Happiest And Saddest Days Of The Year Identified In New Gallup Report

You might be surprised to learn that this holiday doesn't cause a lot of stress.

Think back: What is the happiest day you can remember from last year?

Well, according to a new report from Gallup and Healthways researchers, there's a pretty good chance that it was Dec. 25, Christmas.

The report -- which is based on 350,000 telephone surveys taken every day over the last year, asking about specific emotions a person experienced "yesterday" -- captured the happiest and saddest days of last year, as well as the general temperament of America during 2012.

On a whole, daily happiness was not achieved by Americans to the same level last year as it was during the two years prior, the Gallup researchers found -- specifically, 48 percent of Americans said that they experienced a "lot of a happiness/enjoyment without a lot of stress/worry" in 2012, compared with 49.1 percent of people in 2011 and 48.4 percent of people in 2010 reporting the same thing.

Meanwhile, just 10.8 percent of Americans said that they experienced a lot of stress or worry without a lot of enjoyment or happiness in 2012 -- 10.8 percent reported feeling this way in 2011 and 11 percent reported feeling this way in 2010.

So what exactly were some of the happiest and saddest days of last year? Interestingly, researchers found that the happiest days tended to be on holidays, while the saddest days of the year tended to be on weekdays (particularly at the beginning or middle of the week), as well as on days of certain events that were either stressful or tragic.

The "happiest" days of 2012, based on the highest percentage of people experiencing a lot of happiness and enjoyment without a lot of stress or worry:

Dec. 25: Christmas Day -- 66 percent

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Credit: AP

Nov. 22: Thanksgiving Day -- 64 percent

Jan. 1: New Year's Day -- 63 percent

May 13: Mother's Day -- 61 percent

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Credit: Alamy

March 11: Start of Daylight Saving Time -- 60 percent

The "saddest" days of 2012, based on the lowest percentage of people experiencing a lot of happiness and enjoyment without a lot of stress or worry:

Aug. 22: Wednesday -- 40 percent

Sept. 17: Monday -- 40 percent

Sept. 20: Thursday -- 40 percent

Nov. 6: Tuesday, Election Day -- 40 percent

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Credit: Getty

Nov. 7: Wednesday, the day results are learned from Election Day -- 40 percent

Nov. 14: Wednesday -- 40 percent

Nov. 15: Thursday -- 40 percent

Dec. 14: Friday, the day of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. -- 39 percent

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Credit: Getty

Feb. 16: Thursday -- 38 percent

Nov. 29: Thursday -- 38 percent

Tell us: What's the happiest (and saddest) day you can remember from the past year?

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