Stop Monday From Ruining Your Sunday

Do you have any of the following symptoms? Sense of dread during brunch. Cold sweats at kids’ birthday parties and soccer games? Feeling that the weekend wasn’t long enough? Temptation to call in sick?

What causes the Smondays*? We all love our jobs, of course. Still, you’ve probably felt anxiety creep up out of nowhere during the waning hours of the weekend. That all-consuming Sunday fog—unavoidably and forevermore known as the Smondays—is actual fear, says neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. “We love the freedom of the weekend,” he says. “What’s happening in your brain is that a structure called the amygdala, the seat of fear, gets fired up and releases stress hormones” in anticipation of that freedom disappearing. Clinical psychologist Kevin Chapman, who specializes in treating phobias and panic, says the physical symptoms of this anxiety can include everything from restlessness, sweating, muscle tension, and headaches to sleep disturbances, a racing heartbeat, and stomach distress.