Anxious Mondays could be harming your heart health

Mondayitis is worse than we thought

Hate Mondays? You’re not alone. A new study has found that Mondayitis causes stress even during retirement.

It’s official, Mondayitis is real and not only is it a mood killer after a weekend, it can also impact your health. 

No one looks forward to the start of the work week following two days of sleep-ins, fun and relaxation.

Waking up to multiple jarring alarms, fighting for a seat on public transport, opening your laptop to far too many emails before sitting through more meetings than you’d like, Mondays aren’t exactly enticing.

But a new study has found that the start of the week affects way more than just our mood.

Scientists from the University of Hong Kong identified a spike in heart attacks on Mondays, which they said is unlikely to be coincidental. 

Their research, which was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, looked at the data of more than 3500 adults. 

While high cortisol readings aren’t inherently dangerous, chronically high levels can lead to health problems. Image: Pexels

Older people who feel stress and anxiety on Mondays were found to have close to a 25 per cent elevation in cortisol levels in their provided hair samples.

So compared to people who experience the most stress at other points of the week, those who suffer through Mondays had more cumulative stress over two months. 

While high cortisol readings aren’t inherently dangerous, chronically high levels can lead to health problems.

Mondays are also concerningly linked to a nearly 20 per cent spike in heart attacks. Image: iStock

Monday's stress doesn't stop with retirement

Even people who were retired showed signs of Monday anxiety, so it’s not just our jobs driving our start-of-week stress. 

Years after their last trek to the office, the Mondayitis still lingers.

Mondays are also concerningly linked to a nearly 20 per cent spike in heart attacks. 

Weekdays overall are unsurprisingly more stressful than weekends.

The researchers wrote, “the increase in (cardiovascular disease) events on Mondays is unlikely to be a random phenomenon,” so is it the stress of jolting yourself out of the haze of the weekend and back into regular scheduling, feeling the need to get on top of tasks for the week, or something else driving our full body aversion to the big day? 

The specific cause for Monday’s stress having such a big effect on our health is still unclear, but the scientists believe it’s so ingrained in us that it’s hard to shake even when we’re living it up during retirement.

Why are Mondays so stressful?

Weekdays overall are unsurprisingly more stressful than weekends, with other studies highlighting higher levels of the stress hormone Monday through Friday. But in the first to prove that Mondays truly are the worst, the scientists linked our heightened stress levels at the beginning of the week with a dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

This isn’t about work – it’s about how deeply ingrained Mondays are in our stress physiology, even after careers end. Image: iStock

The HPA axis regulates our stress levels, including cortisol, and prolonged elevation is linked to hypertension, immune system issues and insulin resistance.

The team said, “The anxious Monday association with HPA-axis dysregulation measured subsequently was evident among both working and nonworking older adults, with no reduction in the association among those not at work”.

Author Tarani Chandola added, “For some older adults, the week’s transition triggers a biological cascade that lingers for months. This isn’t about work – it’s about how deeply ingrained Mondays are in our stress physiology, even after careers end,” as per The Independent.

Originally published as Anxious Mondays could be harming your heart health