--- title: Are Mondays Really That Bad? description: Bad stuff does consistently happen on Mondays. Stock market returns are lower, suicides are higher and more people call sexually transmitted disease hotlines: The so-called... canonical: https://time.com/42228/are-mondays-really-that-bad/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-31T04:01:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:53:53.928Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Are Mondays Really That Bad? og:description: Bad stuff does consistently happen on Mondays. Stock market returns are lower, suicides are higher and more people call sexually transmitted disease hotlines: The so-called... og:url: https://time.com/42228/are-mondays-really-that-bad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Are Mondays Really That Bad? twitter:description: Bad stuff does consistently happen on Mondays. Stock market returns are lower, suicides are higher and more people call sexually transmitted disease hotlines: The so-called... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Are Mondays Really That Bad? by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 31, 2014 4:01 AM UTC by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 31, 2014 4:01 AM UTC Bad stuff does consistently happen on Mondays. Stock market returns are lower, suicides are higher and more people call sexually transmitted disease hotlines: --- > “” --- **Source: “Just Another Manic Monday: Peaking Sexual Concerns After the Weekend” from Arch Sex Behav (2011) 40:1105–1106** Funny thing is, Mondays aren’t that bad in terms of our mood. In his bestselling book [Stumbling on Happiness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077427/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1400077427), Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert points to research showing we overestimate how unhappy Mondays make us: --- > “” --- And traffic isn’t worse on Mondays. [Tim Harford](http://timharford.com/2010/01/why-are-traffic-jams-so-bad-on-mondays/) does the research and shows it’s generally much lighter than Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: --- > “” --- So why do we still not like Mondays? Because we’re focused on how we _predict_ we’ll feel, not how we actually feel in the moment: --- > “” --- **Source: “(Tell me why) I don’t like Mondays: Does an overvaluation of future discretionary time underlie reported weekly mood cycles?” from “Cognition & Emotion”** **Join 45K+ readers.** Get a free weekly update via email [here](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD). Related posts: [What’s the secret to making your weekends more enjoyable?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/whats-the-secret-to-making-your-weekends-more) [7 tips to make the workweek easier](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/7-tips-to-make-the-workweek-easier) [Which is more likely to kill you: being admitted to the hospital on Sunday or Monday?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/which-is-more-likely-to-kill-you-being-admitt) _This piece originally appeared on_ [_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/42228/are-mondays-really-that-bad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/42228/are-mondays-really-that-bad/"},"headline":"Are Mondays Really That Bad?","datePublished":"2014-03-31T04:01:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:53:53.928Z","description":"Bad stuff does consistently happen on Mondays. 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