Experts: Jan. 19, 2009 most depressing day of the year

If you were feeling blue yesterday, then you had plenty of company. The experts called Monday, January 19, 2009 as the most depressing day in history.

Psychologist Dr. Cliff Arnall developed a mathematical formula to calculate the most depressing day of the year. And this year his calculations showed Monday Jan. 10 to be the most depressing day of the year. Arnall calculates the data by using factors like weather conditions, debt level (the debt accumulated and the ability to pay the debt), Christmas credit card bills, job security, failing new year’s resolutions and house pricing collapse. All these factors contributed to the most depressing day; it usually falls on the third Monday of the year, according to Arnall. Based on these factors he arrived with the most depressing day of the year on January 19, 2009. The previous “most depressing day” or “Blue Monday” fell on Jan. 21 in 2008. This year many would have felt depressed due to the economic downturn, which is worse than the previous years. Dr. Arnall told Daily Mail:

'The credit crunch means today is potentially the most depressing Blue Monday we have had.'

This is the time of the year many workers call in sick and probably decide to stay in bed rather than go to work. According to an independent research by staff absence specialist FirstCare, nearly 22 percent of workers would have called in sick on Blue Monday. To overcome this day, Dr. Arnall suggests them to watch comedy films on DVDs, invite friends over for dinner or call someone that they hadn’t contacted for months. Another researcher, William Hartson, a psychologist at Cambridge University, has developed a mathematical formula for the most accident-prone day and this also falls on a Blue Monday.