What Are the Sunday Scaries?

You made it to the end of the week! Friday night was a night well spent unwinding from a long work week—self-care and leisure time through and through. Saturday was a productive morning doing all the necessary adult tasks, getting that workout in, and then time with your social circle.

And then Sunday comes around. The morning felt easy as you sipped your cup of coffee and read the Sunday paper. By midday, however, you start to feel a little doom and gloom. Nothing specific happened; you had a great weekend. So what gives? That feeling is what is known as the Sunday Scaries.

What Are They?

The Sunday Scaries are the feeling of nervousness, anxiety, and worry that sets in at some point in the afternoon or evening on your Sunday. The anticipation of Monday looming creates this subconscious uneasiness that isn’t triggered by anything other than the fact that the weekend is ending.

It can also be characterized by unnecessary regret from the weekend passed. Questions related to your money expenditure, procrastination of responsibilities, or life choices can also create worry. The brain then becomes hyper-focused on all of the stressors of the week ahead. The fifty things on your to-do list. That work project with a deadline this week. A meeting with your boss. All things that don’t need to take up space in your head at max capacity on a Sunday evening.

What Causes Sunday Scaries?

Societal Causes

Coming off a fun-filled or relaxing weekend can trigger unwanted, negative feelings about the week ahead. Factors like politics, healthcare, and societal events are very tumultuous and polarized. Also, it’s 2023, and the world is still feeling the effects of covid all around. None of these things present a wave of calm for real-world, day-to-day happenings.

Generational Causes

It may be possible to say that the term Sunday Scaries can be coined as a millennial term. According to various studies, those that fall in the millennial age group (born between 1981 and 1996) are the highest anxiety sufferers. This is thanks to student loans, inflation, economic crises, the significant rise of social media and online platforms, and the hustle mentality. Each generation has its own specific problems, but millennials have found a new high score of overload. As high as 91% have reported feeling the Sunday Scaries. That’s just alarming.

Substance Causes

It is pretty common knowledge that alcohol can impact your mood and impair your brain’s functioning. But the brain also has a challenging time fighting off a hangover as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean the full bells and whistles, either. Just the dehydration and fatigue portion can impact your ability to regulate your mood. So those Friday happy hour drinks and/or Saturday night out can equal a Sunday filled with the Scaries.

Personality Causes

Just like no two people are exactly the same, no two people will have the Sunday Scaries in the same way nor for the same reasons. Your personality type can impact how and why you may be having these feelings arise. Maybe the “work hard, play hard” mentality went a little too far. Maybe your work-week self and your weekend self are out of balance. That FOMO feeling might have kicked in, and you overindulged. Or maybe you just feel too confined by the grind and feel like you are losing freedom. Any of these things can kick in the Sunday Scaries.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you fall into a large pool of people. You don’t need to spend a whole day where you should be relaxing, filled with anxiety for the week ahead. Solutions exist, and help is available. Reach out to us if you are ready to learn about the benefits of anxiety therapy or depression therapy.