Does it also happen to you to wake up full of energy and desire to do, and to lose the proactive momentum as the day turns to the end? If the answer is yes, know that it is normal: a study conducted on almost 50,000 people and published on BMJ Mental Health confirmed the correlation between mental well -being and moment of the day, recording The maximum of positivity in the early hours of the morning. Even the days of the week and the seasons affect our mental health and – surprisingly – Monday is one of the best days.
The aspects analyzed. Scholars analyzed the data collected between 2020 and 2022 from Covid-19 social study of the UCL, a research conducted in the Covid era aimed at investigating The psychological impact of the pandemic. Of the over 49,200 people involved, 76.5% were women and 68% had a degree. The psychological aspects analyzed in research concerned mental health and in particular the symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, happiness, satisfaction regarding one’s life, eudaimal well -being (i.e. the perception that one’s life makes sense) and solitude.
Days, weeks, seasons. From the results it emerged that as soon as the participants took low levels of anxiety, depression and loneliness and high levels of happiness and satisfaction; On the contrary, around midnight the negative feelings took over, overturning the situation.
In addition to the time of the day, it seems that On our mood it also affects the day of the week and the season: surprisingly on Mondays and Tuesdays, together with the most predictable Fridays, were more positive days on Sunday; as regards the seasonality, as was to expect those winter are the months in which we feel more depressedalone and anxious, while the best period is the summer, when our mental health is at the top.
Limits and possible explanations. Being an observational study and, moreover, based on data self -employed by the participants, the results must be taken with the pliers and do not indicate a relationship of cause and effect. The authors also emphasize that no information on participants were available about sleep cycles, latitude or climate of the place where they lived.
Having said that, it is likely that the changes in psychological health during the day are connected to the hormonal variations associated with the biological clock, which lead us for example to have a peak of cortisol (hormone that gives us energy) just wake up and a collapse just before sleeping.
The weekly changes could depend on the various activities that we carry out on weekends and on weekdays, while seasonal variations could be connected to the climate, social habits, holidays and the rhythm of work.
