Scientists have found that generally the world feels brighter when you wake up.
People start the day in the best frame of mind in the morning, but end in the worst, at about midnight, the findings suggest, with the day of the week and the season also playing a part.
Mental health also tends to be more varied at weekends but steadier during the week, according to the study led by University College London.
“Generally, things do seem better in the morning,” the researchers concluded.
Mental health and wellbeing are dynamic in nature, and subject to change over short and long periods. However, few studies have looked at how they might change over the course of the day.
Scientists wanted to explore whether time of day was associated with variations in mental health, happiness, life satisfaction, sense of life being worthwhile and loneliness.
People in the study answered questionnaires, with questions such as: “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?”
Factors such as age, health conditions and whether people worked were taken into account.
The results showed that happiness, life satisfaction, and worthwhile ratings were all higher on Mondays and Fridays than on Sundays, while happiness was also higher on Tuesdays. There was no evidence that loneliness differed across days of the week.
There was clear evidence of a seasonal influence on mood. Compared with winter, people tended to have lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and loneliness, and higher levels of happiness, and feeling that life was worthwhile in the three other seasons.
Mental health was best in the summer across all outcomes. But the season didn’t affect the associations observed across the day, however.
This was an observational study, so it cannot establish cause.
The Guardian.com. February 5, 2025. Adaptado.