8B

‘Blue Monday’
What is ‘Blue Monday’?
• Blue Monday is the name given to a day in January (typically
the third Monday of the month) said by a UK travel company,
to be the most depressing day of the year.

• The concept was first published in a 2005 press release from

the company, which claimed to have calculated the date using
an "equation". It takes into account weather conditions and
thus only applies to the Northern Hemisphere.
 The equation
The concept was originally
created in 2004 by psychologist
Cliff Arnall.

He came up with a “formula”

for the January blues after he
was asked to do so by travel
firm Sky Travel, who then used
the phrase in a press release to
promote their winter deals.
 So was it a PR stunt or is it really true?
• Can you remember how you felt on the 15th of
January (the third Monday of January)?

• Did you feel particularly low or notice any mood

changes?
Role Play
•What makes January so bad?
Mental health 'good and bad' days are individual to each of us

• It is pointless to try and identify what the most depressing day

of the year is because it would be different for each one of us.
As different as each person’s circumstances are. And it is also
important to distinguish between temporarily feeling down,
which we all relate to from time to time, and experiencing
depression or a mental health problem that can be quite
disabling for our day-to-day lives.

• This year, perhaps more than any other year in recent memory,
the need and importance for us all to look after our mental
health and support each other at this time, is clear and urgent.
We all have mental health
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxIDKZHW3-E
Reminder on how to look after yourself

• Using music to calm you or make you feel good

• Get enough sleep and rest
• Prioritise what makes you happy
• Eat well and make good choices
• Talk to people if you feel down
• Spend time with family and friends
Music
• Now to make everyone feel good today we’re going to play a song.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-pYB0Qw9A