Brits are happier in the morning - according to what we tweet

If you’re not a morning person you may well be in the minority, with research suggesting that as a nation we’re happier earlier in the day – according to what we tweet.

An analysis of seven billion words used in 800 million tweets suggested that they are happier in the morning but struggle to keep that positivity up throughout the day.

Researchers at the University of Bristol used artificial intelligence to analyse content from Twitter every hour over the course of four years across 54 of the UK’s largest cities to see if people’s thinking changes collectively.

Their research suggested that it changes at different times of the day and follows a 24-hour pattern.

According to their findings, the words and language used in people’s tweets in the morning suggest a more logical way of thinking, which changes to a more ’emotional and existential one’ in the evenings and at night.

Professor Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and the project lead, compared it to a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde scenario, saying: “You are one person in the morning, and a different person in the night.”

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He said morning thinking was “analytical, active, focused” while the evenings bring “much more emotional, social, and much more negative” patterns, often involving sad words.

And the early hours saw people’s thoughts of death and ‘existential angst’ peak, the research suggested.