If you were able to take time off over the festive season, you're likely not looking forward to having to go back to work.
Along with the realisation you'll no longer be able to make a spontaneous mid-week trip to the beach or spend your days lounging on the couch, you could also be experiencing the Sunday scaries.
Beyond Blue's clinical spokesperson and psychologist, Dr Luke Martin, said that while Sunday scaries isn't a formal diagnosis or technical term, it is "a common experience of people feeling stressed and anxious about the week ahead", which typically occurs towards the end of the weekend.
"I really think about them as a form of anticipatory anxiety about the demands of the upcoming week," he told SBS News.
"They can involve feelings of worry or dread. There can be physical symptoms, like you might feel a bit panicky, or have headaches, or have problems sleeping."
How a new year can trigger Sunday scaries
While you can experience the Sunday scaries at any time, Martin said they're likely to be "more magnified" at the start of a new year, as it's a kind of temporal landmark.
"[Temporal landmarks] are these little time periods, whether it's transitioning into a new year, which is the biggest example of it, or transitioning into a new week, Monday morning, Sunday night, where our brain clocks on that there's a bit of uncertainty ahead," he said.
"The mind kind of gets really active to try and keep us safe by trying to predict problems and solve them before they occur."
The "stocktake moment" many of us experience at the start of a new year makes it one of the busiest times for mental health services such as Beyond Blue, Martin said.
"I think once the dust has settled on the festive season and they think about their life and how it's going and where they want it to get better, often that's the point where people seek help — or at least they think a bit more deeply about their life and what needs to change," he said.
"I guess it's a bit of a clean slate and a bit of a fresh start, and you want to kind of set yourself up to have a better year than the last one."
What could your Sunday scaries be trying to tell you?
Experiencing Sunday scaries on occasion isn't necessarily something you should be concerned about, Martin said.
"If you've got a big week ahead or you've got a particularly stressful situation that you're facing this week, that's going to be a really normal response to be a bit anxious about it on Sunday night," he said.
But if it's happening regularly, it could be a sign that something in your life needs to change.
Work stress is a common cause of Sunday scaries. Source: Getty / rudi_suardi
"I think it can also be a deeper sign that something's not sitting right for you, whether it's within your values or an identity clash between the work you want to be doing and the work that you're required to do that week."
It could also be a symptom of an underlying mental health condition, Martin said.
Tips to overcome your Sunday scaries
The first step in overcoming your Sunday scaries is working out what's causing them.
"Deeper reflection on what's driving it will influence how you need to manage it," Martin said.
"Is it a stress response that you've had for a long time that you need to work on, or is it a specific problem at work with a project or a colleague you need to address? Is it an ongoing issue with workload you need to talk to your manager about, or is it a sign of a deeper problem with your mental health or with your career and how it's going?"
Dedicating time each Friday afternoon to sorting out your priorities for the following week can be one way to combat the Sunday scaries.
"Block out the time you need to get your important things done, write anything down that you're worried about that you need to devote time to solving next week," Martin said.
"That little ritual on Friday afternoon makes it easier for your brain to step back over the weekend. It knows you've got it covered, and it doesn't have to work so hard to look out for you," Martin said.
Disconnecting from work as much as possible over the weekend can also help.
"If you dip into your email or you open a Word document, every time you dip back into that work mode, you're prodding your stress response again," Martin said.
Keeping your mind engaged in leisure activities all weekend can help prevent the Sunday scaries from taking over.
"Don't let your weekend stop at lunchtime on Sunday. Meet up with friends, go out for dinner, or go play tennis or a sport," Martin said.
If you can't stop worrying about things that haven't happened yet or may not even happen at all, try asking yourself, "What problems exist right now that I need to solve?"
"Often the answer is 'there's no problem in this moment', which can be a bit of a circuit breaker to that rumination," Martin said.
Filling your weekends with fun activities can help to stave off anxious thoughts about work. Source: Getty / JulieanneBirch
"Getting it onto paper is another little sign to your brain that you're not going to forget about it. It just lets your brain relax a little bit," Martin said.
To tackle the physical sensations of anxiety, he suggested trying relaxation strategies such as slow controlled breathing or mindfulness meditation.
What workplaces can do to help
Given the Sunday scaries are largely driven by work-related stress and anxiety, Martin said it's vital employers minimise "excessive demands" put on their staff and foster a "mentally healthy workplace".
A nationally representative poll commissioned by Beyond Blue in June 2025 found half of the people surveyed had experienced burnout in the past 12 months.
"I think that says a lot about the nature of modern work and its ability to wear people down over time," Martin said.
Improving workplace culture can reduce the likelihood that someone will experience Sunday scaries. Source: Getty / MoMo Productions
Small changes, such as moving the team meeting on a Monday to a slightly later time, can also make a difference to staff wellbeing, Martin said.
"Even starting it at 9.30 or 10 just gives people a little buffer to transition into that week, which means that their mind doesn't have to work so hard on Sunday night to be ready for 9am Monday," he said.
Signs you may have an anxiety condition
There are "three core signs" that could suggest your Sunday scaries could actually be an anxiety condition that would benefit from professional help, Martin said.
"The first is this anxious thought process where you're imagining the worst-case scenario, or you're fearing the worst-case scenario. This catastrophising is what is really classic in an anxiety condition," he said.
"The second area is these physical symptoms, that when you're having these thoughts, you feel worked up and panicky in your body, you're breathing more quickly and shallowly, you can feel sweaty or lightheaded or clammy, or just generally feeling really irritable and tense all the time."
Martin said the third and final sign that your Sunday scaries may be something more serious is that you try to avoid things that trigger "this distressing anxiety".
"If you are getting out of things at work that are making you feel anxious, if you're overworking as a way of managing your anxiety, if it's really pervasive across your week and it's impacting in your ability to kind of function well each day and it's causing you some distress, all of these are flags that there might be a broader issue here with anxiety that you could seek professional support for.
"The really good thing is that we have really effective treatments for anxiety conditions that help most people most of the time."
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general information purposes only and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional medical advice. Readers are advised to consult a qualified health professional for guidance specific to their situation.
Readers seeking support with mental health can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. More information is available at beyondblue.org.au. Embrace Multicultural Mental Health supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
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