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Why do Mondays feel so long?

Writer: Colin Cho
Colin Cho
Sep 24
2 min read

There's something about Mondays. It seems like Mondays just never stop. One minute it's 8 am and the next minute it's 8:05 am and you're convinced you just sat in that exact spot for an hour. This isn't you going crazy, but rather that your brain doesn't actually track time the same way a clock does. Instead your brain takes pictures of every event that occurs throughout your day. The more pictures your brain takes of your day, the longer the day seems. Mondays are hard because over the weekend you were able to do whatever you wanted, and then suddenly you're back to the same schedule. Your brain has to work overtime to adapt to this sudden change, which causes it to take a lot more pictures than necessary.


Additionally, on Monday mornings your body produces a stress hormone called cortisol in greater amounts, rather than any other day of the week. This causes you to feel tired and gross for no reason.  Then, there's the time checking on the clock. “Is lunch over yet?” “How many more periods until lunch?” Every time you check the clock, it causes time to seem to drag even more. This is the same reason a boring movie will seem to last longer than a fun movie even if both are 2 hours long.


The good thing is that you can actually make time go faster than it actually is. If you do something slightly different such as taking a different route to school, sitting in a different spot, or even listening to a different song, your brain will have to work on all the new things rather than fixating on the clock. This can help alleviate the problem of Mondays seeming to last forever. Instead, your brain is just working harder than necessary. If someone is complaining about this, you can simply inform them that their brain is taking too many pictures. 


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