How Time of Day Affects Mood and Productivity
The results correspond to the fact that Susan Albers, Psyd, a psychologist in the Cleveland clinic in Ohio, sees in her practice.
“My patients report that in the morning they often feel better, and in the evening they fight a lot with anxiety, difficulty in sleep and turn off their brain,” says Dr. Albers, who did not participate in the study.
Happiness and mood are measured for 2 years and 1 million answers for examination
For this study, researchers sought to study whether the time of day was associated with variations of mental health, including a sense of depression, anxiety and loneliness, as well as happiness, satisfaction with life and the feeling that life is standing. They also looked at the day of the week, season and year.
Researchers interviewed 49,218 adults in the United Kingdom from 2020 to 2022. By the end of the period, researchers collected almost a million answers.
About 3 out of 4 participants were women, 68 percent had higher education, and 94 percent were white. To compensate, researchers weighed answers to reflect the proportions of the population.
Happiness and mental health were the best in the morning and the lowest to midnight
Mental health and well-being were measured using an online quote using confirmed evaluation tools or using individual direct questions, such as:
- Last week, how are you happy?
- How happy were you with your life?
- To what extent did you feel what you are doing in your life?
At the end of each survey, trademarks provided information about the time of day (people could answer from 6 a.m. to midnight), the day of the week, season and year.
Key conclusions included:
- While happiness, satisfaction with life and worthy ratings were high in the morning, they were the lowest around midnight. Similarly, depression and anxiety were low in the morning and the highest late night.
- Happiness, satisfaction with life and worthy ratings were slightly higher on Mondays and Fridays than on Sundays. Happiness was also higher on Tuesdays.
- The level of loneliness remained constant within a few days of the week. On weekends, there were more differences in mental health and well -being than on weekdays.
- There were clear evidence of the seasonal impact on the mood. Compared to winter, people, as a rule, had a lower level of depression, anxiety and loneliness, as well as a higher level of happiness, satisfaction of life and the feeling that life is in other seasons. Mental health was best in the summer in all results.
- Mental health and well-being also improved steadily since 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, until 2022.
How sunlight and dream affect the mood
The results correspond to what we know about biology and mood, says Albers.
“In the morning of the peak of the hormone cortisol, which helps with vigilance and energy,” she says.
“The circus rhythms of our sleep and wakefulness cycle can be a factor because the effects of sunlight, especially in the morning, makes us feel good,” says Albers.
Especially if we sprinkle the night, it serves as a discharge button for our emotional state, and we consider the next day as a new start, she says.
The data obtained that mood and anxiety rise at night resonated with what Albers sees with his patients.
“Late at night is when we experience fatigue from decisions. First of all, we have not yet made many decisions, but by the end of the day we made hundreds of large and small elections. At this moment, we are simply mentally and emotionally exhausted, ”she says.
How to be your happiest and most productive
To use your ups and minimizing his falls, Albers offers to “conduct an observant study of yourself”.
“Make track of your mood during the day to see what is optimal for you. If your experience corresponds to the conclusions of this study, try to plan important or complex tasks for the first morning, when you become the most concentrated and have better concentration, energy and mood, ”she says.
According to Albers, exercises in the evening can also be a good way of natural mood strengthening.
“This is a good practice to have a night“ rod ”. The implementation of some exercises for awareness, relaxation and control of stress at night can help disconnect your brain so that you do not wake up at night, do not reflect and are not shy about everything that happened during the day, ”she says.