Jan 21st, Blue Monday 2008

I spotted this story on CNN Headline news and found that it had been calculated since 2005.

From Wikipedia below. Additional source material at
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/01/20/will-january-21st-be-the-%E2%80%9Cmost-depressing-day-of-the-year/

*** Jan 21st the Blue Monday of 2008. ****

Blue Monday is a name given to a date calculated to be the most depressing day of the year.

This date was calculated by Dr Cliff Arnall, a researcher/tutor at the University of Cardiff's Center for Lifelong learning, and has been quoted in the popular press, although there is little if any scientific basis to his methods. As guardian columnist Dr Ben Goldacre has stated: "the fact is that Cliff Arnall's equations are stupid, and some fail even to make mathematical sense on their own terms" [1]
The date was calculated to be January 24 in 2005[1], January 23 in 2006[2] and January 22 in 2007[3]

The date was calculated by using many factors, plugged into a formula. The factors include: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. This date typically falls on the Monday of the last full week of January. This would make Jan 21st the Blue Monday of 2008.

Dr. Arnall has also calculated the happiest day of the year. In 2005 he found it was June 24[4] and in 2006 it was June 23[5] For this he used a formula which uses factors including: the outdoors, nature, social interaction, childhood summers and positive memories, temperature and holidays.

His research has been commissioned by Sky Travel and Wall's.[6]

In many of the news reports from that period, Dr Arnell was described rather vaguely as a "scientist" or, as he was by MSNBC.com, as someone who "specialises in seasonal disorders". That is not his only specialism. In the Times of March 20 2004, Dr Arnall, a "psychologist who specialises in sleep and stress issues" advised against crawling off to bed if you were upset or after an argument since a person in an agitated state would not sleep well. In the Evening Standard of July 27 2004, Dr Arnall, a "psychologist who runs workshops in the art of relaxation", told those about to embark on holiday not to try and cram in too many last minute jobs before they went away.

But it was in January 2005 that Dr Arnall also broke away from his previous focus on stress and relaxation and was given that loosest of all professional designations, that of an "expert" or, even stranger, "experts". The Daily Mail of January 19 2005 explained Dr Arnall's discovery of the dies horribilis as follows: "The real despair is yet to come. Experts have pinpointed January 24 - next Monday - as the most depressing day of the year." [2]

NB The Guardian have been asked by Cardiff University to distance themselves from the lecturer who came up with the supposed equation: "Cardiff University has asked us to point out that Dr Cliff Arnall, mentioned in the article below, was a former part-time tutor at the university but left in February." [3]