Should there be a long week end and the Monday Blues !!

The start of the week and most children squirm as they get up – the thoughts of going to school is not a very welcome one for many.  Is that restricted to children alone ?   The "Monday blues" hit people as they revert to a more normal pattern from the free weekend.   After relaxation over the weekend, people ought to feel refreshed in body and spirit, but some feel even more tired out than on Friday. The main cause is that they have not been resting properly and have been working too hard  !!!!

What all people do to enjoy the weekend – some leave all house work, some do crazy shopping, some watch cinemas, some visit friends or relatives, some travel long way, some do nothing but stay at home and sleep.. sleep and sleep more….   Camels manage their energies and resources better – people cannot do the same way.  Oversleeping is not good and short of sleep is no good either. 

In more than a way – Work and Stress are part of life and are required for creativity, learning and survival.  Stress is harmful only when it is overwhelming and interferes with the healthy state of equillibrium.  Recent reports suggest that the additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioural alertness.

Though the holidays are not Universal – the concept of 7 day week is.  It is used by the most Countries of the World as specified in ISO 8601.  Just as Night follows Day and one complements other, the workweek – weekend are complementary to labour and rest.  In Western countries, traditionally it is Monday to Friday – working and two days of rest.  Somewhere read that the  French Revolutionary Calendar had ten-day weeks and allowed decadi, one out of the ten days, as a leisure day.

Sure there is more than the French connection to the World – Sabbath is generally a weekly day of rest.  There is a mention of a charming Hebrew song of school children which begins – Sunday work, Monday work, Tuesday work…… and Sabbath – full day off – perhaps a grim lesson for the kindergarten !  Israel presently has a short weekend -  a half-day on Friday and the whole day on Saturday

Like all other things, this also is set to change – the Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom has a plan to alter the structure of Israel's working as reported in the BBC.  The new proposal is to give everybody Saturday and Sunday off and leaving Friday as a half-day.  In theory, shorter lunch breaks and longer working days should mean that the same amount of work is spread over a reduced working week. Mr Shalom is a passionate advocate of the plan which he says would allow Israel to co-ordinate its working calendar with Europe and North America.

When it comes, it would mean that people do not sit in Offices at Tel Aviv on Sundays but not able to transact with other parts of the World who would be enjoying their holidays.  Shalom feels that his move would make tourism boom and malls do more business.  The newsreport further addes that religious Jews who spend half-day on Friday cooking, cleaning and preparing for Shabbat would welcome tis move.   There are some advocates who feel that the long week end is not good for the Country.    Israel had earlier  adjusted its national timetable once before - when it moved from an official six-day week to the present five-and-a-half in 1991. 

So nursery rhymes would go for a toss and things would change – more leisure, more comfort and more rest and whether they all would increase of affect productivity remains to be determined by the future.

What is your take !!!

Regards  - S. Sampathkumar.