Case of the Mondays? That's a Good Thing!

So, Monday. Here you are again. I'd complain, but apparently I'm in the minority. Researchers  in Germany found that people rated themselves happiest on Mondays and least happy on Sundays, with their "feelings of well-being" generally falling throughout the week.

But you know. It's the Germans, right? (Doesn't the government pay for shorter work hours, or something?) Actually, it's us too. Americans love our Mondays.

First, here's the graph of German respondents.

For a transatlantic translation of these findings, the New Republic's Zubin Jelveh scooped up this 2008 US survey asking American respondents to rate how happy they were throughout the week. Here's the graph he pulled out, tracking the percent that responded "Very happy" or "Pretty happy."

Two observations. On any given day, more than 75 percent of Americans are very or pretty happy? That's a lot higher than I would have guessed. Also, hump day, really? This graph is literally an inverse of my weekly mood cycle.