It is common, inevitable, and rather depressing, and may spell trouble if you have something crucial like a test, important assignment or presentation and need as much positivism as possible to get you through, but the good news is, you can prevent it.
It is believed that because most of us tend to stay up late on weekends, and then sleep in the next day, this short disruption in sleep pattern throws off our biological clocks. We even eat at different schedules, and get light exposure later. There is in fact a term for this, called social jet lag.
It would of course be a killjoy to suggest that one should spend the weekends as they did their weekdays. So here are some tips on how to bounce back quickly on Monday while letting your hair down over the weekend! Treating it is actually pretty similar to how one would deal with jet lag.
Get sufficient sleep on week day nights - 7 hours of good quality sleep on weekdays means you prevent a sleep debt from adding on to the late weekend nights that will only make the following week miserable. Ample rest will ensure that you're at least awake and alert, and less cranky on Mondays.
Refrain from sleeping on on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It is of course all right to get up one or 2 hours later than usual, but sleeping in until afternoons for example, will hinder your adjustment to your usual sleep schedule. In any case, sleeping away in the mornings and even afternoon is such a waste of a precious weekend when the time could be spent with your loved ones or indulging in your favourite past time!
If you're out partying late at night on Friday / Saturday, instead of attempting to sleep away the fatigue, take short naps of no more than 20 minutes beforehand, and after. This refuels you without messing your sleep schedule.
Keep yourself moving. Hit the gym or take a walk, which is especially helpful in keeping you from wanting to hit the bed sheets again. Some people just want to spend the whole weekend being a couch potato or playing video games. However, do at least head out of the house to do some shopping or catch up with friends. Being on the move prevents the lethargy from sinking in, which can make your commute to work or school on Monday particularly painful.
Get as much sunlight in the morning as possible. Sunlight diminishes the melatonin levels in the body that makes one sleepy and increases serotonin levels (a hormone that makes one feel happy). It is also a valuable source of Vitamin D, and getting sun exposure in the morning on those precious weekends is especially important to office workers who barely see the sun on weekdays.
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