What are mood swings?
Mood swings refer to rapid changes in mood. The term may refer to minor daily mood changes or to significant mood changes as seen with mood disorders such as major depression or bipolar depression. Mood swings have the ability to make you feel totally out of control and hypersensitive to every feeling, touch, look and word.
Ways to control mood swings –
1. Take A Moment To Chill
Take a moment to chill
When you feel your mood begin to change, take a moment to pause, breathe deeply and focus. Center your attention on something in the present, such as the sound of your breathing or the feeling of the wind on your skin.
By focusing your attention on something sensory you can take your mind away from negative thoughts and feelings.
2. Seek Balance
Seek balance
Begin to assess all aspects of your lifestyle and address where you can improve.
Can you get more exercise?
Can you get more sleep?
Can you eat a balanced diet?
Addressing unhealthy habits can positively impact your mood because you are in control. Nothing can stand in your way.
3. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and sugar
Avoid caffeine, alcohol and sugar
These stimulants and depressants can alter your natural state, making mood shifts worse or causing them in the first place. Sure, caffeine can make you feel less fatigued, but it can also worsen anxiety and nervousness.
Alcohol is a depressant that can worsen bad moods or make you behave irrationally. Sugary foods, while delicious, can cause swings in your blood sugar level. These fluctuations may cause shifts in mood and other symptoms. Cut back as much as you can on all three foods in order to maintain stable moods.
4. Practice stress management
Practice stress management
Stress and anxiety can make symptoms of several conditions, including PMS, worse. If you’re worried, taxed, or otherwise strained, learning to manage the stress can help you avoid complications, including changes in mood. Meditation, deep breathing, and yoga are all proven to help manage stress. Massage therapy or talk therapy may also be highly beneficial.
5. Change your diet
Change your diet
Eating large meals three times per day may be traditional, but eating smaller meals may be better for mood stability. That’s because blood sugar shifts following large meals may contribute to emotional shifts. Smaller meals, divided throughout the day, may help stabilize your blood sugar to keep these extreme shifts in mood at bay.
6. Get better sleep
Get better sleep
A good night’s sleep can cure a lot of ills, including irritability and extreme changes in mood. Aim for 7 to 8 hours per night. If that seems too daunting, try to add just 30 extra minutes by turning in half an hour earlier than you normally would. When you’ve managed that, try adding 30 minutes more.