Most Depressing Day of the Year?

If you were feeling depressed today, don't worry too much about it, apparently there was a study a few years ago that calculated the most depressing day of the year. And for 2007, that day was January 22.

The formula was made in 2005 by a psychologist named Cliff Arnall (who was, at the time, a part-time lecturer at the University of Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning in Wales). Arnall used a formula that he based on factors such as bad weather, holiday debt, and failed New Year's resolutions. It looks like this:

[W + (D-d)] x TQM x NA.

The letters and represent a mathematical code with the following keys:

W: How bad the weather is at this time of year.
D: Amount of debt accumulated over the holidays minus how much is paid off.
T: The time since the holidays.
Q: Amount of time passed since New Year’s resolutions have gone south.
M: Our general motivation levels.
NA: The need to take action.

The equation was originally commissioned as a public relations stunt for Sky Travel, who wanted to use it as a means to encourage people to book winter get-aways.

Apparently it is not taken in the spirit I assume it had been originally meant - good honest fun - and has people, apparently particularly in Britain, spouting off about Arnall's pseudoscience.

I think it's a cute formula myself, gives a little bit of a "Okay, if that's the year's worst day I have it made", feeling to the cold and dreary winter months.