Mood swings can occur as the result of ever-changing internal and external factors. People who experience mood swings may be reacting to the effects of a hormonal imbalance, chronic health condition, or mental health disorder.
However, mood swings can also arise due to unhealthy habits and lifestyle choices. For many patients, identifying and modifying the habits that affect their moods can be the first step in regaining control of their emotions.
Wellness care can support your journey in making purposeful decisions that support your well-being and reduce your risk of developing disease. This type of care involves education and guidance in making lifestyle changes that can improve your health and its impact on your emotions and moods.
Board-certified physician Karl Trippe, MD, and the staff at Waco Primary Care in Waco, Texas, specialize in helping patients use wellness care to address mood swings. After a thorough examination and look at your medical history, Dr. Trippe can determine the source of your mood swings and discuss if wellness care could help reduce your symptoms.
In this blog, Dr. Trippe discusses how wellness care can address various factors that often cause mood swings.
Weight management
It’s well-known that being overweight can increase your risk of developing life-threatening health conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and arthritis. It’s also been established that carrying more than a normal amount of weight can affect your emotional health.
Research indicates that obesity can increase the risk of developing depression. Issues such as poor body image, weight discrimination, and physical ailments can lead to isolation and loneliness, triggering mood swings.
However, avoiding mood swings isn’t always as easy as losing weight. Trying to lose weight on your own may leave you frustrated as you try hit-or-miss methods that provide inconsistent results.
An important aspect of wellness care involves professional guidance in weight management. A comprehensive weight management program evaluates all factors that contribute to weight gain and an inability to lose weight.
A customized weight management plan considers your lifestyle, genetics, medical history, and preferences to determine what you need to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Recommendations are also made for an effective but realistic exercise plan, compatible with your abilities and health.
Overall, medically supervised weight management can lead to meaningful weight loss with the professional support and education you need to maintain new habits.
Nutrition and dietary planning
Your diet impacts more than your waistline. Relying on an unhealthy diet high in processed foods and sugar can increase your risk of developing depression. Physical reactions, such as nutritional imbalances and blood sugar fluctuations, can cause mood swings.
Skipping meals, especially breakfast, can lead to low blood sugar, which can make you suddenly tired, weak, and irritable. Eating large amounts of unhealthy, processed carbohydrates, such as pastries and white bread, can also cause blood sugar levels to rise and fall rapidly, resulting in low energy.
Selecting inappropriate foods or cutting out entire food groups can make it more difficult to maintain proper nutrition. Low energy levels and moodiness are associated with insufficient amounts of iron, zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, and omega 3 fatty acids.
Professional nutrition and dietary planning can help ensure that you maintain proper nutrition while you lose weight. The effect can reduce the chances of having mood swings as a result of poor nutrition.
Medication management
If your regular medication involves more than one prescription from different physicians, customized medication management can identify whether your mood swings are occurring as the result of over-medication or adverse reactions.
Many types of medications can affect your mood, which can cause mood swings. Taking medication prescribed for someone else, missing a dosage of prescribed medication, or taking more than the prescribed dosage can increase your risk of suffering mood swings.
With medication management, Dr. Trippe can consider if the chemicals in your medications could be contributing to your mood swings and recommend substitutes or changes.
Smoking cessation
If you smoke or use tobacco, you’ve probably been told that you should quit. However, it’s an accomplishment that’s often easier said than done.
In addition to the physical dangers of smoking, smoking interferes with chemicals in your brain. There’s growing evidence that quitting smoking improves mood and quality of life. People who quit smoking often enjoy lower levels of anxiety, stress, and depression.
A medically managed smoking cessation program can help ensure that you accomplish your goals and stop smoking permanently. A formal smoking cessation program can decrease cravings, lessen withdrawal symptoms, and help you handle smoking triggers.
