Sunday afternoon can feel calm one minute and heavy the next. As Monday gets closer, some people notice sadness, irritability, poor sleep, or a mind that suddenly starts rehearsing every deadline waiting at work.
That reaction is often called the “Sunday scaries” or “Sunday afternoon depression.” Spanish psychologist and criminologist Ismael Dorado, a board member of the Spanish Society for the Study of Anxiety and Stress, says its intensity may reveal more than a dislike of Mondays.
People who feel valued at work usually face Sunday differently from those returning to a hostile environment.
What Sunday anxiety really is
The feeling often begins with anticipatory anxiety, which means stress about something that has not happened yet. Instead of using the last hours of the weekend to recover, a person mentally jumps ahead to meetings, traffic, unfinished tasks, or a difficult manager.
“If we turn Sunday into a space for rumination, we arrive on Monday exhausted before we even start,” Dorado said, in a translation from Spanish. “Rumination” is repetitive thinking that circles around the same worries without producing a useful plan.
This can become a self-fulfilling loop. Worry makes it harder to relax or sleep, and that lost rest can make Monday feel every bit as difficult as expected.
A bad job can follow you home
Pay matters, but Dorado argues that it is only one part of job satisfaction. Leadership, workload, team climate, respect, and the way a company organizes work can all change whether Monday feels manageable or threatening.
The World Health Organization lists excessive workloads, low job control, job insecurity, bullying, poor support, and authoritarian supervision among the workplace risks to mental health.
It estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy 12 billion working days and about $1 trillion in lost productivity every year.
In other words, a hostile workplace does not stay at the office door. It can show up at the dinner table, on a restless night, or in that sinking feeling that starts before the weekend is even over.
Psychologist Ismael Dorado says employees who feel respected and valued at work are less likely to experience the Sunday anxiety that often precedes the start of a new workweek.
Why Sunday night gets worse online
Work used to have clearer stopping points. Now an email, group chat, or notification can pull the office into the living room while someone is watching a movie, eating with family, or trying to sleep.
Researchers call the urge to respond quickly to work messages “workplace telepressure.” A study indexed by the National Library of Medicine found that this pressure can interfere with the recovery time workers need after the job is supposed to be finished.
Another study found that ongoing social stress at work was linked to less mental detachment on Sunday evening and poorer sleep. The phone may be small, but it can keep the whole workweek sitting in a person’s pocket.
Personality matters, but patterns matter more
Some people naturally anticipate threats or focus on what might go wrong. Dorado connects that tendency with neuroticism, a personality trait associated with stronger negative emotions and worry, but he also stresses that context matters.
A rough Sunday once in a while is not the same as a weekly pattern. The concern grows when the feeling repeatedly disrupts sleep, cancels plans, damages relationships, or creates intense distress about work.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists anxiety, sadness, irritability, low motivation, fatigue, poor concentration, and sleep trouble among common signs of work-related stress. When symptoms are severe, persistent, or hard to manage, speaking with a qualified mental health professional is a sensible next step.
How to reclaim the final hours
Dorado’s first suggestion is simple; do not treat Sunday as if it has already been lost to Monday.
A walk, a movie, a book, a park visit, or a quiet meal can give the day value of its own. The activity does not need to be ambitious, and staying home is not the problem if it feels restorative rather than like surrender.
Writing worries on paper can also create distance. List what is actually urgent, choose realistic priorities, and add one pleasant event to the coming week. Research led by Samuel Monfort found that anticipating something positive can support mood during stress recovery.
The solution is not only personal
Breathing exercises, planning, and stronger phone boundaries may help, but they cannot repair chronic understaffing, harassment, impossible workloads, or a manager who rules through fear. Telling workers to become more resilient while leaving those conditions untouched misses the larger problem.
Public health guidance recommends changing the source of workplace stress through better policies, more control over schedules, manager training, and action against bullying. At the end of the day, Sunday anxiety may be a personal feeling, but its cause can be organizational.
The full interview was published by La Vanguardia.
