An occasional change in mood is generally considered normal and healthy as long as it doesn’t interfere with or prevent you from doing your usual activities. However, if sudden mood swings happen regularly, you may be suffering from a medical condition.
Rapid mood swings can make you feel extremely sad one minute and extremely happy the next. You may also exhibit other emotions and behaviors that can damage and degrade your quality of life. Here are some examples:
- Impulsive behavior when spending money
- Uncontrollable urges to confront anyone
- Having a consistent desire to perform suicide
- Being completely unable to get some quality sleep, visit friends, work properly, and other daily activities
These cases of rapid mood swings may occur in patterns and may be signs of a more severe mental health condition, especially depression. If that’s the case, you might need to seek immediate help. One of the options you have is to visit Jackson House or your local rehabilitation centers to discuss how to handle your emotions and feelings. They will help you drill down to the root cause of your mood swings and find ways and treatments so you can get back on your feet in no time.
Contents
What Causes Rapid Mood Swings?
Your sudden mood changes, extreme reaction, and unwanted display of emotions to your surroundings are reasonable and logical. Rapid mood swings may be caused by different factors and conditions, both internal and external, such as the following:
- Hormonal imbalances in the brain: This happens especially to women experiencing menopause, pregnancy, and under premenstrual syndrome
- Substance abuse: Drug and alcohol abuse may cause significant mood changes and lead to addiction (substance use disorder), which can destroy your life
- Common triggers: These include stress, sleeping habits, eating habits, and medications
- Other internal health conditions: Lung problems, heart conditions, and thyroid problems can trigger mood swings due to the physical challenges of managing these diseases.
Apart from these, mental health conditions are said to trigger frequent and extreme changes in a person’s mood.
What Are The Possible Mental Health Conditions Linked To Rapid Mood Swings?
In most cases, rapid mood swings are not a disorder on their own but a symptom of a more severe condition. These are called mood disorders, and here are some mental conditions you might need to know:
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder: This mental health condition usually occurs in children with problems during development.
- Personality Disorders: In some cases of personality disorders, a sudden change in mood over a short period of time may happen. Those diagnosed with this disease have a hard time relating with others and controlling their emotions.
- Bipolar Disorder: This mental health condition exhibits a sudden and uncontrollable change in extreme behaviors from being extremely mad or low (depression) to extremely cheerful or high (hypomania) and vice versa. However, these mood shifts may only occur a couple of times in a year, even in severe forms of bipolar disorder.
- Cyclothymia: Also known as Cyclothymic disorder, Cyclothymia is a mental health condition similar to bipolar disorder. However, the emotional shifts of Cyclothymia are not as severe as those of bipolar disorders.
Furthermore, you would probably experience rapid mood swings if you have other mental health conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or schizophrenia.
How Can You Manage Rapid Mood Swings?
Again, if you experience or are experiencing sudden, severe, and frequent mood changes that affect your behavior and daily activities, you should consult your doctor. They will help you identify the possible causes of your mood swings and determine the proper treatment for you.
Depending on your case, you may be required to undergo therapy sessions and medications to alleviate life-changing mood changes. On top of that, your doctor may need you to change your lifestyle and habits to facilitate your mood. That said, here are some other tips that will help you handle your rapid mood swings:
- Create A Healthy Routine
Creating a healthy, personalized routine for yourself is one way to reduce the symptoms of rapid mood swings. It’ll help you balance your emotions and lessen your worries in life. Also, it makes you feel that everything is under your control.
On top of that, a healthy schedule will help you break free from bad habits and start forming good ones for a more blissful, relaxed, and productive living. Here are some simple tips when creating a healthy daily routine:
- Create A List
The first thing you need to do is list down all the activities you need to accomplish every day, including your work schedule. Don’t worry; this is not your typical to-do list. You can write in any order any task you can think of.
- Categorize Your Day
Categorize all the activities you listed down before into three different sections of the day: morning, midday, and evening. When doing so, think about the time you would work more efficiently. If you’re an early bird, you’ll complete most tasks before lunch period, and if you’re a night owl, you’ll accomplish things mostly in the evening.
- Be Flexible
There are instances when you need to do something out of your schedule. Therefore, place challenging and time-consuming tasks in your most productive period and simple activities in your less productive periods. This trick will ensure a seamless schedule despite unexpected obstacles in the way.
- Engage In Physical Activities Regularly
Exercise and other physical activities have plenty of great benefits in most aspects of the human body. They not only focus on making your body strong and look good but also on maintaining a healthy and balanced mood. You can start your day with a light stretch for around five to ten minutes after waking up and a light walk or jog around the block for 30 minutes.
Also, you may perform stretching and light exercises before you go to bed to help you sleep better. In addition, don’t forget to perform warmups before any physical activities and cooldowns after an entire set of exercises. This will help you prevent any injuries while having workouts.
- Get Enough Sleep
Sleeping is one of the essential processes in the body, and it’s so important that it constitutes one-third of your entire day. Achieving a good night’s sleep will help prevent insomnia and sleep deprivation, both known for their uncanny ability to affect one’s mood.
However, if you have trouble sleeping at night, you might want to practice some tips below:
- Reduce exposure to blue-light-emitting devices, such as smartphones and other devices, because blue light reduces your natural melatonin content in the body. Melatonin is a hormone responsible for keeping you relaxed and sleepy.
- Avoid caffeine in the afternoon to help your body stay relaxed at night, especially when you have caffeine sensitivity.
- Reduce napping during the day to avoid confusing your normal body clock, making it difficult for you to sleep at night. If you’re planning to nap during the day, it’s best to avoid going beyond 30 minutes.
- Take natural sleeping aid supplements, such as melatonin, valerian root, lavender, magnesium, etc. These are among the easiest ways to have a good night’s sleep. However, consult your doctor first to avoid dealing with side effects.
- Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages to prevent sleep apnea and interrupted circadian rhythm (sleep pattern).
Furthermore, don’t forget to optimize your sleeping environment. Keep the temperature lower at night and turn off the lights to boost melatonin production in your body.
- Eat A Balanced And Healthy Diet
A balanced diet supplies your body with the right amount of nutrients to maintain essential body functions and healthy organs. According to some studies, taking a balanced and healthy diet improves your mood, and the protective effect of such can make you feel energized and stay in a positive mood for longer.
If you don’t know where to start, you might want to follow these tips to adopt healthy eating habits:
- Focus on eating whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, animal proteins, nuts, seeds, eggs, dairy, whole grains, and legumes. Consuming these on a regular basis will help you reduce your chances of developing chronic diseases and inflammation. Moreover, high consumption of processed carbohydrates can induce irritability and low energy, so it’s best to avoid them.
- Seek professional advice by consulting nutritionists and dieticians. They will help organize a meal plan and safe diet pattern best suited for your needs.
- Avoid eating ultra-processed foods, such as chips, soda, and others that contain a significant number of stabilizers, sweeteners, and other synthetic flavor enhancers. These foods will increase your chances of having chronic diseases. Moreover, blood sugar fluctuations and nutritional imbalances also have adverse effects on your mood.
- Consume your favorite foods as long as they’re healthy and good for your body. Depriving yourself of the foods you want to eat may only induce mood swings.
Furthermore, don’t forget to monitor your condition, and if you have any allergies, consult your doctor to help you find other alternatives.
- Perform Relaxation Techniques
Engaging in relaxation and calming practices will help you relieve physical and mental stress, preventing instances of sudden mood changes. Here are some relaxation techniques you may perform:
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Aromatherapy
- Visualization
- Muscle relaxation and more
In addition, it’s worth noting that relaxation techniques take time to master, especially when dealing with muscles and specific body parts.
Final Words
Rapid mood swings are a condition that may occur to many people, young and old, based on their lifestyle. The good news is that this condition is manageable, and there are many ways to do so.
When dealing with rapid mood changes, it’s essential to know the different techniques that will help you handle the condition. You may also use a daily journal or diary to monitor your mood shifts and determine the situations that may promote sudden mood changes.
Furthermore, it would be best to address the situation by avoiding what causes rapid mood swings as much as possible. And don’t forget to consult your doctor if things get out of hand.
