76% of workers say they get the Sunday night blues, fretting about their working week instead of enjoying the last hours of their week.
Tips to avoid Sunday night blues:
- Leave your work emails to Monday. Don’t be tempted to quickly check them before you get into bed.
- Identify the triggers and evaluate what is causing your feelings of distress. Is it one particular aspect of the week that’s causing the most grief, or is it just a general concern over the workload ahead?
- Review your previous work accomplishments, mentally listing the highs and positives.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, Sundays tend to be the toughest nights for people to fall asleep. This is due to stress about the upcoming work week and also “social jetlag” if you have stayed up later, or slept in later than normal.
How to beat the Sunday night blues:
- Stick to the same bedtime on the weekends. It may interfere with some social plans, but your health will thank you for it.
- Try and not sleep in too late, upsetting your natural sleep cycle.
- Plan something fun for Sunday evenings. Many of us leave the ironing, food prep, homework and paperwork to Sunday night. No wonder we dread it!
- The Foundation also recommends you set the stage for sleep, doing exercise early in the day, dimming the lights when evening rolls around and cutting out caffeine and nicotine 4-6 hours before going to bed.
