Anxiety, Depression: It Must Be Sunday

　　By Chelsea Lowe

　　何涧 选译

　　你是否觉得星期天的晚餐索然无味，因为吃过这顿最后的晚餐，迎接你的又将是满满五个工作日。于是周末就这样早早地寿终正寝了，而床上的你却辗转难眠，满脑子都是第二天到办公室后的事情...

　　Sunday night is an uneasy time for systems analyst Tom Santos. With the weekend drawing to a close, the 38-year-old man finds himself thinking more and more about the next day at work. The feeling peaks right after dinner when, he gets the sense that "this is your final meal before you have to go back to prison." Santos enjoys his work. But on Sunday nights he always starts to think about solutions to specific problems and has a hard time sleeping.

　　He isn't alone. Call it Sunday-night syndrome: the anxiety or depression workers feel as the weekend winds down and Monday looms.

　　The back-to-work blues aren't new. However, mental health and human resource professionals say that they have noticed a sharp rise in depression and stress among workers over the past two years as the economy soured and joblessness ratcheted up. Although the unemployment rate dropped, job holders still remain nervous. They feel burdened as employers cut staff and demand more from remaining workers.

　　These harried workers often feel as if the weekend is over by Saturday night. People start having to contend with things to prepare for work on Sunday: ironing their shirts, getting their dry cleaning, putting gas in their cars. They feel that even their personal time is getting eaten up by the job.

　　Sunday-night depression is "much more common than people realize," said Dr. Harry Sobel, a clinical psychologist.

　　The weekend's close, Sobel said, can elicit "a normal mood change because play and fun is ending." But some individuals experience "more profound symptoms-jitters, fears, fantasies of things going wrong." He added that "prior conditioning, a result of high school or college patterns where the individual left work till Sunday night and then panicked as time ran out, can continue to engender feelings of stress at the same time every week."

　　Sobel himself is not immune. "I had this syndrome my entire life. I had it in high school. I hate Sundays," he said.

　　Common symptoms can include anxiety, moodiness and problems with sleep. Professional help might be warranted for workers who encounter physical symptoms, such as difficulty sleeping, appetite changes or trouble concentrating at work on Monday morning.

　　Also employers can improve employee loyalty and productivity by allowing restorative pauses such as full lunch-hour breaks.

　　Experts said exercising, yoga, and getting together with friends help to minimize the stresses in one's work and personal life. Workers can also minimize impending dread by building in more fun during the week, especially Monday. You should make sure that Monday nights are frequently a time that you meet friends, build in romance . . . make Monday night a good night.

　　对系统分析师汤姆·桑托斯来说，星期天的晚上不太好过。随着周末渐近结束，这位38岁的男士发觉自己越来越担心第二天的工作。这种感觉在晚餐后升到了顶点，此时他觉得"这是被迫回到监狱之前的最后一餐。"桑托斯喜欢自己的工作，但周日晚上他老是会思考某些具体问题的解决方法，因此辗转难眠。

　　不只是他有这种问题。我们不妨称之为"星期天晚间综合症"，这是周末即将结束、周一近在眼前时打工族们的一种焦虑或沮丧情绪。

　　"返工忧郁症"不是什么新鲜事儿。然而，心理健康和人力资源领域的专业人士说，他们发现：在过去两年中，随着经济不景气和失业状况的恶化，打工族们的沮丧和压力感也大大加剧。尽管失业率有所下降，但上班族仍然提心吊胆。当雇主们裁员并要求留下来的员工们更卖力时，他们的心理负担也随之加重。

　　这些备受折磨的打工族常常觉得周末在星期六的晚上就结束了。周日，人们就不得不开始应付那些上班前的准备工作了：熨衬衫、取回送到干洗店的衣物、给车子加油。他们觉得连自己的个人时间也被工作蚕食掉了。

　　心理医师哈利·索贝尔博士说，周日晚上的沮丧感"远比人们意识到的更为普遍"。

　　索贝尔说，周末的结束"会引发正常的情绪变化，因为玩乐就要结束了。"但有些人会出现"更为严重的症状，如紧张不安、恐惧以及把事情弄砸了的幻觉"。他还补充说："这种事发前产生条件反射的现象会不断地在每周的同一时间引起压力感，这是中学或大学时的生活模式产生的后果，那时人们总是把功课一直留到星期天的晚上，然后又因时间紧迫而感到慌乱不安。"

　　索贝尔自己也无法幸免。他说："从高中时开始我一直都有这种症状，我恨星期天。"

　　常见的症状包括焦虑、闷闷不乐和睡眠问题。专业的帮助可能会对那些身体上出现症状--比如说睡眠障碍、食欲改变或星期一上午工作时难以集中精力--的员工有好处。

　　雇主们也可以尝试允许员工们享受宽松的午餐时间之类的恢复性工休，以此提高员工的忠诚度和工作效率。

　　专家们说体育锻炼、瑜伽和朋友聚会都有助于减少人们在工作和私人生活中的压力。打工族们也可以通过在工作日特别是星期一安排更多有趣的事将这种迫近的恐惧感降至最低。你一定要经常在星期一晚上安排见朋友、享受浪漫之类的事情，这会让星期一的晚上变得美妙无比。