London – Blue Monday, in modern mythology the most depressing day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, has British news websites screening videos of tropical beaches to cheer people up and remind them summer sunshine is less than six months away.
There is no scientific basis to the notion that the Monday of the last full week of January is as bad as it gets – but the concept has taken off since it was introduced as part of a travel agency’s 2005 publicity campaign.
“It’s thought we all feel a little low today with the perfect storm of post-Christmas blues, terrible weather, credit card bills and the failure of New Year’s resolutions,” London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper informed its readers.
It ran a live webcam of beaches in Thailand and Florida.
The day dawned after the coldest night of the winter and the Met Office promised worse to come, predicting that sleet and snow falling in the north would spread south.
“Up to 4C will be the highest anywhere in the UK today and tomorrow,” the forecaster said.
The Daily Mail urged readers to beat Blue Monday by listening to ’80s pop group Wham!, sharing a laugh and having sex.
“It might be too late to start the day in a good mood, but there’s one way to guarantee it finishes on a high,” the paper said. “When both men and women orgasm, oxytocin is released, which is the brain chemical that makes us experience feelings of happiness.”
Anti-depression outfit Action for Happiness offered tips on staying upbeat, saying “evidence-based ideas that can really make a difference” were available to all in its Ten Keys to Happier Living.
The lobby group said: “Although some people may be slightly more at risk of low mood in January, there’s no valid scientific evidence that any one day or week is the ‘most depressing of the year.’”
Sapa-dpa