Forget about Blue Monday - it was made up by a holiday company to sell winter breaks

Blue Monday is contrived marketing nonsense, so get out there and be happy, says Ciara McDonnell

Get under your duvet and hide from the world, because Monday, January 16 will be the most depressing day of the year. Created in 2005 by a holiday company which was trying to find new ways of selling winter breaks, Blue Monday is the third Monday of January, so chosen because of its distance from Christmas, traditional cold weather and general feelings of malaise that abound during the beginning of the year.

The concept, according to leading wellness coach, GP and motivational speaker Mark Rowe is ridiculous.