A recent study has explored what basic factors make us wake up happy – and the results probably won’t surprise you. It turns out, getting enough sleep – but not too much – has the biggest impact on how good your mood is. Next after that? How much exercise you did the previous day.
Enough sleep
What is ‘enough’ sleep? Everyone has a different sleep number (the amount of sleep that is ideal for you), so it’s hard to dictate the amount of sleep you should get. But the average amount of sleep for a good mood was around 8 hours. More than 9.5 hours saw a decline in mood.
To find out what your sleep number is, for a few nights in a row, don’t use an alarm clock and wait to wake up naturally (this requires a free morning schedule). Record the amount of sleep you get each night, and after a few nights you should have a good idea of what it takes for your body to feel rested and wake itself up.
Exercise for happiness
The link between mood and exercise is universally accepted, so there is no surprise that this was part of the study results. Researchers agree that ‘enough’ exercise is only 150 minutes a week, a very achievable number for most of us.
The happiness challenge
Not convinced sleep and exercise are enough? For one week, stick strictly to achieving your sleep number and exercise for at least half an hour every day. Record your mood on a scale of 1-10 every morning, and hopefully you should see that number go up!