Many factors can cause or contribute to irritability, including life stress, a lack of sleep, low blood sugar levels, and hormonal changes.
Common causes of bad moods include guilt, small rejections, outstanding tasks, and brooding. Other causes can include feeling disconnected, fear of failure, hunger, and exhaustion.
People may have sudden changes in mood if they are: experiencing a significant life change, such as moving home or changing job. feeling stressed or overwhelmed. not getting enough sleep.
In females, mood swings may occur as part of the typical hormonal fluctuations that occur during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, or menopause. They can also be the result of medical conditions that require treatment.
If you take care of yourself and remember to eat well, get enough rest, and make time to be with people you care about, chances are you'll feel less grumpy. And remember, it's OK to be in a bad mood once in a while—so long as you don't take it out on others.
Scientists have been taking a closer look at this stage and believe children start experiencing a surge of hormones between the ages of 6 and 8, which can cause heightened emotions. Keep reading to learn more about adrenarche symptoms and the best ways to handle them.
The most common types of mood disorders are major depression, dysthymia (dysthymic disorder), bipolar disorder, mood disorder due to a general medical condition, and substance-induced mood disorder. There is no clear cause of mood disorders.
It's clear that estrogen is closely linked with women's emotional well-being. Depression and anxiety affect women in their estrogen-producing years more often than men or postmenopausal women.
Common hormone culprits include testosterone and thyroid hormones (T3, T4, and TSH, or thyroid-stimulating hormone). Testosterone is a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex, testes in men, and ovaries in women. Low testosterone can lead to an irritable mood in men and women.
The duration of bipolar mood swings also varies. They may last a few hours – ultrarapid – or extend over days – ultradian: clinicians maintain that only when four continuous days of hypomania, or seven days of mania, occur, is a diagnosis of bipolar disorder justified.
Some anticonvulsant medication can be used to help stabilise mood. You may also hear these drugs referred to as anti-epileptic medication. Anticonvulsants which are used as mood stabilisers include: carbamazepine (Tegretol)
Some common signs of off-balance hormones include acne or bad breakouts, dry skin and skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and rosacea. Thinning hair or an increased amount of facial hair are also signs that something could be out of whack hormonally, says Raupp.
Mood swings
Aside from low energy levels, hormonal imbalances can also affect the way you feel. Emotions often encountered include irritability and sadness. Changes in oestrogen levels can adversely affect the release of chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin, which prevents you from feeling happy.
Symptoms of low estrogen can include: Hot flashes, flushes, and night sweats are the most common symptoms of low estrogen. At times, blood rushes to your skin's surface. This can give you a feeling of warmth (hot flash).
A blood test is one of the most common ways to test hormone levels. This test can detect testosterone, estrogen, cortisol, and thyroid levels. You should order a test that's specific to your gender, as a women's hormone test will look for different levels of sex hormones than a men's test.
“Falling estrogen and progesterone levels can trigger mood swings that make you less able to cope with things you'd normally let roll off your back,” says Payne. “For some women, these hormonal dips can set off a depressive episode, especially for those who've gone through major depression in the past.”
ADHD is a mental health condition that causes restlessness, a lack of focus, and impulsive behaviors. This condition can also cause sudden and significant changes in mood, often referred to as “mood swings.”
Irritability is a symptom of anxiety
With their body and mind overwhelmed with worry, the person can feel stressed and depleted of energy. This can make it difficult for them to shrug off or ignore things as they normally would be able to do. In turn, this can cause them to become more irritable and anger quicker.
Bipolar disorder can cause your mood to swing from an extreme high to an extreme low. Manic symptoms can include increased energy, excitement, impulsive behaviour, and agitation. Depressive symptoms can include lack of energy, feeling worthless, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.
Hormonal changes. First, our dopamine levels decline as we age, making elderly people susceptible to dopamine-deficient depression. It's also well known that declining estrogen levels during menopause, along with resulting physical changes can cause women to experience irritability, sadness and anxiety.
It feels shifty, evanescent, transitory—no more enduring than a bank of fog. Upbeat people can descend into a sad mood and cranky ones can experience a joyous one, but in both cases it will pass, leaving no more trace than that fog in the morning sun.
While it's only natural to expect someone's personality to evolve as they grow older, bear in mind that abrupt mood swings can often be an outward sign that your senior loved one is experiencing an internal change.
Hormonal imbalances may be to blame for a range of unwanted symptoms from fatigue or weight gain to itchy skin or low mood. Hormones are chemicals produced by glands in the endocrine system and released into the bloodstream. An imbalance occurs when there is too much or too little of a hormone.
Hormonal belly FAQs
Yes, your hormones can trigger weight gain for a variety of reasons. Fluctuations in estrogen and testosterone can affect your metabolism. Other hormones, like cortisol (related to stress) and insulin (related to blood sugar), can trigger cravings and weight gain.