Lifestyle Zone

Lifestyle Zone. Monday morning blues are a figment of the imagination, according to new research that reveals we are just as happy at the start of the week as at the end. Studies by University of Sydney psychologists have found that with foresight and hindsight people dread Monday mornings the most and love Friday evenings more than any other time.

But a closer look at daily mood shows there is actually very little variation in our happiness levels over a week.

"We found that the Monday morning blues and Thank God It's Friday are largely inaccurate theories of how moods vary when they actually don't," said lead researcher Professor Charles Areni.

"Mondays are not actually blue at all, but we persist in the belief that they are."

The research team collected mood information from hundreds of Sydneysiders, asking them for their worst and best morning and evening of the week.

Another study tracked their actual mood day by day, with the results compared in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

"As it turned out, the real low point of the week we found was Wednesday, not Monday, and that mood change was only slight," Prof Areni said.

He said the day-of-the-week stereotypes stemmed from a cultural belief that people were generally happier when they were free to choose their activities compared to when they were sitting at a desk.

"Monday morning is remembered and predicted to be the worst part of the week because it is the first work day after two days of free time, and because four work days follow before the next period of free time," he said.

"Likewise, Friday evening is the best part of the week because it marks the beginning of an extended period of free time."

He said the finding was linked to a growing body of research that said humans may overvalue choice.

"The freedom to choose is a foundation of Western ideology. We value it hugely and the idea of it being taken away, as it is at work, is terrible," Prof Areni said.

"But in reality it's not so bad, so maybe choice is not all it's cracked up to be."

Professor Bill von Hippel, a social psychologist at the University of Queensland, said the findings supported other research showing humans were very poor at predicting or reflecting on mood.

"It makes perfect sense to be excited about the concept of Friday night and to think Monday mornings are awful," Prof von Hippel siad.

"But the truth is when these times roll around there's so many other things happening our lives that these predicted ups and downs tend to even out."