What are mood swings?
Mood swings are sudden, unexpected shifts in emotion that can go from feeling positive and upbeat one moment to feeling sad, irritable, or angry the next. They involve rapid changes in mood that seem to occur without warning.
Some key things to understand about mood swings:
- They go beyond normal emotional ups and downs. Mood swings tend to be more extreme, happening out of the blue.
- They can vary in duration, lasting hours, days, or weeks. The shifts are quicker than typical mood changes.
- While anyone can experience occasional mood swings, frequent and intense mood swings may signal an underlying condition like depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder.
- Hormonal fluctuations often trigger mood swings. Hormones that influence mood include estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, and testosterone.
If you feel your mood swings are excessive, consulting a doctor or mental health professional can help. The experts at Hormone Harmony Clinic are compassionate and experienced at evaluating mood issues holistically and developing customized treatment plans that get to the root cause, rather than just masking symptoms.
What causes mood swings?
There are a few key culprits behind mood swings:
- Hormonal imbalances, especially drops and surges of estrogen and progesterone. These fluctuations commonly occur around the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and postpartum period, and perimenopause. Our hormonal systems heavily influence the brain regions that regulate mood.
- Stress, which leads to cortisol spikes and drops that can impact mood regulation. Stress also depletes feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin.
- Medications and drugs, including antidepressants, stimulants, corticosteroids, and illicit drugs, which alter brain chemistry.
- Medical conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, thyroid disorder, dementia, and autism spectrum disorder often involve mood instability.
- Sleep deprivation, poor diet, and lack of exercise can also mess with your mood due to impacts on hormones, neurotransmitters, and inflammation pathways.
How to manage mood swings
Strategies to minimize mood swings include:
- Eating a balanced, anti-inflammatory diet
- Getting enough sleep and exercise
- Practicing stress management and self-care
- Getting help from your doctor, therapist, or specialists like those at Hormone Harmony Clinic to address underlying causes
- Tracking your moods to identify patterns and triggers
- Being compassionate with yourself when shifts happen
Implementing small daily lifestyle changes and getting to the root of hormone, stress, or medical issues causing recurrent intense mood swings can help smooth out ups and downs. Don't hesitate to seek professional support if mood instability is interfering with relationships, work, or your quality of life.