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Morning is the Happiest Time of Day (for Most People)
Science on chronotypes is good news for early risers, bad news for many night owls, based on physical and mental health effects
I’m a morning person. My wife is more of a night owl. I love seeing sunrise. She typically pulls the covers over her head. Our chronotypes — the hours when we most naturally fall asleep and wake up — influence when we’re most productive, when we prefer to exercise, and how our moods change throughout the day. Such differences are common. But new research reveals that for most people, morning is the best time of day — a finding that indirectly offers a warning to night owls.
Happiness and other measures of well-being peak shortly after people wake up, and reach a low ebb at night, with the nadir coming at midnight, according to the analysis of results from multiple surveys of 49,218 UK adults across two years.
“On average, people seem to feel best early in the day and worst late at night,” study leader Feifei Bu, PhD, a research fellow in epidemiology in behavioral science and health at the University College London, said in an email interview. “This is consistent across different aspects of mental health and well-being, particularly depressive symptoms, happiness, life satisfaction, and sense…
