Why Mondays?

Heart attacks occur most frequently on Mondays (Spielberg et al, 1996; Arntz et al, 2000; Willich et al, 1994). Sudden cardiac deaths also occur significantly more frequently on Mondays, with a greater increase in patients ≤ 65 than in patients > 65 (Arntz et al, 2000). The number of sudden cardiac deaths on Mondays, which is the maximum, is 18.3% higher than on Sundays, which is the minimum (Arntz et al, 2000). The amount differs between men and women, with a 20.8% increase for men on Mondays, and only a 15.7% increase for women (Arntz et al, 2000). The working population has shown to be more affected by heart attacks (Willich et al, 1994) on Mondays, with a relative increase of 33% (Willich et al, 1994). This increase could be due to the stress of returning to work at the beginning of the week. Blue collar workers had a 41% relative increase in risk of heart attacks on Mondays while white collar workers had a relative risk increase of 18 % on Mondays (Willich et al, 1994). This data is very helpful so that we can identify what triggers these events and find ways to prevent them from occurring (Willich et al, 1994).

References

Arntz, H.-R. (2000). Diurnal, weekly and seasonal variation of sudden Death. European Heart Journal, Vol. 21: 315–320. Article No. euhj.1999.1739, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com

Spielberg C et al. (1996). Circadian, day-of-week, and seasonal variability in myocardial infarction: comparison between working and retired patients. American Heart Journal. Vol. 132(3): 579-85.

Willich, SN. et al. (1994). Weekly variation of acute myocardial infarction. Increased Monday risk in the working population. Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Vol. 90: 87-93