January Blues Hits MoodPanda
January can make even the most energetic and lively of us feel down in the dumps, and this January is apparently no exception, with moods plummeting following the Christmas holidays, according to MoodPanda.com, a crowd-sourced Mood Tracking App & Website.
Research from a sample of 15,000 people shows a series of highly elevated happiness peaks before and during Christmas, and again over the New year, but then shows a huge overall drop in mood as we entered the 2nd and 3rd day of the New Year.
January can be a hard month, and the reasons given for the sudden slump are numerous. The festive season has drawn to a close, money is tight after the Christmas shopping, seasonal illness such as flu is rife, and people are heading back to work in miserable weather. Relationship issues over the holiday have also been flagged as a factor for the January drop.
Last year psychologists declared January 24th as the most depressing day of the year, and suicide levels peak around now according to the Samaritans, so it’s a clearly a difficult time for a lot of people.
MoodPanda.com is a community of friendly people, constantly updating their moods and sharing in each others’ problems and celebrating each others’ happiness. Testimonials from users have shown that being part of such a caring community, and focussing on one’s happiness, and the happiness of others can actually lead to improvement in your mood. It’s another weapon in our “happiness arsenal” for beating the Winter Blues!
Some of the user’s comments about tracking their mood:
“Just wanted to say… everyone on mood panda, you are awesome. Anytime I have a bad day, I am always cheered up with your hugs. <3 love you all!!” (sic) Laura E
“Finding this app really helped me. People on here are so nice and helped restore my faith in humanity. Thank all of you” - Kasey B
“Reading other peoples posts cheers me up :)” - Chloe B
“I love this new tracking my whole life kick” - Joe B
“Escaped the clutches of sadness… thank you to all the pandas out there for your support” - Heather H
“Having this app cheers me up. Have been wanting 2track my mood 4 ages now :-) ” (sic) - B-rad C
Time will tell which day of 2012 is our most depressing, and how our happiness changes as the Olympics approach, but MoodPanda.com will continue to monitor and report it live on their Website throughout the year
Posted by Jake, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
