Strategies such as protecting Sundays with intentional plans, setting work-life boundaries, and small routines like preparing clothes or lunches can help ease the dread.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s Sunday - weekend is slipping away, and instead of enjoying the last stretch of free time, a familiar knot begins to form. Thoughts of unanswered emails, back-to-back meetings, and an already overwhelming to-do list creep in, clouding the day.
That sense of dread you may have experienced has a name: the “Sunday Scaries”. While it may sound like a throwaway phrase, the science shows it's more widespread and serious than you might think.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), nearly 80 per cent of US adults say they have trouble falling asleep on Sundays compared to other nights. In Britain, a government survey found that 67 per cent of adults regularly experience Sunday anxiety before the workweek begins, rising to 74 per cent among 18-24-year-olds.
“Work stresses, lack of sleep and looming to-do lists” were the most common triggers, the AASN said.
And the consequences aren’t just psychological. A 2025 study of older adults found that Monday-specific anxiety led to 23 per cent higher cortisol levels - the body’s main stress hormone - sustained over two months. Left unchecked, this can worsen mental health, disturb sleep and even affect cardiovascular health.
Not just people who hate their jobs
"The Sunday Blues is quite an individual experience,” said Ilke Inceoglu, a professor of organisational behaviour and HR management at the University of Exeter Business School, who has been leading a project on the phenomenon.
“For some people, it’s just like a niggling feeling at the back of their mind on Sundays. But for others, it really has a big impact. They feel anxiety, dread, and they’re not available to engage in any activities with their friends or family on Sunday evenings. It can also affect their sleep," she told Euronews Health.
Her research challenges some of the assumptions we may have about Sunday anxiety. "It’s not just related to job satisfaction,” she said.
“Of course, if you do not like your job, yes, you don’t look forward to going back to work on Monday, so that is one group. But there’s also a group of people who really love their job and they’re passionate about it, and they still experience the Sunday Night Blues or Sunday Night Scaries".
Her team surveyed nearly 600 people and conducted in-depth interviews with 33 employees to understand the “Sunday Night Blues.” The findings found that 79 per cent of people reported that they currently experience the Sunday Night Blues or have experienced it in the past.
More specifically, 37.3 per cent said they were currently affected, while another 42 per cent had experienced it before. Interestingly, there were no major gender differences in prevalence, but younger people were much more likely to report Sunday night anxiety.
“We found that there was a relationship with age,” Inceoglu added.
“The older you are, the less likely you are to experience the Sunday Night Blues. It seems that once you have gone through different career stages, you just have sort of a different way of looking at work”.
The 'fresh hell' of Monday mornings
Dr Audrey Tang, a BPS Chartered Psychologist and author of The Leader’s Guide to Wellbeing, argues that the unease is often more about unpredictability than simply disliking work itself.
"While one might assume that it is a dread of work itself - I would suggest that it often relates to the unknown surrounding what may happen once back at the desk… rather than a slow start there is almost a feeling of hitting the ground running, and a concern with ‘what fresh hell will hit me today... and can I deal with it!?" she told Euronews Health.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of remote and hybrid work blurred the lines between workspace and relaxation space, worsening the problem.
“Unfortunately, we can become conditioned to feelings created within our environment,” Tang said. “So, for example, if working on the bed, you begin to associate that space with thinking, or anxiety about work… and then in that space trying to sleep, the same feelings can appear”.
Coping with the scaries
While some people may need professional help if Sunday anxiety is severe or persistent, both Inceoglu and Tang suggest practical ways to ease its impact.
Inceoglu recommends protecting Sundays by planning something.
“Sunday night could be a cinema night with friends. There’s a lot of evidence, for instance, that exercise, social interaction, hobbies - all these things are good for you and managing anxiety," she said.
Managers may also have a role to play.
“Managers can help by not sending emails over the weekend, or by rethinking Monday morning meetings. Some innovative organisations are asking: do we really need to have these first thing on Monday? Why not move them to Tuesday and give people time to ease into the week?”
Tang, meanwhile, stresses small, manageable changes.
“I would suggest physically separating work space from relaxation space - even closing the door to the home office, or covering or moving the laptop if working in the kitchen or bedroom when you are done”.
She added: “If you cannot affect the workplace tasks themselves, instead focus on what you can control - have your clothing set out for the week, or have your lunch prepared.
"For some, taking time to meditate or do some light exercise can be effective… for others it might be taking those mindful moments when we can - stopping to focus on what we are doing/being present when we are eating, or with family, or having a cup of tea - but this is an active choice we have to make before it can become a habit," she said.
When Sunday dread goes too far
For most, Sunday anxiety is an unpleasant but manageable part of working life. But for others, it can be severe enough to influence major decisions. A Resume.io survey of 1,000 Americans found that 20 per cent of Gen Z respondents had actually quit a job because of the Sunday Scaries, and nearly half said they had considered it.
That statistic may sound extreme, but it reflects how deeply anticipatory stress can shape our lives. For some, it points to an underlying dissatisfaction with work that needs addressing, for others, it is a sign of unrealistic expectations of themselves or unsustainable workloads.
Ultimately, the Sunday Scaries may never disappear entirely. But understanding them as more than just a “silly” or “cute” phrase - a mix of psychology, biology, and workplace culture - may be the first step in tackling them.
As Inceoglu puts it: “It could be a reflection that you’re not happy in your job, but it could also be a reflection that you have very high self-expectation about what you do at work. And it could also be an opportunity to think about reaching out to your manager and having a conversation about workload prioritisation”.
And maybe, just maybe, reclaiming our Sundays.
