mood swings
Today morning when I got up I did not feel my normal self. I was
irritable, contentious and cantankerous. The maid brought my usual cup of tea
and wished me good morning with a smile. Instead of being thankful, I felt petulant and started finding faults. “The
tea is cold. Take it back. I don’t want it.” The poor lady just took the tea back and said, ‘I will
bring fresh tea.’ My husband intervened,’There is nothing wrong with the tea.
I am enjoying it.”I reacted somewhat
irritably,’Yours may be good, mine is not”. He left the room murmuring something. After he left I tried to analyse why did I react irritably. Normally I am quite sober. I thought that I had not slept well at night
and this might be the reason for my sudden
outburst. My husband came back
after his morning walk, cast a sly glance at me and without saying any
thing switched on the TV. A very old
Hindi movie song from the film Anarkali,’yeh
zindagi usi ki ai jo klsl ka hoh gaya’ was playing. I too
started singing along with it loudly. I smiled and said,’What
a beautiful song.” He just said
sarcastically, "Are you all right now?” I told him that even I
myself was bewildered . The poor
maid did not deserve such a behaviour.
I
ruminated and thoughtfully tried to determine why do people have such sudden syndromes or mood swings. I spoke to friends, neighbours and colleagues.
I inferred that changes in mood affect
every body. Sometimes we do not even notice
the changes because they happen
so fast and unconsciously that we do not become aware of any change. If we try to monitor our
thoughts and try to find out the reason
for such irrational action on our
part we may realise that many emotions that we experience leave their impact
in various forms. The impact may not be the same in every individual. A similar incident may affect different
people differently. Mood swings happen
unconsciously and many times may leave a person
embarrassed. In the words of Dr. Charles Raison, a Physciatrist,” most depressed people feel unhappy all the time.
Sometimes they feel better in the mornings and sometimes better in the evenings……sometimes
they feel predominantly depressed or predominantly
hyper, euphoric, or irritable (and
often all three in rapid
succession.)" Sometimes mood swings make a person feel out of control. Such people must be handled
with great care and refer them for medication
in expert hands.
Another aspect of mood swings is feeling elated. Mood swings can be compared to
a pendulum, which moves from right to left and vica-versa. Similarly mood of a
human being keeps moving from left to
right and right to left. At times we can
be hilarious and delirious and at
times in the dumps. In a hilaruios mood
the world which looked gloomy suddenly becomes bright and rosy and we feel
on top of the world, with high spirits
The
question arises why do people have mood swings. And how to tackle the issue
and get rid of it. If we get
irritable for no reason or suddenly
feel depressed or get the impression of feeling sad, we must
brush away such feelings and divert ourselves to some other activity. Then be assured that that half the battle is
won. Depression can also bring feelings
of moodiness, impatience, anger, or even just not caring. When depression gets
in the way of enjoying life or dealing with others, that's a sign you need to
do something about it.
If
sometimes you feel that you are going to have mood swing, make a conscious effort
to to be your normal self. You can then succeed
in reacting and throwing the mood swing. You can ‘pretend’
to have an inner feeling of joy. Moods are, believe experts,
contagious.
The modern life style is full of anxieties, frustration, social responsibilities and obligations. Humiliations surrounding the 'aam aadmi' are bound to affect his mood. How can he not suffer mood swings ,when he is gheraoed from all sides by such monstrous evils pervading every where? Living under such stressful conditions the hormones in the body tend to boil down, and he/she becomes a victim of adversities and is inflicted with mood swings.
It is believed that women are more prone to mood swings due to oestrogen level falling during their periods.
A study has also proved that weather also affects the mood swings in human beings. Sunshine and a pleasant day keeps men optimistic and radiant. Gloomy winters and high level of humidity affect the nerves and induces sleepiness.
We can reduce the mood swings considerably by having a regime of physical exercises and Yoga.
Submitted to BAR MONDAY archives ''mood swings'' ,week 9 th to 14th
