“The darkest hour is simply earlier than daybreak.”
Our temper or feeling may certainly enhance as evening provides solution to morning, however is there scientific fact behind this? For anybody who has felt the crushing weight of midnight anxiousness solely to seek out the expertise dissipates because the solar rises after a sleepless evening, the reply may appear apparent. But till just lately, we lacked sturdy proof about how our psychological well being fluctuates all through the day.
Diurnal temper variation—the phenomenon the place temper systematically adjustments throughout the day—has been recognised as a core characteristic of despair for many years (Wirz-Justice, 2008). Many individuals with despair expertise morning lows, afternoon slumps, and night worsening (Wirz-Justice, 2008). These patterns mirror the profound affect of our organic clocks on psychological well being. The circadian system, managed by a grasp clock in our mind, orchestrates near-24-hour rhythms in hormone secretion (like cortisol and melatonin), neurotransmitter exercise, and physiological processes that straight impression our temper (Walker et al., 2020). This organic clockwork helps clarify why sleep disruption and circadian misalignment are so tightly linked to temper issues. A earlier Psychological Elf weblog has explored how circadian rhythms affect our expertise of suicidal ideas.
We additionally know that seasonal adjustments profoundly have an effect on wellbeing. The shortening days and lowered gentle publicity of winter can disrupt circadian rhythms and are related to decrease temper, generally triggering seasonal affective dysfunction (SAD) in susceptible people (Amendolara et al., 2025), and decrease total life satisfaction (as mentioned in this Psychological Elf weblog by Melanie de Lange).
Now, a brand new examine by Bu and colleagues affords unprecedented insights into time-of-day patterns of psychological well being and wellbeing, analysing practically 1 million observations from over 49,000 adults in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic interval.
Many individuals with despair expertise morning lows, afternoon slumps, and night worsening, reflecting the affect of our organic clocks on our psychological well being.
Strategies
The researchers analysed information from the College Faculty London COVID-19 Social Research, which collected repeated measurements from 49,218 adults in England between March 2020 and March 2022. Members accomplished questionnaires at varied instances all through the day, offering a pure experiment to look at diurnal patterns. The examine didn’t require individuals to fill out surveys at particular instances. As an alternative, researchers despatched out survey invites and let individuals reply each time was handy for them. This created a pure experiment the place they might see how individuals’s psychological well being diversified relying on once they selected to reply.
The examine measured six facets of psychological well being and wellbeing:
- Despair: Affected person Well being Questionnaire-9, a 9-item questionnaire screening for depressive signs.
- Nervousness: Generalised Nervousness Dysfunction-7, a 7-item instrument measuring anxiousness signs.
- Happiness: Single-item measure representing hedonic wellbeing (pleasure-focused).
- Life satisfaction: Single-item measure additionally a part of hedonic wellbeing.
- Feeling life is worth it: Single-item measure representing eudemonic wellbeing (meaning-focused).
- Loneliness: UCLA Loneliness Scale-3, a 3-item questionnaire for social wellbeing
Knowledge have been analysed throughout linear mixed-effects fashions, testing how time of day, day of the week, season, and yr affected every consequence.
Practically 50,000 adults accomplished temper assessments at varied instances all through the day over two years in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outcomes
The examine initially included practically 50,000 individuals and principally consisted of girls (76.4%), extremely educated individuals (68.1% had levels), and lacked ethnic minorities (5.9%). To handle this bias, researchers used a statistical method known as “weighting” – primarily adjusting the numbers so the outcomes would higher symbolize the final English grownup inhabitants. This didn’t imply excluding individuals out of the examine; as an alternative, it meant giving extra significance to responses from underrepresented teams. After this adjustment, the pattern seemed far more like England’s precise inhabitants: the ultimate pattern comprised 50.8% girls, 34.2% with increased schooling, and 14.6% from ethnic minority backgrounds. The age vary was properly unfold out, and about 1 in 5 individuals (20.2%) self-reported having been recognized with a psychological well being situation.
Time-of-day patterns
The findings reveal a transparent diurnal sample: individuals typically get up feeling their greatest and really feel progressively worse because the day wears on, reaching their lowest level round midnight. This sample was remarkably constant throughout a number of psychological well being measures:
- Despair and anxiousness signs have been lowest within the morning and steadily elevated all through the day, peaking at midnight.
- Hedonic wellbeing (happiness and life satisfaction) confirmed morning peaks, declined sharply till noon, after which confirmed a small night restoration, earlier than dropping to their lowest at midnight.
- Eudemonic wellbeing (feeling life is worth it) had probably the most dramatic variation, with a outstanding morning peak, steep noon drop, notable night restoration, and sharp decline at midnight.
- Social wellbeing (loneliness) remained comparatively secure all through the day, displaying the least time-of-day variation.
Day-of-week patterns
Psychological well being additionally diversified considerably by day of the week:
- Despair and anxiousness have been highest mid-week (Wednesday/Thursday), suggesting a “midweek stoop” impact.
- Wellbeing measures confirmed better variation on weekends in comparison with weekdays, with sharper morning peaks and steeper night declines.
- Tuesday and Wednesday morning disrupted the same old sample – individuals skilled increased despair and anxiousness regardless of the final morning aid, presumably reflecting work-related stress early within the week.
Seasonal results
The examine discovered sturdy seasonal patterns in psychological well being:
- Summer season confirmed one of the best psychological well being throughout all measures, with decrease despair/anxiousness and better wellbeing scores.
- Winter had the poorest psychological well being outcomes, consistent with the well-known “winter blues” phenomenon.
- Spring and autumn fell between these extremes, displaying intermediate ranges of psychological well being.
12 months-on-year enhancements
Curiously, psychological well being steadily improved throughout the examine interval (2020-2022), with all measures displaying higher scores in later years. This probably displays adaptation to pandemic situations and gradual easing of restrictions.
These findings counsel our psychological well being follows day by day, weekly, and seasonal rhythms, with morning typically being our psychological “peak” and late nights our “trough”.
From daybreak to nightfall, temper fluctuates; peaking within the morning and dipping at midnight.
Conclusions
The authors concluded:
Typically, issues do certainly appear higher within the morning. Individuals typically reported the worst psychological well being and wellbeing late within the day and in winter, and there was extra variation on the weekends. Trying throughout totally different facets of psychological well being and wellbeing, hedonic [pleasure] and eudemonic [happiness] wellbeing had probably the most variation, and social well- being was most secure.
For most individuals, psychological well being was greatest within the morning, dipped mid-week, and was higher in summer time than winter. Happiness and life goal diversified probably the most throughout the day and seasons.
Strengths and limitations
This examine’s biggest energy is unprecedented scale – over 49,000 individuals accomplished practically 1 million observations over two years. The repeated measures design tracked the identical individuals over time to see how their very own temper modified all through the day, somewhat than simply evaluating totally different people. By letting individuals full survey naturally throughout their day by day routines, researchers captured real-world patterns as an alternative of synthetic laboratory situations. The great strategy – measuring all the pieces from despair to life satisfaction – provides us a whole image of psychological wellbeing.
Nevertheless, there are a number of limitations. Most significantly, the complete examine occurred throughout COVID-19 (2020-2022), when lockdowns and distant work fully disrupted regular routines. Pandemic anxiousness and isolation probably influenced temper patterns in ways in which wouldn’t happen in regular instances. The examine was additionally restricted to England, the place daytime differ considerably from different components of the world –what works for London won’t apply to Sydney or Stockholm.
As well as, they didn’t measure time spent in pure gentle publicity, regardless that gentle is essential for regulating our physique clocks and temper (Blume et al., 2019). With out understanding whether or not individuals frolicked outside or stayed inside all day, we are able to’t decide if these temper adjustments mirror real organic rhythms or simply behavioural habits. The examine design, because the authors acknowledged, can not set up causality – we don’t know if morning really makes us happier, or if happier persons are merely extra prone to full morning surveys.
Lastly, whereas despair, anxiousness and loneliness have been measured utilizing validated questionnaires, happiness and life satisfaction have been assessed with single questions. Single gadgets lack the reliability and validity of established scales, probably explaining why optimistic feelings confirmed extra variability than adverse signs.
The COVID-19 context might have skewed outcomes, as day by day routines and light-weight publicity have been extremely disrupted.
Implications for follow
These findings may also help us to reshape how we strategy psychological well being care. Clinicians have to recognise that evaluation timing issues – a morning appointment may miss night despair peaks, whereas afternoon evaluations might underestimate morning anxiousness. This implies the necessity for time-stamped symptom monitoring, maybe utilizing ecological momentary evaluation (EMA) apps that seize temper fluctuations all through the day.
The morning wellbeing peak helps current suggestions for early-day vivid gentle remedy in temper issues (Dollish et al., 2025). It additionally means that we should always schedule necessary work throughout these pure excessive factors. These patterns have profound implications for service supply. Disaster helplines ought to anticipate elevated demand throughout these darkish night hours, significantly on weekends when temper swings are most excessive. Psychological well being providers might optimize assets by boosting night workers ranges and providing morning group classes when persons are most receptive to optimistic interventions. In workplaces, this analysis suggests aligning difficult tasks with morning readability and offering additional assist in the course of the “midweek stoop”.
For researchers, these findings demand a rethink of examine design to account for measurement timing. Research should both standardise measurement instances or statistically management for diurnal results to keep away from confounded outcomes. The substantial within-person variation in wellbeing measures highlights the restrictions of single-timepoint assessments.
This examine opens additional analysis questions:
- Do individuals with main depressive dysfunction present blunted morning enhancements?
- May we determine early warning indicators by monitoring adjustments in somebody’s typical diurnal sample?
Future research ought to discover personalised “chronotherapies” – timing medicines, remedy classes, and interventions to every particular person’s distinctive circadian profile. Somebody with night anxiousness may profit from afternoon leisure strategies, whereas one other battling morning despair may want daybreak gentle publicity.
Psychological well being providers ought to take into account timing when scheduling assessments and interventions to optimize care supply.
Assertion of pursuits
No battle of pursuits to declare.
Hyperlinks
Major paper
Bu F, Bone JK, Fancourt D. (2025) Will issues really feel higher within the morning? A time-of-day evaluation of psychological well being and wellbeing from practically 1 million observations. BMJ Psychological Well being, 28:1–8. doi:10.1136/bmjment-2024-301418
Different references
Amendolara B, Miller L, Samudrala S, McCarthy MJ. (2025) Morning-evening variations within the post-illumination pupillary response are related to seasonal temper adjustments. Chronobiology Worldwide. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2025.2490496
Blume C, Garbazza C, Spitschan M. (2019) Results of sunshine on human circadian rhythms, sleep and temper. Somnologie (Berl), 23(3):147-156. doi: 10.1007/s11818-019-00215-x
De Lange M. (2024) The impression of daylight saving time on life satisfaction. The Psychological Elf, 28 October 2024.
Donnelly N. (2025) Are ‘evening owls’ extra liable to suicidal ideas and behaviours? New evaluate on social and circadian rhythm dysregulation. The Psychological Elf, 17 March 2025.
Walker WH 2nd, Walton JC, DeVries AC, Nelson RJ. (2020) Circadian rhythm disruption and psychological well being. Translational Psychiatry, 10(1):28. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-0694-0
Wirz-Justice A. (2008) Diurnal variation of depressive signs. Dialogues in Medical Neuroscience, 10(3):337-343. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2008.10.3/awjustice
