{"id":1537,"date":"2023-01-05T07:54:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T07:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2023-01-05T17:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T17:20:50","slug":"work-home-heres-beat-blue-monday-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/work-home-heres-beat-blue-monday-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"How to beat the Blue Monday blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monday (January 16, 2023) is Blue Monday &#8211; said to be the most depressing day of the year. The reason it&#8217;s so glum? It&#8217;s the perfect storm of bad weather, post-Christmas debt levels, failing New Year&#8217;s resolutions, low motivation and distance from payday.<\/p>\n<p>Although we&#8217;re no longer threatened with lockdowns, soaring energy prices and the cost of living crisis could conspire to make this one of the toughest we&#8217;ve faced.<\/p>\n<p>If you work from home, your outlook can be even more gloomy as you&#8217;re stuck between the same four walls for the best part of every day, chasing invoices from work that you hoped would be paid before Christmas. If you&#8217;re suffering from work from home fatigue, our top tips to battle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/5-tips-to-beat-work-from-home-burnout\/\">work from home burnout<\/a> could come in handy.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some top tips to help you beat the Blue Monday blues.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>What is Blue Monday?<\/h2>\n<p>The first recorded Blue Monday conceived by a PR company and came on January 24, 2005, and it&#8217;s now become a rather dour annual event.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/1mPeCBnKFOU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s calculated using the following factors in a mathematical formula &#8211; albeit a not very scientific one:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Weather<\/li>\n<li>Debt level (specifically, the difference between debt and our ability to pay)<\/li>\n<li>Amount of time since Christmas<\/li>\n<li>Time since failing our new year\u2019s resolutions<\/li>\n<li>Low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take\u00a0charge of the situation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3378\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/blue-monday.jpg\" alt=\"blue-monday\" width=\"607\" height=\"334\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The idea of Blue Monday shouldn&#8217;t be taken too seriously as it has no foundation in scientific research, and feeling &#8216;depressed&#8217; shouldn&#8217;t be confused with depression &#8211; we can all have the blues from time-to-time and complain that we feel &#8216;depressed&#8217;, but actual depression is much more serious and genuinely debilitating.<\/p>\n<p>Mental health charity <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mind.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mind<\/a> said in a statement: \u201cHere at Mind, we think it\u2019s [Blue Monday] dangerously misleading. Those of us who live with depression know that those feelings aren\u2019t dictated by the date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplying that they are perpetuating the myth that depression is just \u2018feeling a bit down\u2019, something that doesn\u2019t need to be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you do feel like you could be suffering from depression, get in touch with Mind on 0330 123 3393 or text 86463.<\/p>\n<p>If, on the other hand, you feel like you&#8217;re suffering from the back-to-work blues, here are some steps you can take to make life a little easier&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Get out and about<\/h2>\n<p>When it&#8217;s dark, wet and generally miserable then the last thing you&#8217;ll feel like doing is going outside &#8211; but it could actually be the best thing for you.<\/p>\n<p>So if you&#8217;re feeling jaded, have a particularly heavy bout of writer&#8217;s block or cabin fever, then try and get some fresh air &#8211; no matter how cold &#8211; as it could be just what you need to clear your mind and get back on track.<\/p>\n<p>You could even pencil in a mid-morning and mid-afternoon stroll each day &#8211; just be sure to wrap up!<\/p>\n<p>Although lockdown rules mean we&#8217;re limited to how far we can travel, even just a walk around your local neighbourhood can give you a much-needed boost of fresh air and vitamin D.<\/p>\n<h2>Work outside<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2564\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/working-in-coffee-shop.jpg\" alt=\"working-in-coffee-shop\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>NOTE: This isn&#8217;t something you can currently do, given lockdown restrictions, but is worth keeping in mind for life after lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>While you&#8217;re outside, it might be worth your while getting some work done while you&#8217;re elsewhere &#8211; so while you&#8217;re out on your cabin fever-beating walks, as well as clearing your mind, it might even help you generate some ideas for your work.<\/p>\n<p>And a change of scenery might be just what you need so you could even grab your laptop and set up somewhere else, like a library or a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/coffee-shops-surround-sound-and-the-future-of-remote-working\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coffee shop<\/a> and try getting some work done there.<\/p>\n<h2>Do a night shift<\/h2>\n<p>If possible, it might be worth getting some work done at more unsociable hours and swapping some daytime shifts for some night hours &#8211; this means you can take a few hours to get out during the day and, hopefully, get an energizing dose of vitamin D.<\/p>\n<p>If this isn&#8217;t an option then it might be worthwhile getting a SAD (seasonal affect disorder) light to boost vitamin D levels and make sure you eat well, trying to include immune-system boosting citrus fruits, broccoli, garlic, ginger, spinach, natural yoghurt, almonds, turmeric and green tea.<\/p>\n<h2>Get some rest<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re feeling jaded then get some rest, don&#8217;t ignore what your body is telling you &#8211; but you don&#8217;t have to use the time to just lock yourself away and stay in bed (as tempting as this can be), instead use your well-earned R&amp;R time to catch up on some reading, films or whatever you like to do with your leisure time.<\/p>\n<p>For more tips, facts and figures, check out Blue Monday: Helping Your Staff Through the January Blues An infographic by the team at <a href=\"http:\/\/unum.co.uk\">Unum UK<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6044\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/blue-monday-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"791\" height=\"1905\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Got any more tips to stay productive during the winter months? Let us know&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/conference-call\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1777 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/conference-call-banner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"118\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday (January 16, 2023) is Blue Monday &#8211; said to be the most depressing day of the year. The reason it&#8217;s so glum? It&#8217;s the perfect storm of bad weather,<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/work-home-heres-beat-blue-monday-blues\/\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to beat the Blue Monday blues<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,27],"tags":[8,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7032,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/7032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.nl\/blog-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}