心情研究：一週中星期三最鬱悶

If you struggled to get up for work on Wednesdays, there could be a good reason – it is the day our mood reaches its lowest point.

Psychologists have found that, on average, people's moods remain about the same on each day throughout the week.

Monday has traditionally been thought of as the most depressing day of the week but according to psychologists, midweek gives more cause for concern in reality.

Wednesday represented the lowest point in the week as people were furthest away from the weekend that has either just gone or is coming up and often feel bogged down with work.

To start their research, the University of Sydney scientists asked around 200 people what they thought their mood would be on each day of the week.

Most said their worst moods were on Monday mornings and evenings but they became increasingly cheerful as the week wore on, with their best moods falling on Friday and Saturday mornings and evenings.

When asked why they believed that Friday and Saturday were best, respondents said they saw them as less-structured days when they could choose how to spend their time.

The psychologists then asked a further 350 people how they felt each day.

They found that, on average, people's moods remained about the same on each day throughout the week.

Mondays were not as depressing as they had feared and Fridays and Saturdays were not as exciting as predicted.

Professor Charles Areni, who led the study, said the day-of-the-week stereotypes stem from a cultural belief that people are generally happier when they are free to choose their activities compared to when they are engaged in paid work.

In reality, he said, weekends do not often see moods soar because they are frequently dominated by productive activities that may require large amounts of energy and begin to feel like work.

"Day-of-the-week stereotypes like Monday morning blues and Thank God It's Friday are largely illusions," he said.

如果每逢週三，你都要經過一番掙扎才肯起牀去上班，以下事實也許可以提供很好的解釋：週三是一週中情緒最低落的一天。

心理學家發現，平均來看，人們在一週七天中的情緒變化不大。

週一一直被認爲是一週中最鬱悶的一天，但心理學家稱，其實到了一週的中段，讓人們煩心的事情更多。

週三之所以是人們一週內心情最差的一天，是因爲此時上個週末已經遠去，新的週末還未到來，人們常會在這一天感到工作陷入了困境。

在研究之初，悉尼大學的研究人員對約200名受訪者在一週內每天的心情進行了調查。

多數人稱，他們在週一的早晨和晚上心情最糟糕，但隨着週末的臨近會逐漸興奮起來，其中週五和週六的早上和晚上最開心。

在被問及爲什麼覺得在週五和週六最開心時，受訪者稱他們覺得這兩天比較放鬆，可以自由支配自己的時間。

之後，心理學家又對350人進行了相同的訪問。

調查結果顯示，平均來看，人們在一週中的情緒變化並不大。

週一並沒有想象中那麼鬱悶，週五和週六也並不像預想的那樣美好。

負責該研究的查爾斯•阿雷尼教授說，人們通常覺得，比起程式化地工作，能夠自由支配自己的時間更開心，“一週情緒模式”主要源於這種文化觀念。

他說，事實上，到了週末，人們並不一定就會心情大好，因爲這兩天他們經常要從事一些會耗費大量精力的活動，勞累程度不亞於工作。

他說：“無論是‘灰色星期一’，還是‘謝天謝地，終於到週五了！’這種‘一週情緒模式’其實都是種錯覺。”