| Professor
Predicts Depression
by Ross Weidner
Monday morning had all the qualities of
an ordinary North Carolina January morning:
students rushing to class and temperatures
so low you can see your breath.
With lack of sleep catching up with some
students and with parking tickets on cars
left overnight, this week might be off to
a bad start. According to a Cardiff University
Professor Cliff Arnalls, if you were feeling
blue, it wasn't just a case of the Mondays.
His new formula says Jan. 24 is the most
depressing day of the year.
Arnalls’ complex formula factors in
January weather, debt, distance to the next
paycheck, the number of days since Christmas,
possible failed New Year’s resolutions,
lack of motivation and the need to do something
to get out of the winter funk.
UNC-CH clinical psychology doctoral candidate
Dave Roberts says he's not sure a formula
can predict the saddest day.
“It seems to me to be more of a statistical
artifact,” Roberts said. “If
you come up with a computer program and you
tell it to pick a day, it'll pick a day but
that doesn't mean today is a special day
in any way.”
On campus most students weren’t letting
Jan. 24 faze them, no matter what science
says.
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