It's official: Work is making us miserable

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Flickr/Omar Gurnah

People tend to be less happy during work hours.

Jawbone recently analyzed data from hundreds of thousands of people who use its UP app and one finding stood out: People seem to be less happy when they're at work.

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The UP activity tracker comes with an app that allows users to track their mood by indicating when they're feeling "amazing," "totally done," or somewhere in between. The data was collected over the past year.

In general, people tend to be happier on weekends, presumably when they're not at the office. But that happiness bottoms out at 11 p.m. on Sunday.

On weekdays, happiness peaks at around 10 a.m. and falls steadily until about 5 p.m., when many of us start getting ready to clock out. People are happiest at 11 a.m. on Friday, as the prospect of weekend freedom draws nearer.

These findings look similar (though not identical) to the results of a 2011 study conducted by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern. According to their analysis of the content of tweets, people are happiest in the early morning and late evening and happier on weekends than weekdays.

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Jawbone

Jawbone found people are happier on weekends than on weekdays.

Of course, none of this data proves that work is the source of all our sadness or anxiety - there could be other factors at play. But it does suggest there are activities we enjoy far more than the daily grind.

While most of us would be hard pressed to quit our jobs because they aren't making us happy, there are simple ways to lift your mood during the workday. For instance, take regular breaks, consider bringing some greenery into your office, and keep a list of your daily wins.

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