A new study finds people experience better moods, greater vitality, and fewer aches and pains from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. To state the blatantly obvious, everyone loves the weekend.

Researchers monitored daily mood variations in employed adults, and found the ‘weekend effect’ is largely associated with the freedom to choose one’s activities and the opportunity to spend time with loved ones. The study appears in the January  issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. (One can extrapolate the idea that autonomy and friendship might be a good thing to fit into the work week as well.)

“Workers, even those with interesting, high status jobs, really are happier on the weekend,” said author Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, in a press release issued by the university. “Our findings highlight just how important free time is to an individual’s well-being. Far from frivolous, the relatively unfettered time on weekends provides critical opportunities for bonding with others, exploring interests and relaxing — basic psychological needs that people should be careful not to crowd out with overwork.”

Ryan and two others followed the moods of 74 adults, aged 18 to 62, who worked at least 30 hours per week. For three weeks, participants were paged randomly three times a day, completing a brief questionnaire describing the activity in which they were engaged. Using a seven-point scale, they rated their positive and negative feelings of anxiety, anger, and depression. Physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches, digestive problems, respiratory ills, or low energy, were also noted.

Everybody feels better on the weekend, the researchers found  – regardless of age, education, marital status, how much money they make, how many hours they work or the industry in which they work. (And incidentally, fans of the band Loverboy, will get the title of this post. The rest of you, spend part of your weekend catching up on ’80s rock bands.)

Next up on the research front: Do children really enjoy Halloween?

• What Research Shows About Money & Happiness
• Engagement and Success at Work
• Economic Blast from the Past
• The Joy of Reading
• When the CEO becomes king of his castle, short the stock

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Money & Happiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.