With many of us feeling as gloomy as the miserable, grey January weather, here's some simple ways you could brighten up a dull day.

Notorious as a nation for being reserved, receiving a hug or a kiss from a loved one is the top ingredient for a perfect day, according to a new study.

The other elements of the perfect day include having a lie-in, being smiled at, enjoying good food – and all on a sunny day.

Naturally, there are differences according to age. For 25 to 44-year-olds, a lie-in topped the list while 47% of over-55s said getting a smile from a stranger was uplifting.

The nationwide study, commissioned for the launch of Citroën's Perfect Day campaign and released on Blue Monday, aims to find out what things make the UK public happy.

MOndays are bad at the best of times but Blue Monday, the third one of January, is so called because of a range of things – such as an empty bank account, woeful weather, a spike in divorce rates and the festive fun well and truly over – that combine to make us miserable.

The French vehicle manufacturer hopes that its campaign will encourage people to banish the January Blues and lift their spirits by planning their own Perfect Day while experiencing Citroën ownership with a 24-hour test drive.

Citroën toured the UK to find 12 of the happiest people around and to see what makes their Perfect Day, including the likes of a double amputee soldier who, at the age of 21, suffered catastrophic injuries from an IRA bomb. Despite spending six years in hospital, he overcame this horrific incident to become one of the world's best skydivers and finds happiness in the freedom skydiving gives him to move in ways not possible on the ground.

Overall, almost half of Britons (49%) admit that a hug is the best way to start the day. According to scientists, a hug releases the feel-good neurotransmitter oxytocin, also known as the bonding hormone.

Citroën UK's survey was conducted with 2,000 respondents and an equal gender split.

Top six ingredients for the perfect day

1 Receiving a hug – 49%

2 Receiving a kiss from a loved one – 46%

3 Having a lie-in – 45%

4 Enjoying good food – 43%

5 A sunny day – 41%

6 Being smiled at – 41%

At number five on the list was a good dose of sunshine, while a simple smile – proven to lower stress, anxiety and improve the immune system – from a stranger completes the ingredients for a perfect day.

More than four in 10 (43%) of respondents admitted that enjoying good food was a vital part of their ideal day.

And, despite the avalanche of New Year's Resolutions about doing more exercise, just 8% of those surveyed said going to the gym would form part of their perfect day.