sure that the cycle of laundry is never ending. It is our doom.

I wish laundry would wash, dry and fold and iron itself... but it doesn't. Not yet, at least.

So Monday comes too quickly after the weekend chore. You're free for two days to do whatever you want! Not that most of us do. Weekends are for relaxing, but they never are relaxing. And by the time you have started to feel remotely relaxed, it's time for bed to start another 5 days of working.

Boooooo hoooooo....

This segues straight into the next point:

Mondays suck because you have to wake up.

I'm pretty certain this isn't just a me thing... Monday mornings are the hardest mornings to wake up. Over the course of the week, I tend to wake around 5-530 to get ready for work. On Saturday and Sunday, the plan is to sleep in til at least 7. But that never happens. Because by then, I'm so used to waking up at ungodly hours, that I do it all over again. By Sunday night, I'm exhausted. Go to bed. Wake up and struggle to stay awake. If I had a snooze button, I'd press it like 9 times before getting up. It has to be the hardest day to wake up.

So why is that?

I have a theory... Saturday and Sunday, you have all this stuff you want to get done. You wake up in anticipation, but then you never get the sleep your body really feels it needs. Then Sunday night comes, and you start thinking about all of the things you have to do at work that you've kind of let go over the weekend. That report is due, or that person needs to be called first thing, etc etc. And so you go to bed anxious. You are tired before you even complete your sleep. You toss and turn all night, waking up at ridiculous hours. And then it's like you didn't sleep at all. In essence, you probably still had at least 6 hours sleep, but 6 hours of interrupted sleep is still waaayyyy worse than 4 hours of uninterrupted.

However, the final and biggest (to me) of my points is:

Mondays suck because they are the start of a new healthier you.

You spend a weekend eating comfort food, drinking alcohol, or socialising (because heaven knows you can be healthy around other people!) under the pretense that Monday you start a clean slate. You will start your diet on Monday. You will work out on Monday.

Don't believe me? Check it out next Monday. How many people come into work on Monday with salads/ steamed veggies with chicken? Or go to a gym on a Monday morning or night. Now check out those same people on Friday. Are they still having their salad and veggies? Are they still at the gym?

If so, they're health freaks, and they are to be shunned. (Not an accurate representation of my beliefs!) Because every person knows that the weekend is when you can let your hair down. The gym and the food can always return on Monday.

But those that are just into the fad of Monday diets, Monday fitness, they're rarely very serious about it. They always say, "This is the last time," but then they dread Monday's coming, like it heralds the end of their freedom. And as long as people believe that way, they will never ever get fit and healthy.

I started my health and fitness on a Thursday. Just because it was the day I wanted to do it. But that's hardly the point. I cannot say at this point that I'm not in this same camp, as I have done this for a few months now. But I also know that I have it within myself to get to a stage of healthy living, because at one point, I maintained a healthy body weight of 54kg, was a healthy looking size 8, and had all of 22% body fat. So I know I can do it.

Let's leave Monday alone, though! It did nothing to us that we didn't do to it first! I don't have a love or hate of the day. I don't like it or dislike it any more than any other day. Because they're all days to improve myself. If I don't use the opportunity every day, it's no one's fault but my own.