No, today is not the “most depressing day of the year.”
So, today is the most "depressing day of the year", according to several media outlets. The weather's bad, you're back at work and it's four weeks until payday.
The only trouble is, this theory has been comprehensively debunked many times since it arrived as a pseudoscientific media myth in 2005. It has no real basis in science and lots of studies have found that happiness fluctuates throughout the year, with admissions for depression peaking in Autumn in one study and not at all, in another.
Maybe you already knew that. Yet that hasn't stopped it becoming a time-honoured British media tradition, a bit like our own version of Groundhog Day, only more cynical. It's almost reassuring.
Still, MailOnline has it covered.
And it's getting honourable mentions today from The Telegraph, Daily Star and The independent, among others.
A host of local newspapers including the North Devon Journal (which helpfully comes up with handy hints for beating depression), joined the fun.
The Shropshire Star asked readers to complete this poll to celebrate this annual journalistic tradition (it's tantalisingly neck and neck)
Dr Cliff Arnall, a researcher and lifestyle coach, developed a formula to calculate the most depressing day of the year in 2005, as part of a campaign for Sky Travel. He has also come up with sciency-sounding formulae for Wall's, the ice cream company, judging the happiest day of the year to be 19 June.
Over the years, insurance companies, hotel chains and even the Samaritans have used this myth as a way of getting into newspapers and on radio.
