A lot depends on our mood. If we wake up in a bad mood in the morning, we say that we “got off on the wrong foot.” Usually this means that we will be irritable, gloomy all day, and someone will definitely fall under the hot hand. And it happens that we are not in the mood, and nothing can give us pleasure. Often our mood determines our entire day - it has a great influence on our entire lives. Therefore, it is very dangerous to put up with your mood and perceive it as something that we cannot influence. The good news is that we can understand what exactly our mood depends on and influence it.
Our emotions are a complex psychophysiological process. It depends not only on what is happening around us at the moment, but also on what physiological processes are taking place in the body.
Our emotions are born on three different levels:
-Our experiences (at the mental level); -Physiological processes (in the nervous, respiratory, endocrine and other systems of the body); -Expression of our emotions (laughter, crying, facial expressions).
Emotions can be born as a reaction to an external stimulus, or they can appear as a result of certain physiological processes. We may feel sad because something sad happened. However, sadness can appear as a result of purely physiological processes in the body. Feeling sad for no apparent reason does not make your emotions unreal or abnormal. And if you understand the mechanisms that control mood, it will be easier for you to accept them and work with them.
I’ll tell you about the main internal and external factors that can control our emotions.
The work of all internal organs is subject to neurohumoral regulation (nervous and hormonal systems). We will talk about hormones that play a big role in the life of the body. They control the functioning of cells, the growth of tissues and organs, and also act as a “mediator” between the nervous system and the body (neurotransmitters). They are the ones who “set” the mood for our day.
Learn to manage stress
Have you noticed that you start to get very nervous if you oversleep your alarm clock in the morning and are late for work or school? Does it happen that you feel a strong heartbeat before a meeting with management? This is due to our “quick reactions”. Evolution has built into us a self-defense mechanism that should help us in a dangerous situation. For example, when an ancient man encountered a predatory animal, he had to react with lightning speed and run away at maximum speed.
To quickly mobilize all the body's resources, the adrenal glands secrete adrenaline, and the blood instantly carries it throughout the body. You feel hot, a feeling of anxiety, nervousness and restlessness appears, muscle tone increases, your heart rate increases - all this is the result of adrenaline. You are ready to rush into battle.
However, the body cannot distinguish between levels of danger
A bison approaching you, an important meeting with your manager, being late for work, an unpleasant conversation, a scary movie or just bad thoughts - the body perceives everything as danger and begins to produce a stress hormone. As a result, you may think that you are naturally nervous and accept it. But you can and should work with this reaction consciously.
What to do
The first step is to analyze how your day is going. Are there things in your daily routine that make you nervous? If yes, then try to reduce their number. For example, set a loud alarm clock so as not to wake up and not get nervous because of the rush. If you can't remove stressful things, learn to work with them.
The simplest and most effective way is breathing. In a stressful situation, take a deep breath. Heart rate is directly related to breathing, so long inhalations and exhalations are good for calming down. With 30 seconds of deep breathing, you trigger a process in the body that is the opposite of adrenaline stimulation.
Is it possible to influence your mood?
I recently met an acquaintance whom I had not met for several years. I didn’t even recognize her right away, she had changed so much. I remember a stern woman of indeterminate age with pursed lips and prickly gimlet eyes. Now a completely different woman was looking at me - cheerful, open, friendly. It turns out she has a wonderful sense of humor.
I asked in surprise what had changed her so much. And she admitted that she used to consider everyone around her to be to blame for her failed life, justifying her sour face with an unloved job, problems in her personal life, and lack of friends.
But at some point I realized that a bad mood means erased days from your life, and once you lose these days, you won’t be able to make up for them with anything. This means you need to learn to change it in your favor. Of course, it was not immediately possible to get rid of negative thoughts, and now they visit her from time to time, but they no longer linger in her head for days and months, but disappear after a minute.
Usually in the morning, when I prepare breakfast, many thoughts come into my head. For example, I need to resolve issues that are unpleasant to me, but necessary. And the faster I solve them, the easier it will be for me. But the thought of this poisons everything around. At this point, you need to present the result of executing this problem. After all, you always feel emotional satisfaction after completing difficult tasks.
I have already noticed that as soon as a negative thought clings to my head, then that’s it, I will inflate it to incredible proportions, and it will take time and nerves (and not just mine) to blow it away. Therefore, I took the advice of a psychologist:
Any negative thought must be nipped in the bud.
Arose - by an effort of will, switch immediately to thinking or remembering something good. If you can’t immediately remember something pleasant, make a list in advance and let it always be at your fingertips. But the most important thing is that the thought must be expelled immediately. If she has grabbed at least one convolution of your brain, then it will be more difficult to drive her out.
Or another option on how to get rid of garbage in your head - if you watched the movie "Charmed", there Prue Halliwell's older sister could move objects with her eyes or with a wave of her hand. So, by analogy, I send a fresh negative thought out the window with a wave of my hand, while saying: go to Australia, it’s warm there and there are a lot of kangaroos. I feel funny and everything goes away. But if the thought is very disturbing and very intrusive, then you have to work hard to drive it out of your head for a long time.
We have no control over the events happening around us, but we can learn to control our mood. This is also a habit that you need and can develop in yourself. And you will be happy!
Feel the pleasure and peace
The adrenal glands produce not only the stress hormone, but also the pleasure hormone - dopamine. The body releases dopamine when we do something that the brain classifies as rewarding. For example, eating sweets (quick energy), having sex (procreation), regular exercise (body tone). This “reward system” motivates us to do these things more often. However, the reward system works not only with basic physiological things. We are able to receive satisfaction from doing what we love, from communicating with interesting people, from new experiences and the praise of others.
Another important hormone is serotonin. It is also responsible for joyful emotions, but has a slightly different effect on us. If dopamine causes a powerful surge of joy and almost euphoria, then serotonin acts more gently - it helps us feel calm and confident. Low serotonin levels can cause depression
What to do
To feel good, add activities that bring you pleasure to your daily schedule. This could be a hobby, reading or watching a good movie. A victory diary is also very helpful when you remember your big and small victories.
To increase your serotonin levels, exercise regularly, get outside more often, and monitor the light levels in your room.
Monitor your body's hormonal levels
The hormonal background of the body is the concentration and relative content of hormones in our blood. Hormonal levels are cyclical and consist of several cycles. The shortest cycle is daily. It involves growth hormone, cortisol and testosterone. In the morning, cortisol activates carbohydrate metabolism, increases heart rate and gives the body a “push” to wake up. In the evening, cortisol levels decrease, our activity decreases, and we become calmer. If you sleep less than 5 hours for a long time, overwork and eat poorly, you can throw off the daily hormonal cycle. This can lead to anxiety, unreasonable fears, apathy and despondency. If you first work your butt off, then rest, and then exhaust yourself again, you may never adjust your hormonal levels and constantly experience problems because of this.
What to do
If everything is fine with you and there are no reasons for apathy, fears and despondency, then pay attention to your lifestyle. Start going to bed on time, eat well, plan your work time better. If this does not help, then consult a doctor. Tests will help you understand what is happening with your hormonal levels and find out whether it is the cause of your problems.
You need as much confirmation of his feelings as possible.
When you become too focused on the relationship and constantly replay in your head all the little details that happen between you and your partner, you can become more anxious. Even the smallest changes in your partner's behavior can make you feel like your relationship isn't the same as it used to be. Therefore, you need more and more confirmation that he loves you. You may be offended if he forgot to tell you before bed that he loves you, or didn’t compliment your new hairstyle.
Unfortunately, such grievances only harm the relationship that you want to “bring to the ideal.” Therefore, you should not be overly focused on evidence of your partner’s feelings.
Monitor the circadian rhythm and lighting
Melatonin is responsible for the body's daily rhythm. It is he who controls our “biological clock”. Melatonin takes part in the production of various substances, including dopamine and serotonin. Scientific experiments have shown that melatonin injections reduce anxiety, relieve stress and help get rid of negative emotions. A lack of melatonin, as well as its excess, have a negative effect on the body. The level of melatonin production depends on lighting. If there is a lot of light, the level of melatonin production decreases; in the absence of light, it increases. Moreover, 70% of the daily secretion of melatonin occurs at night.
What to do
Make sure that you are not disturbed by light while you sleep. In the evenings, try not to turn on bright lights, use lamps with warm light. Use blackout curtains and turn off your phone, laptop, and computer 2 hours before bed.
What is a mood
Mood is a certain emotional process, long-lasting and of low intensity, occurring inside a person. It determines the general rhythm of human life. This is how Wikipedia interprets this concept.
Moreover, it must be separated from feelings, emotions and experiences, as well as states of effect. These are slightly different concepts.
Mood is based on a person's life situation. And if everything in life is stable, it will not bounce around like ping-pong balls.
Monitor your menstrual cycle
The hormonal cycle has a great influence on the female body. They not only prepare a woman’s body for conception (during reproductive age), but also affect the psyche. During the cycle, the female body is affected by estrogens, follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones. They cannot influence emotions. Bad mood and anxiety can occur due to pain, lightheadedness and weakness that a woman experiences.
What to do
To become more aware of your symptoms, keep a calendar. Identify the days of the month when you feel unwell, experience mood swings or weakness. And try to reduce your load during this period and avoid unnecessary stress.
Our mood is influenced not only by internal processes, but also by external factors. By changing our behavior and conditions, we can influence our mood.
Eat a variety of foods
Neurotransmitters take part in the formation of emotions. Most of them are synthesized in the body not from scratch, but from simpler components (precursor molecules). For example, the precursor molecule to dopamine is the amino acid tyrosine. Tyrosine is formed from another amino acid - phenylalanine. The body is not able to synthesize phenylalanine itself and can only obtain it from food (from proteins). The precursor molecule of melatonin is tryptophan; the body also needs amino acids for its synthesis.
What to do
Make sure your diet is varied. Pay special attention to foods that contain proteins (meat, fish, eggs, beans). After all, it is their body that breaks down amino acids, which are involved in the synthesis of important substances.
Monitor your sugar levels
Sugar is a simple carbohydrate. It breaks down into fructose and glucose. It is glucose that provides energy to all processes that occur in the body (from our movements to the functioning of internal organs). When glucose levels are constantly changing, it causes not only physical but also psychological problems. If blood sugar levels are too low, the body begins to conserve energy. The most energy-consuming processes—muscles and mental activity—suffer the most. Headaches and depression also appear.
Many people know that if you eat a chocolate bar, your mood immediately improves. The thing is that sweets cause the production of dopamine. The only problem is that your blood sugar drops quickly and you feel bad again. Sugar does not work in moderation - if you eat chocolate, your sugar level will rise sharply and then drop sharply.
What to do
We feel good when our blood glucose levels remain stable, without sudden spikes or drops. A sharp drop in glucose levels causes mood swings. To avoid problems, give up bad sugar (milk chocolate cookies, candies) and replace it with healthy sugar (fruit). It is also very important not to skip meals.
Determine the importance of the problem
I very often become so immersed in the experience of a problem that it obscures all the colors around me. Why make everything so difficult for yourself?
Therefore, I took the advice of a psychologist and now I do this:
- Analyzing how much my future life depends on today's problem? It may be important now, but in a week, a year, I won’t even remember what excited me so much. So is it worth worrying so much now? In the end, everything passes, and this too will pass.
- Now we abstract ourselves from the situation and look at it from the outside - here is the problem, but here are other aspects of life. Is it really impossible to find more important matters in it?
- The most effective way for me to switch moods is work. Moreover, the work is interesting, into which I completely immerse myself with all my negative thoughts. At this moment, I forget that my soul is sour - I simply have no time to waste time on some kind of garbage (pardon the expression). Of course, when you emerge from it, it may cover you again, but the wave will be smaller and easier to cope with.
- Another distraction is work, but rather physical work. Previously, before the era of automatic washing machines, this was washing. When you do this, all the anger, all the negativity goes into energy, which you spend on useful things. Or wash the windows, vacuum, wash the floors, finally. By the way, this has great benefits, it will calm your nerves and put things in order in your apartment. Now I prefer ironing. This really calms me down.
- Walk. Moreover, it is long-term and if possible, it is better in the forest. When we live in the country, there are no problems with this - the forest is a few meters away. I noticed that at first I walk very quickly, almost running, but as I calm down, my step slows down, my breathing calms down, my thoughts come into order.
- Various techniques for switching thoughts also help. I use this one most often—I simply throw a negative thought out the window. But the most important thing about this technique is that you need to throw it away immediately, before it has time to take hold in your head.
We talked about methods that help me switch from negativity and reduce its concentration. Now let's look at
Don't overuse coffee
Caffeine lifts your mood and doesn't do it as harshly as sugar. Therefore, a cup of coffee in the morning helps us feel good. However, regular consumption of caffeine can cause nervousness.
What to do
Don't make drinking coffee a habit. If you drink coffee in the morning to wake up, let it be only one cup and not every day (take breaks). And don't drink coffee after lunch, because the caffeine will prevent you from getting a good night's sleep.
How to cheer up quickly if you've already worked yourself up?
Just a couple of days ago I saw something I shouldn't have seen. I didn't poke my nose in - it happened by accident. The roof was blown off with lightning speed, the mood was terrible, I didn’t want to do anything, but there was a great desire to send everyone far and away, take the bundle and go into the fog, like a hedgehog from the cartoon of our childhood.
It was on the street, there were people around. I don’t like throwing tantrums and showdowns in public, so I had to resort to the fastest way - take a deep breath. Moreover, in a tense state, I stop breathing. The first time a psychologist told me about this was when I was at her appointment. I waved it off - how could I not breathe, I would have died. But then I began to notice that there really are such moments, and now I track them and eliminate them.
Therefore, we inhale the air deeply, almost to the point of dizziness. The brain is filled with oxygen and it becomes easier. This is true. I calmed down a little, but I wasn’t in the mood. And it is not expected. My husband honestly tried to calm me down (a brain explosion is his fault), but, as they say, use your brain when you do something.
What to do when the first stage of removing the negative is successfully completed?
