Monday morning blues ruin Sunday night snooze

By Annie Waite, North American Editor of the Internal Comms Hub, Melcrum

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21 April 2008
Monday morning blues ruin Sunday night snooze
Thoughts of Monday work causes sleepless Sunday eves around the world.

A recent poll by recruitment company, Monster, found that the thought of the week ahead turns 51% of US workers and 53% of UK employees into insomniacs on Sunday nights.

The French sleep easy
Among European workers, the poll, which got 24,224 votes in total, found that French workers were the least affected by thoughts when hitting the pillow on a Sunday (29%), but 40% of their German neighbors reported having sleeping trouble every week as a result of work stress.

Italians and Belgians also take a more relaxed approach to the beginning of the week, 28% of both reporting that they never have problems winding down on a Sunday night.

How to successfully switch off
Whatever our nationality, we all feel stressed about work from time to time. And contrary to what some people say, Sunday night depression and the feeling of not wanting to go to work the next day don't neccessarily mean you need to find a new job!

As a debate last year on the Communicators' Network pointed out, regardless of how engaged we might be as employees, few of us go to work with a spring in our step every day.

So, here are 3 tips from Monster on how to ward off work stress when it does attack you – on any night of the week.

1. Focus on what goes well each day, rather than workplace problems. As you fall asleep, force yourself to review something good about the day.

2. Create a to-do list. Whether using an online resource or keeping tab of tasks in a spiral notebook, managing a to-do list can help you maximize your time and sleep better.

3. Take a vacation. If it's been a while since your last vacation, consider taking some time off to de-stress.

Have your say
How closely linked are engagement levels and sleepless Sunday nights, if at

Also, does your organization offer any Monday morning motivations? Breakfast? Coffee? Team huddles?

Share your thoughts on these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.

Got a news story? Let me know.

Comments

[Alex Manchester]

Not sure if he was reading the same article, but a friend told me a tip on this, saying if you want a weekend lie-in it should be on Saturday, and on Sundays you should get up early, do something energy-sapping like the gym, (or a usual day with the kids if you have them!) and then you're ready for a decent sleep and wake up on Monday morning ready to go.

In contrast: sleep in on Sunday morning, can't get to sleep Sunday night, stay awake fretting, wake up on Monday tired and bang - a bad start to the week is yours.