A UK Poll Has Found The 10 Worst Jobs For 'Sunday Scaries'

Sunday scaries – or feelings of dread and anxiety that build before the working week – are believed to affect as many as 67% of UK workers. 

Psychologist Kia-Rai Prewitt told Cleveland Clinic it’s an “anticipatory anxiety”, meaning it has to do with your expectations of coming stress in the work week.

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about signs your Sunday scaries may be more than normal work dread. And new research from travel agent SpaSeekers has sought to find the jobs that make us stress the most before Monday even hits.

Workers are losing days of their lives to Sunday scaries

The SpaSeekers study, which polled 1,000 UK workers, found that people spend an average of 2.5 hours a week worrying about their work on the weekend. That amounts to 200 days over a lifetime (woah). 

Just over a quarter (26%) of employed adults surveyed said that the Sunday scaries make them lose sleep, while 21% shared it means they can’t enjoy the last day of the weekend at all. 

Work stress and busyness are the most common sources of anxiety (29%), while a heavy workload affects 23% of employees.

“Imposter syndrome”, or feelings that you’re not good enough, and worries about being asked to come into the office more often, affected 11% of respondents each.

Which jobs are the worst for Sunday scaries? 

Per this survey, the worst jobs for Sunday scaries were revealed as being:

1) Finance
The Sunday scaries were found to regularly affect 95% of those in this category. 

2) Human resources (HR)
Affects: 91%

3) Manufacturing
Affects: 87%

4) Legal
Affects: 84%

5) IT and telecoms
Affects: 84%

6) Education
Affects: 83%

7) Retail
Affects: 83%

8) Healthcare
Affects: 83%

9) Arts and culture
Affects: 82%

10) Building and construction
Affects: 76%. 

Don’t ignore your Sunday scaries

Kerry Sutcliffe, a corporate and individual coach at Kerry Sutcliffe Coaching, said: “The Sunday Scaries could be described as a physical alarm bell, telling you that something is not right. It’s a sign, a flashing red light and something you should listen to, pay attention to, and take action on.”

That might include planning your week ahead of Sunday, she added. “I recommend doing this on a Friday afternoon... Once done, you can close the laptop and enjoy your weekend, knowing you’re all set for Monday morning,” she advised.

“Get all of those unhelpful thoughts out of your head and down on paper!” 

The NHS suggests you should see a GP about anxiety if you’re struggling to cope with fear and panic, and/or if lifestyle changes like getting enough sleep and exercising don’t help.