People most happy in morning, study finds
Never mind the grumbles and groans that accompany a clock alarm, along with a lunge for the snooze bar and murmurs of "five more minutes."
People generally wake in their best frame of mind, enjoying peak mental health and wellbeing in the morning, researchers reported in a new study published Tuesday in BMJ Mental Health.
They also tend to feel worst around midnight, with the day of the week and season of the year also playing a role, researchers found.
"Generally, things do indeed seem better in the morning," concluded a team led by Feifei Bu, a principal research fellow in behavioral science and health at University College London.
These results don't just give a better insight into how people's moods change throughout the day, researchers said.
They also can help guide future efforts to track and treat people's mental health, since the time of day can influence how a person might feel.
"Our findings indicate the importance of considering time, day and season in mental health and well-being research," the team wrote. "These factors should also be considered for the design and delivery of interventions, as well as the planning and provision of public health services."
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 49,000 people who participated in a social study related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, which began in March 2020, tracked participants through March 2022.
Participants were given questionnaires that posed direct questions, such as these: "In the past week, how happy did you feel; how satisfied have you been with your life; and to what extent have you felt the things you are doing in your life are worthwhile?"
Time stamps on the completion of each survey gave researchers an idea when people answered these questions.
Analysis revealed that people generally wake up in the morning feeling their best. They have their lowest levels of depression, anxiety and depression, and highest happiness and life satisfaction scores.
On the other hand, people tended to feel unhappiest around midnight, researchers found.
Day of the week played a less clear-cut role in a person's mood and well-being, researchers found.
Happiness and life satisfaction all tended to be higher on Mondays and Fridays than on Sundays, but happiness also was higher on Tuesdays, researchers report. There was no evidence that loneliness differed across days of the week.
But there was clear evidence that the season can influence a person's mood.
People tended to have higher levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness in winter compared to other seasons, as well as lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
Overall, mental health was best in the summer, results show.
Changes in mental health and well-being throughout the day might be explained by the biological processes associated with the body clock, researchers said.
"For example, cortisol peaks shortly after waking and reaches its lowest levels around bedtime," researchers wrote.
Given these results, researchers suggested mental health providers and agencies consider beefing up their services around midnight, during the middle of the week and in the midst of winter.
More information
The Sleep Health Foundation has more on the body clock.
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