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In a nutshell
- Science confirms we generally feel better in the morning – mental health peaks early in the day and gradually declines until reaching its lowest point around midnight.
- Mental wellbeing shows more dramatic fluctuations on weekends than weekdays, suggesting work schedules may suppress our natural psychological rhythms.
- Season has an even stronger effect than time of day – mental health consistently improves during summer months and worsens in winter across all measures.
LONDON — “Things will look better in the morning.” We’ve all heard it. Parents, friends, and therapists have offered this reassuring advice for generations when we’re going through tough times. But is there any scientific truth to it? Does our mental health actually improve after sleep, or is this just a comforting myth?
A team of researchers from University College London (UCL) decided to find out, and their results are fascinating. In a massive study published in BMJ Mental Health, they tracked the mental health patterns of over 49,000 adults for two years, collecting nearly one million mood measurements.
So what did they find? In short: mornings really are better. People consistently reported less depression, less anxiety, and more happiness during morning hours. Their mental well-being then gradually declined throughout the day, hitting rock bottom around midnight.
But before you start scheduling all important conversations for breakfast time, there’s a catch. While these patterns were consistent, the differences were relatively small. Your morning self isn’t dramatically happier than your evening self – just modestly so.
Dr. Feifei Bu and colleagues analyzed data from UCL’s COVID-19 Social Study, which gathered detailed measurements from thousands of participants between March 2020 and March 2022. The study wasn’t just massive in participant numbers – each person completed surveys multiple times, creating an unprecedented window into how mental health shifts throughout the day, week, and year.
Beyond the morning boost, researchers spotted several other fascinating patterns. Mental health tended to dip mid-week. We often refer to Wednesday as “hump day,” but for many it’s also a mental health “slump day.” The study showed Wednesday and Thursday yield higher depression and anxiety levels compared to Sundays. Weekends featured more dramatic mood swings than weekdays. And perhaps most notably, all mental health measures improved during summer months and worsened in winter.
What’s especially interesting is how different aspects of mental health followed different patterns. Our sense of happiness and life satisfaction showed clear daily fluctuations, but loneliness remained surprisingly stable regardless of time or day. This suggests that while our mood may rise and fall with the clock, our sense of social connection is much more persistent.
Why do these patterns exist? The researchers point to several possible explanations. Our bodies follow natural biological rhythms, with hormones like cortisol peaking in the morning and diminishing throughout the day. Environmental factors such as sunlight and temperature fluctuate predictably. And of course, our daily activities – working, eating, socializing – follow established patterns that might influence how we feel.
There’s also evidence that work schedules may be suppressing our natural psychological rhythms. During weekdays, emotional patterns showed less variation than on weekends, suggesting that work obligations might be flattening out the natural ups and downs of our mental state.
But before we overhaul mental health services based on these results, it’s worth noting some limitations. The study wasn’t perfectly representative of the population – it included more women and highly educated individuals than average, though researchers used statistical methods to adjust for this. And since participants chose when to complete their surveys, it’s possible that their mental state influenced when they responded, rather than the other way around.
Dr. Bu’s team emphasizes that while the morning improvement is real, it’s modest. Bad mornings still happen, and serious mental health challenges don’t simply disappear with the sunrise. Yet understanding these natural rhythms could help both individuals and healthcare providers better manage mental well-being. With increasing flexibility in work schedules and growing awareness of mental health, we might need to reconsider how we structure our daily routines to better align with these natural patterns.
Paper Summary
Methodology
The study followed 49,218 adults in England who completed regular mental health assessments over two years. Participants answered questions about depression symptoms, anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction, sense of purpose, and loneliness. The researchers recorded exactly when each survey was completed, allowing them to analyze patterns across different times of day (from 6 AM to midnight), days of the week, and seasons. To ensure the findings better represented the general population, they used statistical methods to adjust for having more women and highly educated participants in their sample.
Results
Mental health measures typically showed small but consistent improvements in the morning, declining gradually throughout the day before reaching their lowest point around midnight. These patterns were more noticeable on weekends than weekdays. Summer brought better mental health across all measures compared to winter. Wednesdays and Thursdays showed higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms compared to Sundays. Loneliness levels remained relatively stable regardless of time or day.
Limitations
While this research provides valuable insights, it has several important limitations. The participants weren’t randomly selected – they volunteered for the study, and included more women and people with higher education levels than the general population. Although researchers used statistical methods to adjust for these differences, some bias may remain. Additionally, since participants chose when to complete their surveys, their response timing might have been influenced by how they were feeling at the time. The study also took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have affected the results in ways that might not apply to non-pandemic times.
Discussion and Takeaways
The research confirms that mental health does tend to be slightly better in the morning, though the effect is modest. Summer appears to bring more significant improvements to mental wellbeing than any daily patterns. The study provides scientific backing for timing mental health services around these natural rhythms – particularly the need for support during late night hours and winter months. The stability of loneliness compared to other mental health measures suggests that social connection might need different intervention approaches than other aspects of mental health.
Funding and Disclosures
The COVID-19 Social Study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation, with additional support from the MARCH Mental Health Network and the Wellcome Trust. The researchers declared no competing interests. All data from the study is available through the UK Data Service for other researchers to analyze.
Publication Information
This study, titled “Will things feel better in the morning? A time-of-day analysis of mental health and wellbeing from nearly 1 million observations,” was published in BMJ Mental Health on February 4, 2025. The research was conducted by Feifei Bu, Jessica K Bone, and Daisy Fancourt from the Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London.
