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Data Shows How Morning Habits Affect Happiness

A new interactive study in New York and cities around the world shows analytic insights on morning habits and overall well being.

Morning rituals -- those cockcrow habits that take us from slumber to consciousness, to coffee and the sweep of a daily commute -- they’re an innate part of our day. And most recently, habits researchers have been quantifying via an interactive data set.

A recent analysis of morning behaviors comes from the number tabulators at IKEA. In an ongoing endeavor to decipher the affinities of customers, the make-it-yourself furniture store surveyed 8,292 respondents, ages 18 to 60, to create an interactive data set for eight international cities --  those being New York, Moscow, Mumbai, Berlin, Paris, Shanghai and Stockholm.

The data is a mixture of statistical observations about snooze buttons, grooming notes, bed cuddling, shower taking and even sex habits. Overall well-being is dually thrown in. Site visitors can point and click through a lineup of undulating graphs to see how routines affect happiness and moods.

Insights are ample on a number of fronts. The data sets show, for example, that while 77 percent of New Yorkers feel that playing with their children in the morning is important, only 21 percent actually do. Similarly, 87 percent of New Yorkers feel they should hug or kiss their partner in the morning but only a little over half, 53 percent, actually do.

It also notes that 30- to 39-year-olds are the most anxious about looks before heading out; only 16 percent of New Yorkers really do exercise at first light; repeated alarm clock snooze buttons produce stress; and self-reflection is typically reserved for the shower or bath.

Check out some of the highlights below, or feel free to play with the facts and figures yourself.

How the Snooze Button Affects Stress

According to the study, users of the snooze of button were more likely to report greater levels of stress in the mornings.




 

Exercise Makes a Difference on Morning Happiness

Though it may come without surprise, New York respondents said exercise played a beneficial role in their morning happiness despite the fact that few do it.



 

Morning Showers

Morning showers and bathing were split by about a 10 percent gap. However, those who bathed said it boosted morning happiness as they started the day.



Jason Shueh is a former staff writer for Government Technology magazine.