For many, Wednesday is known as "hump day," when people begin the downward slide toward (yea!) the weekend. New research shows that Wednesday is also the deadliest day of the week for suicides, however.
The study, published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology,, found almost 25% of suicides take place on Wednesdays. The two days tied for second, Monday and Saturday, had only 14% of the suicides. Thursday is the "safest" day, with with only 11% of suicides.
The new report’s lead author, Augustine J. Kposowa, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Riverside said:
“Everyone talks about the Monday blues. But if you look at more recent data, it looks like things have shifted and now it’s the middle of the week that’s the problem.
“People may be fed up and stressed by their jobs by the middle of the week. By Wednesday, the traffic has gotten to be too much, their co-workers are getting on their nerves and they can’t figure out how they’re going to make it to the end of the week.”
It's true that most people would figure Monday to be the worst day of the week; after all people have to go back to work. This research, however, seems to indicate it takes time for stress to build.
Another change in suicide data: the "winter blues" don't seem to exist any longer, either. Kposowa theorized that new forms of connectedness (the Internet, cell phones, etc.) explains the lack of a seasonal effect, with winter no longer isolating people as much as it used to.
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