Mondays: a day to dread, or a chance for a fresh start? The Monday Campaigns, a non-profit public health initiative, is on a mission to leverage Monday as a day to promote self-care to help people become healthier and happier.
Why Monday? Because it’s the beginning. Monday initiates not only the busy week ahead, but for many, a newfound resolve to attempt and sustain healthier behaviors. The group’s research shows that Monday is indeed the “healthiest” day of the week.
The Monday Campaigns partnered with San Diego State University, the Santa Fe Institute and Johns Hopkins University to study the correlation between motivation of health behavior adaptation and day of the week. Published by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), the study entitled “What’s the Healthiest Day?,” revealed that Mondays (and Tuesdays) are the most popular days for going online to search for health-related questions. Since people are searching for information, it implies that people are receptive to learning more about healthy behavior change earlier in the week rather than later (Saturday had the fewest searches, with 80 percent fewer queries than Monday and Tuesday).
The campaign found that many people see Mondays as a good day to start healthy habits such as diets, exercise routines, or making doctor’s appointments, as well as to quit unhealthy ones such as smoking or unhealthy eating. Monday is also seen by many as a “reset” day for prior health goals, especially for diets, which can often fall to the wayside on weekends.
Research further proved that Mondays “provide a social context for change because people are together as they return to the structured routine of work and school.” Over 40 percent of people claim their health goals are easier to reach when done with family, friends or colleagues. The perception of Mondays as fresh starts provides the opportunity to tackle new challenges with fresh resolve, as a group.
Mondays bring the momentum and motivation for real and lasting health change. Whether it’s reducing stress, increasing exercise, enhancing children’s diet or promoting men’s sexual health, the Monday Campaigns is taking full advantage of this fascinating research by consistently promoting life-changing health projects on Mondays.
Family caregivers are a highly active group when it comes to looking for health resources online. In fact, in a 2012 Pew Research report, 79 percent of caregivers sought resources online. That rate is likely much higher today than it was just five years ago. Atlas Advisor Susannah Fox has written extensively about those pushing the boundary on health information online; along with people with rare and chronic diseases, family caregivers are one of those groups.
That’s why the Monday Campaigns started the Caregiver Monday Campaign. With the mission of helping caregivers care for themselves, the campaign promotes self-awareness and self-care for the nation’s 43.5 million-plus caregivers.
Nationwide, two out of every three caregivers put the health of the one they’re caring for before their own, often resulting in preventable physical, mental and emotional health issues such as anxiety and chronic stress.
With the goal of encouraging caregivers to set aside time every Monday to focus on their health, the campaign offers free weekly tips, social media tools, and resources to help caregivers learn new, better and healthier ways of accomplishing their daily tasks.
With a vision of a world where caregiving is valued and supported as vital to a healthy community, promoting the self-awareness and self-empowerment of caregivers is a goal that’s very important to Atlas of Caregiving.
Through mindful, deliberate understanding of the daily challenges of caregiving with practical, user-friendly tools such as the CareMap, Atlas of Caregiving is working together with the Monday Campaigns to provide resources to further enhance the lives of caregivers.
Each Monday, keep an eye on this space for fresh and inspiring content from our partnership with Monday Campaigns. We look forward to making the most of our Mondays together.
