Mental health study shows everything really will be better in the morning
University College London study of 50,000 Brits tracking mental health has revealed striking findings about how our life satisfaction fluctuates
University College London study of 50,000 Brits tracking mental health has revealed striking findings about how our life satisfaction fluctuates'Sleep on it' is good advice after all (
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It turns out that the saying “everything will be better in the morning” could be true.
Scientists have found generally we wake up in the morning feeling more optimistic while self reported wellbeing gets worse at night. A University College London study of 50,000 Brits tracking mental health since the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed striking findings about how our life satisfaction fluctuates depending on the time of day or week.
Participants inputted thousands of answers to short, direct questions during 2020, 2021 and 2022 which were time stamped. They included: “In the past week, how happy did you feel? How satisfied have you been with your life? To what extent have you felt the things you are doing in your life are worthwhile?”
Rise and shine... maybe things aren't so bad (
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People generally wake up feeling best, with lowest depressive, anxiety and loneliness symptoms, and with highest happiness, life satisfaction, and worthwhile ratings. These ratings were lowest at around midnight.
UCL’s Covid-19 Social Study also revealed life satisfaction was lower on Sundays when compared to Monday to Friday - possibly in anticipation of the start of the working week. Happiness ratings were higher on Tuesdays.
The research team, writing in the journal BMJ Mental Health, concluded: "Generally, things do seem better in the morning." Author Dr Feifei Bu, a behavioural scientist at UCL, said: “Cortisol peaks shortly after waking and reaches its lowest levels around bedtime. However, it is important to acknowledge the differences between weekends and weekdays.
Wellbeing spikes were recorded on Saturdays and Tuesdays (
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“Given there is little evidence that physiological processes differ across different days of the week, differences might be related to other factors that drive wellbeing changes over the course of the day. This could include contextual factors and sequence of daily activities, which are likely to be different between weekends and weekdays.”
During the weekends life satisfaction fluctuated more and people tended to have more varied mental health, while things were steadier during the week. Happiness, life satisfaction, and worthwhile ratings were all higher on Mondays and Fridays than on Sundays, and happiness was also higher on Tuesdays. But there was no evidence that loneliness differed across days of the week.
The seasons affected people’s wellbeing with winter seeing higher scores for depressive and anxiety symptoms and loneliness, and lower levels of happiness, life satisfaction, and feeling that life was worthwhile.
Dr Feifei Bu added: "Our findings suggest that on average, people's mental health and wellbeing are better in the morning and worst at midnight. If validated, this could have important practical implications. Researchers investigating people's mental health and wellbeing should take into account the time of day people respond.
"Mental health support services might consider adjusting resources to match fluctuating needs across the day - for instance, prioritising late-night availability."
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