Yesterday (Jan. 18) was 'Blue Monday', a day known as the most depressing day of the year.
But says who?
The idea was actually created by the now-defunct U.K. company Sky Travel who coined term back in 2005 in a news release.
They claimed to have calculated the date using an equation using data such as debt, motivation, weather, and other variables.
A complex formula was developed by U.K. psychologist Dr. Cliff Arnall for the travel company.
According to CNN, "the formula was meant to analyze when people booked holidays, assuming that people were most likely to buy a ticket to paradise when they were feeling down."
"Arnall was asked to come up with the best day to book a holiday trip, so he thought of reasons why people might want to take a holiday -- and thus, the gloomiest day of the year was born."
The formula is: [W + (D-d)] x TQ/M x NA.
W stands for the weather. D is debt and d is monthly salary, while T means the time since Christmas and Q is the time since you gave up on your New Years' resolution.
There is no scientific merit to the formula as there is no way to measure the average number of days since stopped their New Year's resolution or average temperatures, as they vary across the world.
"I had no idea it would gain the popularity that it has," added Arnall told CNN. "I guess a lot of people recognize it in themselves."
Arnall was paid £1,200 to come up with Blue Monday for Sky Travel.
Although 'Blue Monday' may not be real, January is seen as the most depressing month of the year. Many people suffer from the winter blues, more clinically known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
It's a form of depression that people experience usually during the fall and winter months when there's less sunlight.
The Canadian Mental Health Association says getting out, even for a short time, to get sunlight could help with your mood. If that isn't an option, there is light therapy, which can provide special light that helps to impact your mood.
