We all get a bit moody sometimes. Feeling irritable, having a slightly shorter temper, or feeling sad and lonely are feelings that are not just perfectly common. They are perfectly, for lack of a better term, normal.
However, suffering from mood swings is not quite the same as having a bit of a bad day here and there. It’s important to understand what they actually are, how they are diagnosed and treated.
Let’s first define what mood swings are. Then we’ll explore everything else you need to know about them, including their potential causes and how to make them less disruptive.
What Are Mood Swings?
Mood swings can be described as excessive or sudden changes in your mood and state of mind. You may go from extreme happiness to extreme sadness, from excitement to dread, and so on.
These swings do not need to be as extreme, but they do involve “switching” from one mood to another, typically out of proportion with the current situation and its significance. When you are going about your day feeling happy and elated and then hear some sad or frightening news, your mood will naturally change and adjust. But when this change happens for no reason at all or is much more severe than the situation warrants, we’re talking about mood swings.
What Are the Symptoms of Mood Swings?
It can be very hard to define the symptoms of mood swings, as everyone will experience them differently. In essence, they will involve a swing from one mood to another, often without an objective reason.
Depending on their underlying cause, they may also come with a wide range of symptoms. These are some of them:
This list is by no means exhaustive, and how you experience a mood swing may be quite different. However, if you do notice some of these symptoms, you should consider mood swings as their underlying cause. In that case, it would be best to speak to a mental health specialist.
What Are the Causes of Mood Swings?
Mood swings can have a wide range of causes, which is why it’s extremely important to speak to a professional to correctly identify them. Some of them can be practically harmless and easily treatable, while others may require long-term treatment.
Here are some of the most common causes of mood swings:
Common Lifestyle-Related Causes of Mood Swings
The way we live our lives and what is currently happening in them can be the cause of our mood swings.
For example, you can experience mood swings if you are:
These will, however, usually be short-lived and go away on their own without any treatment once the trigger is removed.
Mental Health Issues That Can Cause Mood Swings
A very long list of mental health conditions can cause mood swings. In order to treat them, the condition itself must be addressed.
In no particular order, they include:
Determining whether your mood swings are caused by one of these disorders will take some time and professional counseling. So, if you suspect that there’s more to how you are feeling than mere stress, it’s always best to speak to someone who can help you identify any underlying issues.
Physical Health Issues That Can Cause Mood Swings
Some physical health issues can also cause mood swings. They do this either directly, by causing chemical imbalances in the brain or fluctuations in your hormone levels, or indirectly, by bringing on feelings of depression or anxiety.
They include:
When this is the case, you will first need to determine whether the illness is impacting your mood directly or indirectly. There are medications that can help treat the imbalances caused by some of these conditions. Additionally, therapy can help if they are sparking depressive or anxious thoughts that are leading to mood swings.
Mood Swings in Women
While men can also suffer from mood swings, they are, sadly, mostly perceived as a typical female issue. And yes, the fluctuations in hormone levels a woman undergoes every month can significantly contribute to mood swings. However, they are far from a female-only condition.
Here are some of the most common causes of mood swings in women:
Most women will experience mood swings associated with PMS on a monthly basis, and they may become more pronounced during pregnancy. They are perfectly natural, and while they can be incredibly tiring, cause friction between partners, and distort a woman’s outlook on life, it’s important to remember that these feelings are temporary. They will level out when your hormone levels return to normal.
xHow to Treat and Prevent Mood Swings
Given the fact that we’ve just established over two dozen conditions and circumstances that can cause mood swings, it can be difficult to provide specific advice on how to prevent and ease them. However, there are some general pieces of advice that will most likely be able to help and that also happen to be beneficial for your overall wellbeing.
Regular Exercise
Exercising regularly can significantly benefit both your physical and mental health. When you move your body, it releases feel-good hormones that can help reduce your stress levels and improve your mood. When you do it regularly, you also become fitter, healthier, more confident, and energetic – which can also put you in an overall better mood.
Sleep Better
Sleep is an incredibly important aspect of a balanced, healthy life, yet we often sacrifice it for seemingly no good reason. Simply ensuring you get enough consistently good sleep will help you stabilize your mood. If you’re having trouble sleeping or suffer from insomnia, make sure you find a remedy and a sleep routine that helps send you to sleep, and notice how much better you feel.
Mind What You Eat
The foods you eat can significantly impact your mood. There are natural stimulants or natural depressants you may inadvertently be eating a lot of, which can be the root of your mood swings.
Avoid excessive caffeine, sugar, and alcohol intake, as all of them can shift your mood significantly, first upwards and then downwards. Focus on eating green veggies and berries, as they have some amazing mood-boosting properties.
Find a Way to Manage Your Stress
Stress management is also incredibly important when it comes to managing mood swings. When you are stressed out, you really can’t think straight. You may be looking at certain situations from the wrong angle, which can help fuel your mood swings.
You can try meditation, yoga, journaling, hiking, breathing exercises, boxing, cooking, reading, and so on. Whatever helps you channel your stress and ease your mind, make sure you regularly find time to do it.
Don’t wait to get stressed to practice self-care. By doing something for yourself every day, even if it’s something simple and seemingly small, you’ll be preventing the stress from piling on and becoming unbearable.
It’s All About the Balance
No matter what you do and how many relaxation techniques you employ, how well you eat and sleep, and how regularly you exercise, you’re still likely to suffer from a mood swing every now and again.
By expecting yourself to live life always in the positive or at least in neutral, you’ll be putting too much pressure on yourself trying to achieve the impossible. Instead, embrace the fact that there will be down days and low days. Accept that your mood will need to swing, sometimes unpredictably, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes rather irritatingly.
The more you’re able to embrace the bad days and the bad moods as a passing phase – as something that’s just a part of your life but that does not define it – the more you will be able to enjoy the positive and uplifting moods.
Remember that you are human and that your life is all about balance. There will be good moods, and there will be bad moods. All you can do is strive to achieve a steady state of equilibrium.
Final Thoughts
Mood swings can be the result of a whole host of lifestyle habits, mental states, and physical conditions.
While we will all experience them differently, it’s important to discover what the causes and triggers are for yours. Once you’ve identified them, you can start looking for the best recipe to soothe and manage them.
There may be some trial and error involved, and you may need to try out different techniques until you hit upon one that works. Either way, don’t give up. Mood swings can be managed. Seek professional help if you need to, and never feel weaker or less confident for them. They are just a sign that you are, in fact, human.
