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Why Do Wednesdays Feel Harder Than Mondays? · So That's Why

• 0:04
  Jen Oliver: Welcome to the So That's Why Podcast, where we unpack the
• 0:08
  science behind everyday questions.
• 0:10
  I'm Jen.
• 0:11
  Chris Smith: I'm Chris.
• 0:12
  Matt Edmundson: And I'm Matt.
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  Jen Oliver: Today we're tackling something that most of us
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  experience every single week.
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  Why do Wednesdays feel harder than Mondays?
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  You know that feeling when you wake up midweek and everything just feels
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  heavier than it did two days ago?
• 0:28
  Matt Edmundson: Yes.
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  The midweek slump is definitely real, especially in our
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  office, isn't it, Michelle?
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  And I've, uh, I, well, to be fair, I've had Wednesday mornings where
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  I've stood in front of the fridge.
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  For a full minute, forgotten why I opened it, closed it, and then immediately
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  opened it again hoping somehow that somewhere something would've changed.
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  Uh, but it doesn't.
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  So yeah, the lights on, but nobody's home on a Wednesday in my house.
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  Jen Oliver: And here's what's interesting, while we all love to complain about
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  Mondays, researchers found something surprising when they actually measured
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  how people feel across the week.
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  Chris Smith: They certainly did.
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  It was researchers at the University of Vermont who analyzed over 2
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  million internet blogs and Twitter posts scoring the emotional content
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  of words used throughout the week.
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  Wednesday consistently emerged as the day with the lowest happiness scores,
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  but Monday the day everyone supposedly dreads actually rank the second happiest
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  day of the week, just behind Friday.
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  And of course the weekends.
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  Matt Edmundson: So we've been blaming Monday this whole time, and
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  Wednesday was quietly being the worst.
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  Jen Oliver: That's what the data suggests.
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  So in this episode, we're gonna explore something a bit different though.
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  We'll look at what research actually exists about the midweek slum.
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  Be honest about where the science is limited and explore what might be
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  happening based on what we know about fatigue sleep, and how our brains work.
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  Chris Smith: And we could start with what we can actually measure here.
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  So the University of Vermont study I mentioned is robust.
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  It was 2.4 million posts that is a substantial data set, and the pattern was
• 2:04
  consistent, so people genuinely expressed more negative emotions on Wednesdays.
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  Jen Oliver: There's another fascinating study from the University of Lincoln
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  and they looked at how we cognitively process different days of the week.
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  So they found that almost 40% of participants confuse the current day
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  with the day before or after, and most of those mistakes clustered around
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  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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  Matt Edmundson: So people literally don't know what day
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  it is in the middle of the week.
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  Well, for me it's all week, but it a lot of people in the middle of the week.
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  Jen Oliver: Well, it's more than that because when researchers tested how
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  quickly people could correctly identify the current day participants could
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  say it was Monday or Friday, twice as fast as they could for Wednesday.
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  Chris Smith: Mm-hmm.
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  And uh, the explanation for this can come down to mental representation.
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  Monday has strong associations.
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  It's back to work.
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  It's hectic, but it also has that fresh start feeling Friday on the earth.
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  Hand triggers anticipation with the weekend approaching freedom, winding down.
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  But if you think Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, they all kind of blur
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  together into one indistinct block.
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  Your brain has fewer cognitive anchors for those middle days of the week,
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  Matt Edmundson: and that's interesting, isn't it?
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  Which it might explain why then.
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  Wednesday.
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  I genuinely have to think about what I did yesterday, but on Monday I can always
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  tell you what I had for dinner on Sunday.
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  Jen Oliver: Now here's where we need to be upfront.
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  When you search for research specifically about when, why Wednesday's hard, you
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  don't find a wealth of peer reviewed studies measuring cortisol levels on
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  Wednesdays versus Mondays, or brain scans, comparing midweek cognitive
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  function to the start of the week.
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  Chris Smith: No, that's right.
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  I mean, you can imagine clearing the budget just to do that study for
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  the, kind of, for the sake of it.
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  Yeah.
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  Um, but the Wednesday experience is clearly real.
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  The, the sentiment data proves that milLie ins of people feel it, but
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  the specific biological mechanisms haven't been extensively studied.
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  In a Wednesday context, what we can do is look at the science that tells
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  us about fatigue, about sleep, about cognitive load, and consider how.
• 4:08
  We might apply these things to the midweek pattern.
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  Matt Edmundson: So we're being honest then, uh, that the science is a bit thin
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  on the ground for this specific question.
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  Jen Oliver: Exactly.
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  So let's explore what might be happening based on what we do now.
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  Chris Smith: A big thing, a big factor is sleep debt that you'll
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  hear us talk about a lot on this podcast and it's well-researched.
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  Territory studies show that the average adult gets just over half an hour, less
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  sleep on weeknights compared to weekends.
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  That's a deficit that accumulates night, after night after night,
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  Jen Oliver: and the research on recovery is sober and it can
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  take up to four days to recover from just one hour of lost sleep.
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  So if you're slightly under sleep, Sunday through Tuesday
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  night by Wednesday morning.
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  You carry in the accumulated weight of several nights of inadequate risk.
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  Matt Edmundson: So even if, uh, each night is only slightly short, it's adding up
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  like, you know, a bit like an overdraft, I suppose, that no one's paying off, right?
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  Chris Smith: Yeah.
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  That's the reason way I look at it.
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  I, I suppose, um, and research shows that about well over 75% of people
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  with sleep debt take no measure to address it during the week.
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  Most of us simply kinda grinding through trying to get to the weekend.
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  Jen Oliver: And what's particularly relevant is that the weekend catch up
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  sleep doesn't fully reset the clock.
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  Studies suggest it can take up to nine days to completely eliminate
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  the accumulated sleep debt.
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  So even a good lion on a Saturday doesn't mean you start Monday fully recovered.
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  Chris Smith: I know we're always full of the Joys Spring, aren't we?
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  Yeah.
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  Lie ins look.
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  Lie ins are still good, aren't they?
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  Jen Oliver: Definitely.
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  Chris Smith: Um, decision fatigue is another well established
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  phenomenon that might contribute.
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  And so every choice you make from what to wear to how to respond
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  to an email, it draws from a limited pool of mental energy.
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  Jen Oliver: And research also shows that decision making quality
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  declines as we make more decisions.
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  So there was one study that found judges were significantly more likely
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  to grant parole early in the morning and right after lunch breaks when
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  their mental resources were fresh.
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  But by the end of the day when they were decision heavy, they'd
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  had decision heavy sessions.
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  They defaulted to the easier option of denial.
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  Matt Edmundson: Done, done, done.
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  So I guess by Wednesday then after two days of workplace decisions piling
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  up, I'm basically what you're telling me, Jen, is the equivalent of a tired
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  judge just saying no to everyone.
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  Jen Oliver: Yep.
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  Chris Smith: The problem is I'm now just picturing you as a grumpy
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  judge in your wig and robes.
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  Why
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  Matt Edmundson: grumpy anyway,
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  Chris Smith: if you look at it in terms of your brain.
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  The area that handles complex thinking and deliberation, it
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  doesn't have unlimited capacity.
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  So after sustained use, performance starts to drop.
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  Jen Oliver: And unlike physical fatigue, when you clearly, when you clearly
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  feel tired, mental fatigue is sneakier.
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  You might not realize your decision making is deteriorated.
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  You just feel like everything's a bit harder than it should be.
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  Matt Edmundson: So what about the psychological side?
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  Is there something.
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  About Wednesdays that feels different from Thursdays, even
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  though they're both midweek.
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  What's going on there?
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  Jen Oliver: So this is where the concept of temporal distance comes in.
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  So Wednesday sits at the maximum distance from both weekends, looking backward.
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  The previous weekend has completely faded, but then looking forward the
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  next weekend still feels so far away.
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  Chris Smith: That's exactly it.
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  So on Monday, research suggests people are still mentally connected
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  to the weekend that just passed.
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  That positive residue hasn't completely worn off.
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  And by Thursday there's a little bit of anticipation building that the
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  weekend is close enough to feel real,
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  Matt Edmundson: but Wednesday is stuck Then in.
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  No man's land, I guess, isn't there where, where there's no imminent
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  relief to look forward to and no sort of recent rest to draw on.
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  Jen Oliver: Yeah, and it's been coined, you know, it's been given the term hump
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  day and this captures it perfectly.
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  So Wednesday is like the peak of the weekly hill you've climbed for two days
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  and you can see what you've, that you've got two more days of descent ahead,
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  but you're standing at the summit with the longest view in both directions.
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  Chris Smith: that's exactly it.
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  And, but whether this psychological positioning directly affects our
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  biology is harder to say, but it certainly seems likely that feeling
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  trapped at the furthest point from rest could compound other fatigue effects.
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  Matt Edmundson: Okay, so pulling this together, we have solid evidence
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  that people feel worse on Wednesdays, and we have plausible mechanisms
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  from sleep and fatigue research, but we're connecting dots rather than
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  citing Wednesday specific studies.
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  Right.
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  Chris Smith: Yeah, I think that's a fair summary.
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  So the lived experience is validated by data.
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  The, the mechanisms are an educated inference based on
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  well-established research about fatigue, sleep debt, cognitive load,
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  Jen Oliver: and I think that's actually more useful than overstating the case.
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  So when you understand that accumulated sleep debt is a real phenomenon
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  and decision fatigue is a real phenomenon, and psychological distance
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  from rest is a real phenomenon.
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  You don't need a specific Wednesday study to understand why midweek
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  might be when all of these converge.
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  Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's like a culmination of factors that happens
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  to land on Wednesday, isn't it?
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  Because it's just where it sits in our weekly structure.
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  Chris Smith: Exactly.
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  Wednesday is just usually the point where that accumulated weekly strain
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  peaks before recovery comes into view.
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  Jen Oliver: Okay, so what might help based on what we know,
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  Chris Smith: so if sleep debt accumulation is part of the picture, which it usually
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  is, then consistent sleep across the week matters more than weekend catchups.
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  The research is clear that regular sleep pattern servers better than a run
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  of low sleep and then trying to have a line at the weekend to compensate,
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  Matt Edmundson: which is to be fair.
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  Easier said than done, isn't it?
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  That's.
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  Especially when there's one more episode of something calling to you
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  at 10 o'clock on the Tuesday night.
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  Jen Oliver: Yeah, and decision fatigue research suggests that reducing cognitive
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  load on high strain days could help too.
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  But if Wednesday is your low point.
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  That might not be the day to tackle your most complex decisions.
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  Chris Smith: No, E. Exactly right.
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  And some people find that front loading, demanding work earlier in the week when
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  your resources are fresher and saving more routine tasks for midweek works
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  better with their natural patterns than trying to work against them.
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  Matt Edmundson: So Wednesday becomes a day for ticking off the simple stuff
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  rather than reinventing the wheel then.
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  Jen Oliver: Well, it's worth experimenting with and building in small things to
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  look forward to midweek might help.
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  With that temporal distance problem, something that breaks up the long stretch
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  between weekends and certainly bringing chocolate into the office helps as well.
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  Matt Edmundson: Mental notes.
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  Chris Smith: Hint, hint.
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  Um, one of the things I find interesting about this whole topic is how our
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  weekly structure creates its own biological and psychological pressures.
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  So the seven day week with five days of work and two days of rest.
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  It's no kind of natural law.
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  It's something we've constructed and our bodies are basically
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  trying to cope with it,
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  Jen Oliver: and our bodies and minds respond to that structured
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  in a, in patented ways, whether or not we have a complete scientific
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  picture of why Wednesdays feel hard.
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  The pattern is really enough that milLie ins of people experience it.
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  Matt Edmundson: Yeah, and it's validating to know it's not just me struggling.
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  Uh, to remember my own name by Wednesday afternoon as well.
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  I'm not gonna lie.
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  Chris Smith: No.
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  And the study data I referred to proves you're in good company.
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  Um, and understanding the likely mechanisms, even without
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  definitive Wednesday research.
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  It gives you something concrete to work with.
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  Jen Oliver: Sometimes the most useful thing is simply knowing
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  that an experience is normal and shared and you're not feeling.
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  You are responding to accumulated pressures in a completely predictable way.
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  Matt Edmundson: So why do Wednesdays feel harder than Mondays?
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  Chris Smith: So Wednesdays sit at the point of the week where accumulated sleep,
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  debt decision fatigue, and psychological distance from rest all converged together.
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  Matt Edmundson: So it's probably not that.
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  Wednesday has magical properties that make it terrible.
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  It's that our weekly patterns create a natural low point, and
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  Wednesday is where it lands.
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  Jen Oliver: So that's why Wednesdays feel harder than Mondays.
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  The experience is validated by data.
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  Even if the SI complete scientific picture is still emerging, you're
• 12:15
  not imagining it and you're certainly not alone in feeling it
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  Chris Smith: no.
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  And understanding the likely factors gives you the opportunity to
• 12:22
  experiment with what helps, doesn't it?
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  So whether that's protecting your sleep, adjusting when you tackle demanding
• 12:29
  work, or simply being kind to yourself on those days when everything feels heavier.
• 12:33
  Jen Oliver: That's it for this week.
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  Make sure you hit that subscribe button.
• 12:36
  We're unpacking the science behind everyday questions each week.
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  Tell us in the comments what you'd like us to explore.
• 12:43
  Thanks for geeking out with us, but for now, that's it from me.
• 12:47
  Matt Edmundson: That's it from me,
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  Chris Smith: and that's it from me.
• 12:49
  Jen Oliver: Bye for now.