Brits know what kind of day they’re going to have by 8.12am

Brits know what kind of day they are in for – good or bad – by 8.12am, according to a new study.

The main deciding factors for making it a bad one are most likely to be the behaviour of a partner or the boss. Almost two thirds of people believe that just one word can affect their approach to the day.

But you wouldn’t know it on the surface – as the same proportion admit pretending to be in a better mood than they are in order to keep up appearances.

The survey of 2000 UK adults was conducted by the Berry Company as part of its ‘Make It a Berry Good Day’ campaign to launch its new recipe, low-sugar juices.

It found that 41% counter their morning tailspin by taking a few minutes to relax, while 36% listen to music and a quarter turn to a healthy meal. 43% feel that the quality of their diet has an effect on their mood, with 30% agreeing that eating healthily improves their state of mind.

Berry Company founder Khaled El-Yafi said: “We are all too familiar with the sensation of waking up ‘on the wrong side of bed’ – a feeling that the day is destined to go downhill from-the-off.

“In our groggy, early-morning states it doesn’t take much to set us on a negative path, but our AM attitudes are also easily swayed by the little wins.

“With that harsh deadline of 8.12am before the fate of our day is set, it’s important to emphasise the positive aspects of our early morning moments.”

In terms of what indicates a bad day ahead, waking up feeling groggy and half-awake takes top spot, followed by early-morning mood swings and sleeping through your alarm. Losing your keys, getting caught in bad weather and waking up with unruly hair are also warning signals.

But if the sun is out, you wake up ahead of your alarm, start the day with a fresh punnet of berries and find a bonus fiver in your pocket then things are looking up. Hearing a good song on the radio, eating a healthy breakfast, and receiving a nice early-morning notification on your phone also mean you’re heading for a decent day.

When it comes to finding the source of the negative vibes affecting our day, 30% are put in a mood by our partner, while 27% of us have our happy-go-lucky attitude quashed by our boss. And while 15% feel that they have had their day ruined by a complete stranger, 42% have had their faith in humanity restored by a random act of kindness from somebody they’d never met.

To spread its message and ensure as many people as possible have a ‘berry good day’, The Berry Company has taken to the streets to test the theory of whether it’s possible to turn someone’s day around in those crucial early morning minutes before the 8.12am deadline. See the heart-warming video here.