Mood swings have become too common lately. The intense and abrupt changes to your emotional state is how it is often characterized by. From feeling happy and excited one moment to experiencing sadness or irritability the next, mood swings can significantly impact an individual’s well-being, relationships and life as a whole.
Upon consulting a doctor, we found, how it can end up making an individual take wrong decisions in life, such as, divorce, suicide, and breaking off many ties in his life.
But not to worry, we are here to put more light upon this. We will understand its causes and how to apply some strategies that would help you manage it effectively.
Therefore, let’s begin with the causes first.
Causes of Mood Swings
Biological Factors:
- Hormonal fluctuations: Hormonal changes in the body such as those experienced during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause, can trigger mood swings in women.
- Neurotransmitter imbalances: Imbalances in brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine can also disrupt mood regulation, which further leads to inconsistent emotional states.
- Genetics: A family history of mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder or major depression, can increase the likelihood of experiencing mood swings.
Psychological Factors:
- Stress: If you’re not managing your work life, relationships or personal challenges, it can contribute to your abrupt mood changes.
- Trauma: Past traumatic experiences, including abuse, neglect, or loss, can influence emotional well being and contribute to your mood swings.
- Personality traits: Certain personality traits, such as impulsivity or perfectionism, may cause individuals to experience frequent mood fluctuations.
Environmental Factors:
- Sleep disturbances: Poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep can disrupt your mood more possibly than you may think.
- Substance abuse: Alcohol, drugs, and certain medications can hijack your brain chemistry and raise mood instability.
- Social influences: Negative social interactions or conflicts with friends, family, or coworkers can trigger mood swings in certain individuals.
Effects of Mood Swings
Mood swings can have profound effects on various aspects of life, which includes:
- Relationships: Extreme mood changes can affect your relationships with partners, family members, and friends, and further lead to misunderstandings and conflicts which would start to look real after a certain period, with consistent telling in your brain.
- Work performance: Irritability and lack of concentration can affect your productivity and performance at work or school.
- Physical health: The consistent stress that results from frequent mood swings may weaken your immune system, increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, and worsen your existing health conditions.
- Mental well-being: Persistent mood changes can take a toll on mental health, which further can contribute to anxiety, depression, and feelings of hopelessness in life.
Since now you’re aware of the causes and effects of our mood shifts, let’s discuss how we can come out of it.
Strategies for Managing Mood Swings
1. Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle:
- Prioritize sleep: Yes, we would ask you to make changes in this specific area as your first step towards treating your mood swings. Therefore, aim for at least 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night to support mood regulation and overall well-being.
To have an effective sleep, here are –
- Exercise regularly: Engage in regular physical activity, such as walking, jogging, or yoga, to release endorphins and reduce stress. You have to focus on your body movements, activities like swimming, games, etc. can also contribute in the same way. The idea is to enroll somewhere physically to throw out the garbage ‘phins’ from you. Here are more reasons why you MUST exercise!
- Eat a balanced diet: Consume a variety of nutrient-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, to support brain health and stabilize mood. Remember, what you eat affects your mood. Avoid eating low or poor quality fats such as trans-fats that may affect your mood more than you can imagine. Fried foods contain such fats and why else is everyone so agitated all the time these days?
2. Practice Stress Management Techniques:
- Mindfulness meditation: Incorporate mindfulness practices into your daily routine to cultivate a sense of calm and presence in your everyday lives, reduce stress, and enhance emotional resilience.
Want to know How To Meditate? Here’s A Step-By-Step Guide
- Deep breathing exercises: Practice deep breathing techniques to calm your nervous system and promote relaxation during periods of increased stress or anxiety.
3. Seek Professional Support:
- Therapy: This is something we would highly emphasize since mental wellbeing in today’s era is quite something the majority are lacking with. Therefore, consider a therapy session to explore your emotional issues. It will help you learn coping skills, and develop healthier ways of managing your emotions.
Remember: You’re not wrong, your mental wellbeing is.
- Medication: In some extreme cases, medication may be prescribed to help stabilize mood and alleviate symptoms of mood disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder. Therefore, you must treat yourself with good care and take proper medication if you’re broken mentally. Life is not easy for any human being, if you’re consulting the right doctor, prescribed medication will help you relieve you from your depressive state.
- Support groups: Connect with others who have had similar experiences,to receive support, and learn effective coping strategies. There are many group meets that happen on a constant basis. Meeting people who have come out of it will be a great motivation for you to get over your mental disturbances.
Mood swings are natural. It is an interplay of biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Occasional fluctuations in mood are fine but consistent and severe mood swings may indicate an issue that will need some professional attention.
Therefore, with the understanding of the causes of your mood swings and then, implementing various techniques to rectify it, you can better manage your emotional well-being and end up leading a fulfilled life.
Also remember,
Seeking support from your loved ones and mental health professionals is a sign of strength,
not weakness, therefore, never hesitate to work on yourself.
You’re here to live your life and not impress any human out there, so get off that burden and find out all the ways to live a wonderful life.
