The Lifestyle you Choose
We’re all free to live our own lives how we see fit, within reason of course, and for the most part, this is positive. But, unfortunately, pretty much every positive comes with a negative. The negative that comes with choosing a lifestyle that you want to live, is that you might not listen to people giving you advice. You see, mood swings don’t just occur if you’re suffering from a mental health condition, they can occur depending on your lifestyle. Your diet can affect you, sleep levels, how hard-working you are, or how you spend you spend your downtime. All of these might seem just a part of your life, and should you develop mood swings, that’s just how it is. But the reason behind it, could be how you lead your life. Let’s take a closer look.
DIET – We all know the importance of having a healthy, balanced diet. Of course, not everyone sticks to this, and whilst that is their choice, it’s ultimately not good for them. If you feel particularly sad or you lack motivation depending on what you’ve had to eat, then there’s a good chance that you’re not getting the right nutrients and vitamins in your body. To work at maximum efficiency and effectiveness, our bodies need carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins, etc. By depriving your body of these, you can experience mood swings because you’re lacking the essentials that your body needs to run. It’s as simple as that. Think of your diet as a car. A car needs an engine, fuel, a steering wheel, brakes and an accelerator to work. You wouldn’t take one of these out, so why take out part of your diet.
SLEEP – Eating healthy is one thing, but if you’re not getting the right sleep then it can all be for nothing. Sleep does more than just rejuvenate your energy levels. It gives the body time to repair. Gives your brain time to organise, to assess and prioritise your body’s immediate needs, Sleep strengthens the nervous system and the brain. Our muscles and bones are rested and repaired for the day to come, and serious heart problems in later life can be avoided with sleep. If you’re waking up achy and tired, then you probably haven’t had enough sleep, and when that happens your mood can drastically change.
WORK – It’s good to work hard, both physically and to a certain extent, mentally. To be proactive and resilient. But there are times when it can be too much. Stress is a an important factor – mood decider. When you’re stressed, you’re not thinking straight. You might decide to work instead of sleep. You can skip meals, and avoid relaxing because whatever it is you’re doing is seemingly urgent and, needs to be done right now. The thing is, just like a machine, you can overheat and exhaust yourself, and it’s in these moments where mood swings can take place. When you’re not in the right frame of mind, a lack of motivation can kick in, a reluctancy to work might appear, and even if you do decide to work through it, the work won’t be nearly as good, because you won’t be working as effectively as you can – work Smart, not Hard. Work is important, there’s no doubt, but keeping your work, and the level and intensity at which you work in check, is a sure-fire way to maximise the potential for avoiding mood swings down the line.
DOWNTIME – But it’s not just work that can catch you out – how you spend your free time can also be a trigger for mood swings. If you are stressed from work, or you just want to have a good time then you could potentially develop an addiction to substances, either to cope with the stress, or maximise your relaxation. Of course, this isn’t to say that it WILL happen, but continued use of relaxants can form unhealthy addictions. And it’s not just when you’re on a substance that mood swings can occur, but the withdrawal from them can as well. We’ve spoken about addiction before, and identifying an addiction early on can prevent a lot of more severe consequences happening from down the line, one of which, is potentially dangerous mood swings.
So how can you combat these? How can you make sure that you’re eating well. Getting enough sleep. Not working until you snap? Well, hopefully the answer should be fairly obvious. If your mood keeps shifting throughout the day, clearly something’s not right.
A very heavily suggested method to keep on track, is to keep a schedule of everything. Jot down what you eat in a day, and see if you’re getting what your body needs. If not, try to change it so you’re adding what you need, or taking away what you don’t. If you’re constantly waking up in the night, maybe it’s because you’re on your phone, forcing your brain to be active when it should be starting to wind down. It could just be that you’re going to bed too late. Take a note of when you go to bed, and when you wake up. The ideal amount of sleep you should be getting is around 8-9 hours. If this isn’t the case, and you’re eating well and you’re not stressed from work, then this could be the issue. Have a listen to our Circadian Rhythm talk.
A lot of people who are stressed from work are stressed because their minds are constantly thinking about it. Leave your work at work. You want a space in your life whether it’s your room, your house, a walk on the woods or wherever, to be just for you. A place where you can relax. If you’re constantly bringing the work to that place, then it loses its ability to calm you, and becomes just another place where you think about work, and potentially stress yourself out further.
What I’m trying to say, is that your mood is liable to change. It’s how we deal with things. If something bad happens, you can feel sadness. If you achieve something you’ve been working towards, you feel accomplished and motivated. You don’t want to mix these up. Sudden mood swings are horrible to experience, but being able to spot what the causes are behind them, and the ways in which your lifestyle can influence them can be a great way to prevent yourself from dealing with them.