That sinking Sunday feeling? It might be more than ‘just a job thing’
After a wonderful weekend of food, friends and good times, suddenly it’s Sunday evening, and the feeling of freedom begins to wane. Sunday night anxiety, otherwise known as the ‘Sunday scaries’, is a form of creeping dread nearly all of us have experienced at some point.
A study led by the University of Exeter found that most employees experience energy dips on Sunday evenings. Meanwhile, a UK study by Roseland found “work-related worries (including burnout and aspects related to the ‘Sunday scaries’) were among the top ten scenarios keeping us awake at night.” It’s the same for our friends across the pond, too. A survey conducted by LinkedIn found 75% of Americans experience Sunday scaries – and that figure is still rising.
Knowing you’re a mere 12 to 24 hours away from a full inbox and back-to-back work meetings is enough to ruin anyone’s evening, but what do we really mean when we say we have the Sunday scaries? And why, according to the University of Exeter’s study, do we still experience this anxiety even when we like our jobs? We’re here, alongside a team of doctors, psychologists and experts, to help you banish the blues away.
Dissecting the Sunday scaries
The term Sunday scaries is bandied around social media and mainstream entertainment, but from a medical point of view, it’s deemed a form of anxiety. Practitioner and psychologist Dr Ravi Gill explains: “The Sunday scaries, or Sunday night anxiety, is a common experience rooted in a mix of psychological, emotional, and physiological factors.
“The Sunday scaries refer to the feelings of anxiety, dread, or unease that people often experience on Sunday evening, as the weekend winds down and the work (or school) week approaches.”
Dr Ravi Gill also summed up the key characteristics of this popular phrase:
- Feelings of worry or stress about the upcoming week
- Mental spiralling about to-do lists, deadlines, or responsibilities
- Physical symptoms like a racing heart, tension, or restlessness
- Mood dips, such as irritability, sadness, or feeling overwhelmed
While the term Sunday scaries is great for encapsulating that specific back-to-work feeling, it can be useful to work out what your triggers are. Claire Fitzsimmons, certified emotion coach and founder of the wellbeing company If Lost Start Here, says:
“To help with the Sunday scaries – something that can feel overwhelming – figure out which emotion you're really experiencing. Is it anxiety, is there something about boredom, is it frustration? Emotional granularity means naming the emotion, and that helps us to know what to do with it.”
To understand why you have Sunday night dread, you must understand its root cause. Are your Sunday scaries based around a specific person at work? Did they spring from an increasing workload? Or are you feeling generally down due to factors outside of work? Practising emotional granularity in our day-to-day lives will enable us to face our fears and feelings head-on.
Task: When you start to feel the tell-tale signs of dread, take yourself to a quiet room with a notepad. Close your eyes and focus on what is causing you to feel this way.
Write down everything that comes to mind – whether a person, object, place or emotion. Once you’ve recorded all your thoughts, read through and begin to make sense of them. Look for patterns, seeing if any have a common theme or link. This process will help you discover the root cause of your anxiety.
Interestingly, for some of us, the feeling of Sunday anxiety roots back to childhood. “Sunday night unease can echo childhood anxieties, the end of play, and the return to the structured school week,” physician Dr. Naheed Ali explains.
“Recognising this history invites self‑compassion. If these steps do not ease the tension, consider speaking with a mental health professional who can tailor support to your needs.”
For those who are suffering from persistent, severe anxiety, you’re likely experiencing anticipatory anxiety. According to Anxiety UK, anticipatory anxiety is “where a person experiences increased levels of anxiety by thinking about an event or situation in the future”.
Anticipatory anxiety is a symptom of many common anxiety disorders and is a condition that needs to be taken seriously. When unchecked, it can cause those with the disorder to catastrophise and lead to insomnia, panic attacks and severe mental distress. If this is something you are struggling with, contact your GP or seek the help of a licensed professional.
Beating the Sunday scaries: treating the cause
Once you’ve narrowed down the main cause of your Sunday blues, the practical process can begin!
For many of us, our anxiety is triggered by one of three causes: specific work-related worries, general anxiety (an inability to stay present and wider lifestyle factors) and deeper job dissatisfaction.
A focused cause: Specific issues
If you’ve identified a specific person, project or task as the cause of your Sunday fear, talking to someone at work about your situation is key. While talking to friends and family can be a great way of momentarily easing stress, talking to someone who can practically help you tackle the issue is the key to having a less anxious weekend.
Claire Crompton, Commercial Director at TAL Agency agrees: “It’s important to consider whether you have always felt so anxious as the weekend closes, or whether this is intensified by your current role. If it’s exclusively in your current working environment, it would be a good idea to combat this with a transparent conversation with your manager or HR department.”
Whether it’s a small worry like completing a weekly task or a bigger issue, such as a colleague making you feel anxious or uncomfortable, talking to your HR department or your manager will ease your mind.
We’re not suggesting you ring your manager every Sunday evening to talk about your workload. The key is to identify, understand and share your stress or potential stressors by the end of your working week. Psychologist Dr George Sik suggests doing this by “swapping your Monday morning team check-in for a Friday afternoon check-out”.
“A Friday afternoon ‘check-out’ meeting is an opportunity to wrap up the week and set priorities for the next. It allows employees to take stock of their workload, update their manager or team on ongoing projects, and ensure everyone’s on the same page about what’s coming up,” Dr Sik explains.
This isn’t a boardroom-style meeting with someone taking minutes. Instead, the tone should be informal and collaborative; it’s a chance to briefly catch up, realign tasks, and round off the week together.
With Friday being the most popular remote-working day, these check-outs can also be done virtually. It’s a simple way to help employees feel calm and caught up as they head into the weekend.
These meetings create a space for open communication and connection at the end of a busy week. They give employees time away from their desks, encourage team bonding, and send them into the weekend feeling calm and caught up, rather than frazzled by unfinished tasks.”
Claire Fitzsimmons suggests that changing jobs may not cure your Sunday scaries: “It's not always about changing jobs: maybe there's something about feeling overwhelmed that's more about time management and a conversation with the boss, or confidence so you realise that it's imposter syndrome getting in the way.”
Implementing weekly checkout meeting
Whether you’re a manager or an employee hoping to implement check-out meetings into your working week, here are Dr Sik’s top tips for having a productive check-out meeting.
“I recommend sticking to a 45-minute rule. A half-hour may be too short, especially when the first few minutes are often spent on small talk. On the other hand, an hour-long meeting can feel unnecessarily drawn out.”
Dr Sik suggests asking the following questions in your Friday check-out:
- What’s one thing that’s caused you stress this week, and how could this be alleviated?
- What’s one lesson you’ve learnt this week?
- What are you most proud of accomplishing this week?
- How are you feeling heading into the weekend?
- What’s your top priority for next week, and how can we support you to achieve it?
A general anxious feeling: Lifestyle factors
Claire’s suggestion of confidence brings us on to the second root cause of the Sunday blues – lifestyle factors. While you may return to work on a Monday, work may not be the primary cause of your distress.
End-of-week burnout is something experienced by many people. You’ve been running at 100% both emotionally and physically all week, meaning by Sunday, the lack of sleep and self-care has left you feeling exhausted and anxious.
Making mid-week changes
One great way of easing end of week stress is by managing your work-life balance throughout the week. Relying on the weekend to provide complete fulfilment can create pressure to pack those two days with activities, socialising and life admin. This can result in you feeling burnt out on a Sunday, knowing you’re only an evening away before the work-weekend cycle starts again.
Try, when possible, to stick to your working hours and avoid checking or responding to emails in your downtime. Spend your pre-work and post-work hours focusing on the things you love. Fitness, wellness guru and nutrition expert Penny Weston, explains the benefits of exercising throughout the week and weekend.
“By exercising and undertaking specific health practices, such as meditation or yoga, you are taking time out for yourself and just reminding yourself that you matter and that you are important. We all need that in our lives.”
Even if sport isn’t your thing, take time to focus on a hobby, or simply unwind with your favourite TV show. Finding small joys mid-week will help you maintain a balanced self-care routine and avoid burnout
“Build the week on four foundations: balanced nutrition, steady movement, consistent sleep, and mindful moments.” Dr Naheed Ali advises. “When these basics stay in place, Sunday night blends into the rest of the week instead of standing apart as a hurdle.”
Weekend lifestyle
Packed weekends can also worsen our anxiety through factors such as diet, sleep and alcohol. While unwinding and socialising are key to a balanced life, filling our weekends with late nights, drinking, and takeaways means we often feel tired, irritable and sluggish come Sunday.
Take stock of how you're feeling when you finish work on Friday. Do you need to catch up on some sleep, or do you need a trip to the pub with your friends? Both activities are valid, it’s about noticing and responding to what your body and mind need more.
Ensure your weekends are a balance of early evenings and late nights. As Dr Ravi Gill explains, “sleeping in or staying up late on weekends can throw off your natural rhythm, making you feel off-balance as bedtime approaches Sunday night.”
Create a healthy weekend routine which works for you. Ensure you make space for moments of rest, feed yourself nutritious meals and get outdoors alongside your social plans.
Staying present
Many of us experience anxiety because we find it difficult to stay present. Anxiety revolves around a fear or worry of what will or could happen. Taking each moment as it comes and focusing on the here and now is a brilliant way to stay positive and not worry about Monday morning.
There are many mindful practices which enable us to stay grounded and present. One of which is meditation. Meditating allows us to refocus wandering thoughts, as Penny explains:
“Essentially, when meditating, we are trying to control our thoughts to focus our attention on the present moment: take note of all the sensations your body is aware of from the sounds around you to the feel of your clothes against your skin. Tune into your emotions and thoughts and try to observe them like a bystander, without any judgment.”
Another great tool is breathwork. Renowned sleep expert Hafiz Shariff suggests, “Try some simple breathing exercises. For example, inhale for four seconds, hold for four, and exhale for four. This technique helps regulate your nervous system, making it easier to relax and focus on the present.”
Headspace, Calm, Spotify, and Insight Timer all have huge libraries of quick meditations you can practice. By incorporating meditation and breathwork into your Sunday routine, you’re setting yourself up for a peaceful night’s sleep and a productive Monday morning.
5 mindful tips to try this Sunday
Aside from talking to work or friends and family, there are many quick ways we can calm our anxious brains. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) therapist Navit Schechter has shared five easy Sunday activities, all designed to help you relax and recenter.
1. Practice breathing exercises: Breathing exercises help to calm down the fight-or-flight system and help us feel less anxious. Doing a breathing exercise when you notice you're feeling anxious or before you start to switch off for bed can help you feel calmer.
2. Journaling: Getting your thoughts and feelings out can give you a feeling of relief and help you develop a different perspective.
3. Gratitude: When we're in difficult situations, we tend to focus on the difficult or painful parts of the situation. Most situations have pros and cons, and actively searching for and paying attention to the parts of your job that you like or are grateful for can shift the balance and change the way you feel.
It might be one co-worker that you have, a short commute or just the fact that you have a job that pays you, but focusing on the benefits of your job, as well as the difficulties, can help you to feel more balanced.
4. Switch off from technology: Avoiding screens for at least an hour before bed, as well as turning off your phone, leaving it downstairs or even turning off the Wi-Fi overnight can help you to get a break from technology. Phones can be over-stimulating and stop you from being able to switch off and relax.
5. Be present: If you find yourself thinking about the week ahead, worrying or feeling overwhelmed, switching your attention back to your present moment can help you to feel calmer. When we think about potential future events, we tend to catastrophise what might happen, how it will affect us or how we'll cope, which creates more stress for ourselves. Focusing on the present moment can help you feel more grounded and less stressed, so that you have more energy and reserves to deal with the week ahead.
A bigger problem: Job dissatisfaction
For those who are feeling a deeper sense of job dissatisfaction, it might be worth exploring other career opportunities. “If your Sunday anxiety is rooted in job dissatisfaction, taking small actions like updating your CV, setting new career goals, or finding a mentor can help you feel more in control,” Erika Brodnock, CEO of online job coaching website Kinhub explains.
“Talking things through with a coach or a support network can also provide valuable perspective. By shifting how we approach Sundays - with intention and support - we can turn that anxiety into confidence for the week ahead.”
However, as Ebony Cropper, a money-saving expert at Money Wellness points out, finding a new job can be tricky and may not be financially viable for all. “Sunday night anxiety often creeps in when people feel financially trapped; whether that’s being stuck in a job they don’t enjoy or worrying about the week’s expenses.”
Budgeting, planning and organising your finances, as well as the week ahead, is a quick win for alleviating Sunday anxiety. It's a small task you can implement into your Sunday routine while you take time to think about your wider career goals. “One way to take back control is to give your money a plan before Monday hits,” Ebony says.
“Spend ten minutes on Sunday evening checking your budget, looking at your upcoming bills, and planning a few low-cost meals or free activities. It sounds small, but this kind of routine builds confidence and reduces those overwhelming ‘what if?’ thoughts.”
@itserinconfortini track my weekly expenses with me! heres what i spend in a week along with how i track this in my budget template and spending tracker thats available in my stan 🙂 this money habit is by far the most impactful on my finances because it helps to hold myself accountable for my purchases/see if im sticking to my budget! a large clothing order from @whitefox & a hair appointment were my two largest expenses this week! #howtobudget #spendingtracker #budgettemplate #whatispendinaweek ♬ original sound - Erin Confortini
Adam Levine, Business Coach at InnerXLab, recommends thinking about your position with a positive mindset: “If your anxiety is related to dissatisfaction with your job, try taking time on Sunday to reflect on what you actually enjoy about your work.
“Shifting focus to the positives, even if they seem small, can help frame the upcoming week in a more balanced light. It’s also worth setting a small, positive goal for the week that focuses on growth or progress, rather than just survival.”
Getting ahead of those Sunday scaries
No matter the root cause of your Sunday dread, there are a few things you can do throughout the working week to help future you. Adam Levine recommends the following:
- Break larger tasks down into smaller, manageable actions so they don’t feel like a mountain. The idea isn’t to overwhelm yourself with planning, but to map out the key priorities, so when Monday comes, you know exactly where to start. This helps prevent the anxiety of not knowing what’s on your plate.
- Next, try time-blocking your Monday morning. Instead of diving straight into the chaos of your inbox or meetings, set aside time first thing to tackle a high-priority task or something that feels rewarding. Starting the week with a small win can create momentum and make Monday feel less daunting.
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider whether you can push back on any non-essential commitments or delegate tasks that don’t need your immediate attention. Saying no, or at least reducing your load, can give you some breathing room.
Confidence coach and DEI specialist, Advita Patel, also shared the benefits of the Eisenhower matrix: “Grab some paper and draw out the Eisenhower matrix (urgent, not urgent, important and not important), then write down your tasks in a list and plot them in the boxes.
If you plot everything in the top left-hand corner, you will burn out. So there will be tasks that you can delete, delegate and schedule, and that’s a good starting point for easing stress.”
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