05 Nov Mood Swings in Females: 4 Common Causes Explained | 5 Tips to Cope
Most common causes of mood swings in females doesn’t only include hormonal fluctuations!
Mood swings are common for both men and women, but for women, the episodes are twice as tormenting.
Characterized by sudden changes in the emotional state which are often short-lived, mood swings are mostly associated with hormonal changes.
It has been popularised in society as a common pre-menstrual symptom among women.
But that’s just the partial truth!
There could be many reasons for mood swings in females.
While it can be completely normal, it might also be indicative of underlying reproductive illness or other underlying diseases.
Hence, knowing the exact causes of mood swings in females not only helps control the mood shifts but also supports the diagnosis of diseases.
Thus, focusing on women’s health is the following review on causes, diagnosis, and managing mood swings in women.
4 Causes of Mood Swings in Females – Explained in Detail
Mood swings are sudden changes in your emotional state which could be intense or even tiny changes.
It is mostly characterized by bouts of sudden happiness, euphoria, and extreme sadness where you don’t exactly know the cause behind the moods.
The changes in the mood are mainly because of the different chemicals present inside the brain also called neurotransmitters.
Their imbalance changes the expression and duration of an emotion.
The causes behind these imbalances could be broadly classified as:
- Hormonal Changes occur either during physiological or pathological conditions.
- Psychiatric disorders
- Medical conditions that affect the nervous system
- Lung and cardiovascular conditions
- Lifestyle
We discuss each of the common causes of mood swings in women descriptively in the following sections.
#1. Hormonal Changes
According to scientific reports, estrogen in women is one of the major reasons why they go through mood swings.
Estrogen plays a major role in controlling emotional changes and behavior as it influences the central nervous system in various ways.
Since it also affects the generation and working of neurotransmitters in brain areas that control emotions and mental status, it also regulates your expressions of feelings.
Hence, an imbalance in the hormonal levels of estrogen can directly contribute to your mood swings in multiple ways. [Related: Symptoms of Low Estrogen in Women]
Some of the most common reasons behind estrogen imbalance among women are:
Premenstrual Syndrome
PMS is a group of symptoms that occurs a week before menstruation in women.
Along with mood swings, they carry many disturbing symptoms like bloating, acne, tiredness, back pain, and pain in the lower abdomen.
Though there isn’t any specific cause behind PMS, but experts believe that it occurs because of the changes in the estrogen and progesterone levels.
Talking about mood swings, since estrogen can regulate other chemicals or hormones present in the brain, its fluctuations also fluctuate serotonin.
There could be a rise in serotonin during PMS, causing excessive happiness and a sudden drop that could lead to sadness, along with other symptoms.
While PMS is a natural physiological condition, excess hormonal fluctuations during PMS can also give rise to a disease that causes mood swings.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
PMDD is a disorder resulting from the abnormal reaction of the body toward the different hormonal changes seen during PMS.
Its symptoms are similar to PMS and start one to two weeks before menstruation and end as soon as your periods appear.
But they are a lot more severe than the ones you see during your PMS, and can even interfere with your daily chores.
Some of the most common mood shifts that PMDD shows are:
- Irritation
- Nervousness
- Anger
- Signs of depression
- Anxiety
- Sensitivity to the emotional environment
- Crying more often
Hence, unlike PMS mood swings symptoms premenstrual dysphoric disorder is mainly about a bad mood for no reason.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy mood swings symptoms are very much similar to premenstrual syndrome because it sees similar fluctuations in the hormone levels.
But other reasons for mood swings during pregnancy can also be because of the different metabolic changes going on in your body.
These constant metabolic changes along with the tiredness that pregnancy causes together can cause your emotions to be magnified like never before.
Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism is marked by the abnormal functioning of the thyroid gland resulting in abnormal production of hormones.
However, unlike other causes of hormonal imbalances, hypothyroidism mainly contributes to a feeling of anxiety or depression.
Hence in such a case, your mood swings in hypothyroidism would make even the most enjoyable things unbearable for you.
Menopause
Not just the reproductive age, but even the non-reproductive age could be one of the reasons for mood swings in females.
Menopause is a phase of low estrogen levels that causes severe mood swings because it influences serotonin and norepinephrine.
As the estrogen levels decline, these two neurotransmitters see a decline too, making you more irritated and less happy.
Other than hormonal imbalances, which occur because of both physiologic and non-physiological conditions, psychiatric problems can be at fault for mood swings too.
#2. Psychiatric Disorders
There are many psychological disorders affecting the emotions controlling areas of the brain that can be responsible for mood swings.
Some of these disorders can be:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder
The ADHD mood swings symptoms in women can be similar to the ones like PMS, and also a little different as:
Focus shifts – at one time you are hyperfocused on a subject and after some time you lose concentration.
Energy shifts – in such mood swings, your feel alternative phases of energy, where at one time you are energetic but then feel tired and not willing to work.
The most common cause associated with ADHD-induced mood swings can be medications causing an imbalance of neurotransmitters.
Bipolar Disorder
The exact reason behind bipolar disorder-induced intense mood swings is not known.
But this mental condition causes extreme mood swings that either sees emotional heights or emotional lows.
Anything might trigger mood swings in such patients and hence, management could be difficult.
Unlike hormonal imbalance, people with Bipolar disorder also show changes in their energy levels of a person making them either tired or energetic alternatively.
Depression
While depression is most commonly associated with irritability, angry outbursts, or a person not expressing much of himself, it can also be a cause behind mood swings.
Depression, when untreated can create different mood shifts which are usually bad mood swings for no reason like feeling hopeless, tired, and worthless all of a sudden.
Borderline Personality disorder
People suffering from borderline personality disorder show extreme mood swings, unstable relationships, and trouble managing emotions.
Unlike bipolar disorder, people with BPD, show less reactive mood fluctuations with no changes in their energy status of a person.
The common mood changes seen in BPD are:
- Self-doubt
- Fear of abandonment
- Changes in how you feel about your surroundings and people around you. But these changes last only for an hour or two.
- Anger management issues
- Might show paranoid thoughts
Other than mental conditions, disorders that directly affect nerves can also be responsible for mood shifts.
Although most of the neurological conditions affecting moods show signs of depressing mood swings, some of them can cause euphoric mood shifts too.
These disorders are mostly associated with neurological damage in the frontal lobe of the brain.
Other than these conditions some lung and cardiovascular diseases too can affect the emotional status of people.
#3. Cardiovascular and Lung Diseases
Heart and lung problems can contribute to mood swings too by reducing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to your brain.
For example:
Heart failure – long-term cardiovascular diseases can take a toll on your emotions making you go through different emotional changes. But most of these mood swings are associated with negative changes like feeling anxious, scared, angry, and lonely. These mood swings can be bad for the status of your heart health, as they can also contribute to blood pressure changes in your body.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases – since COPD decreases the amount of oxygen your brain receives, it can influence changes in your mood. This too like the heart conditions cause mood shifts towards the negative side, like anxiety and anger.
However, they are not as highly associated with rapid mood swings as other causes of mood swings listed above.
Other than internal changes, your lifestyle too can play a major role in controlling your mood shifts.
#4. Lifestyle Factors
While mood swings are mainly associated with hormonal changes and underlying health conditions, lifestyle regulates your mood in different ways.
The most common habits of people associated with mood swings include:
- Not drinking enough water – dehydration can cause rapid mood swings because of the decrease in blood flow to your brain. The most common mood changes that dehydrated people see in their lives are anger, irritation, and depressing thoughts for no specific reason.
- The wrong diet – not taking a healthy diet can bring changes to your blood sugar levels, and since certain hormones follow the sugar levels for their functions, it can cause mood swings. For example, when blood sugar levels drop people often feel a rise in negative thoughts, while during higher blood sugar, they are more inclined toward positive thoughts and feelings.
- Caffeine – caffeine can have different effects on different people. In some people it can make them irritated and stay annoyed for the time caffeine stays in the body, others might notice a cheerful mood till the time caffeine stays in their body. But once the caffeine fever is over, the emotions go back to their normal status.
- Poor sleep cycle – sleep cycle and your mood have a deep connection, your body needs a healthy sleep schedule to process emotions rightfully throughout the day. But when you don’t take enough hours of sleep, the emotional control loosens up and you don’t have a specific reason to show the emotional changes.
While mood swings are mostly short-lived during normal physiological changes like menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy, they can persist for a long time too.
In cases of mood swings that are not associated with any of the general physiological ups and downs in hormones, it is best to consult a doctor.
Consulting a doctor helps in proper diagnosis and ruling out possibilities of any serious health concern that we have listed above.
Diagnosis of the Causes of Mood Swings in Females
Doctors diagnose the root cause of mood swings using the following methods:
- Physical examination
- Checking for blood profile to rule out hypothyroidism
- Blood tests for pregnancy
On the off chance, that the doctor notices any neurological signs at play, you might be advised with neuroimaging tools.
These tools help in ruling out exact mental disorders and conditions that could be involved in chemical changes in your brain.
Though managing mood swings caused by such disorders isn’t easy, you can still control your emotions to some extent with the following guide.
How Do I Control My Female Mood Swings? – 5 Coping Tips
The following tips for managing mood swings though helpful during periods, or other physiological changes, might not be as effective in mental disorders.
Mental disorders seek professional help and can only be treated under a brief treatment plan.
But if you haven’t been diagnosed with any such disorders and are looking out for ways to control or cope with your mood swings during physiological phases, here is what you can do:
#1. Add Vitamins and Minerals to Your Diet
Vitamins and minerals influence your hormonal balance and regular cellular functioning.
For example, magnesium, zinc, and iron can help you control period mood swings to some extent because of their muscle relaxing properties. By relaxing your muscles, they reduce period cramps, and pain hence restoring serotonin levels.
Vitamins like Vit B5, B6, B12, and C too affect your nervous system and help reduce excessive stress that women face during reproductive changes.
Thus, you can add multivitamin complexes to your routine when facing severe mood swings during your hormonal changes phase.
#2. The Right Diet
Diet as you read above has a deep connection with your regular mood changes.
Hence when facing severe mood swings, opt for a healthy diet containing complex carbohydrates like beans, peanuts, lentils, and whole grains
This will help raise serotonin levels to keep you in a pleasant mood.
You can even add enough amount of legumes to your diet, to let the hormonal imbalance come back to its healthy state.
Legumes contain phytoestrogens that mimic the actions of estrogen in your body.
Adding foods that regulate the healthy working of the liver can also help you keep your mood swings under control as it would help balance your estrogen levels.
#3. Physical Activities
Physical activities during hormonal changes, and even during chronic diseases can help control your mood swings by keeping your blood pressure normal.
In case you are not willing to indulge in intense workout sessions, you can opt for some relaxing techniques like meditation and yoga.
Since yoga includes many breathing exercises it will help your mind stay clear, with a regular healthy supply of oxygen to your brain.
#4. Avoiding Alcohol and Caffeine
While caffeine might seem a good option to keep yourself positive, it packs lots of mood swings-inducing properties.
For example, taking caffeine keeps you happy till the time it’s present in your body, but when its levels start dipping, your emotional status changes.
Similarly, alcohol might please you for some time, but it can create a state of dehydration that induces negative mood swings.
Thus it is best to consume both caffeine and alcohol in moderation and not overuse them to avoid constant severe mood swings.
#5. Follow Your Hobbies
The basic idea of controlling mood swings is keeping yourself happy, and for that what else could be better than following your hobbies?
Indulge in activities that you find pleasing, it could be painting, music, or even reading a novel.
Investing time in your favorite activities helps release serotonin that’s good for your overall health as well as your mental health.
Conclusion
Almost everyone is aware of the causes of mood swings in females during periods but did you know there could be other causes too?
Mood swings are not just a result of hormonal imbalance but can also signify major underlying health conditions.
While these conditions could be mental disorders affecting emotions controller areas of your brain, they could also be systemic diseases.
Although differentiating between the hormonal changes induced mood swings and disorders-induced mood swings is sort of difficult.
But the best difference noted till now, is the duration of the mood swings.
Physiological mood swings are mostly short-lived, while the ones seen in diseases go on to persist for a longer time and even interfere with daily chores.
If you are suffering from the latter, it is best advised to consult a doctor for the best treatment and the earliest solution to end these mood swings.
ALSO READ: How to Stop Period Cravings?
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