"Why am I in a bad mood?" The 3 most frequent reasons

Sudden mood swings can be a source of discomfort that affect all aspects of our lives. They facilitate the appearance of arguments, they are distracting and, of course, they are unpleasant for those who directly experience them.

In addition, an added factor of discomfort is the fact of not knowing very well where the bad mood emanates from. When someone talks about the bad face we have in those situations, the answers we give in this regard are almost always insufficient. For example, if someone complains that we have become angry when they have made a simple request, we will probably respond something like "you are always asking me for help".

The causes of bad mood

Despite the lack of logic that seems to exist in the reasons why someone thinks they get angry when they are in a bad mood, the truth is that there are real factors that explain a good part of these states emotional. Our mind is not independent of the body, so both the material state of our nervous system and our habits have an effect on the way we think and feel. These that you will see below are the most important influencing factors.

1. Lack of sleep

Lack of sleep has a huge influence on how we think and how we feel. When we sleep little or with frequent interruptions, our brain does not fully recover, and that means that it has to face day-to-day tasks with very limited resources and in a bad way. It must be taken into account that this set of organs is always active, and therefore is exposed to great wear. The moments in which we sleep are stages in which this activation becomes of another type, with which the maintenance and recovery of these cellular tissues becomes possible.

The result of this is, of course, that we tend to think worse and have a lot of difficulty managing our attention well. In addition, this makes us frustrated and feel bad, which in turn makes it easier for us to reach the threshold of a bad mood very quickly. By the time the day comes when someone asks us for something, we've already been through a fair number of small daily failures, and so we react badly to the need to put our brain.

Thus, complaints are the way in which we try to turn into reasonable arguments something that is actually a cry for help, the request for more time to rest.

• You may be interested: "7 Psychological Signs That You're Not Getting Enough Sleep"

2. Stress sustained for a long time

The stress It is, at the same time, the perfect breeding ground for bad humor to appear.

In fact, it is rare that these levels of anxiety sustained for days are experienced with good face, as if that psychological discomfort were an edifying sacrifice that is assumed in favor of a greater good. It almost always results in tantrums and leads us to adopt a more cynical and pessimistic style of thinking.. Somehow we remain biased and interpret everything in a negative way.

The reason for this is very similar to the case of lack of sleep. Continuous stress is a consequence of a neuroendocrine system that needs to rest and "disengage" from a series of tasks and ideas that hold our focus for too long, whether we like it or not. This causes our thinking to go into a loop, a phenomenon known as rumination..

• You can learn more about rumination by reading this article: “Rumination: the annoying vicious circle of thinking”

3. Vital pessimism caused by a philosophy of life

There is a type of bad mood that is deeper and less circumstantial than the one generated by stress and lack of sleep: the one that is part of the philosophy of life itself, the way in which we have learned to interpret our experiences.

This is what from the current clinical psychology cognitive-behavioralis addressed through what is known as cognitive restructuring. The idea is to modify the way in which we interpret reality consciously or unconsciously.

Normally, people with this kind of bad mood read their lives through a mental framework that predisposes them towards pessimism. It is his habit, just like brushing his teeth every morning or having toast with jam for breakfast.

For example, their achievements will always be interpreted as the result of luck or the help of others, while failures will be understood as a consequence of one's true limitations same. That is, the good will be attributed to external factors, and the bad will be attributed to the essence of oneself, something that (theoretically) cannot be changed. This process is influenced by what is known asControl locus": the way in which we attribute what happens to us to personal or external characteristics.

change habits

This type of cause of bad mood is the most difficult to change, because it requires a personal commitment to change medium and long term (although the bad mood caused by lack of sleep can also give a lot of trouble if it is a consequence of a Sleep disorder). Usually, this vital pessimism cannot be solved just by reading books, but it is necessary to change their own habits and ways of doing things.

So, to get past the "why am I in a bad mood?" to "why do I feel so good if I'm not especially lucky" the The solution is, paradoxically, to start believing that we are lucky because we really see that there is no reason to think so. contrary. Getting rid of artificial worries, feeling motivated and transforming our lives into exciting projects are a part of this plan. The other part, of course, is having the basic necessities to live with dignity, which It will allow us to have the necessary autonomy to direct our acts to actions that pursue objectives authentic.

Bibliographic references:

• Ardila, R. (2004). Psychology in the Future. Madrid: Pyramid.
• Gadenne, V. (2006). Philosophy of psychology. Spain: Herder.
• Pink, Daniel H. (2010). The surprising truth about what motivates us (1st ed. edition). Barcelona: Center Books.
• Ryan, R. M.; Say, e. L. (2000). «Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being». American psychologist 55
• Triglia, Adrian; Regader, Bertrand; Garcia-Allen, Jonathan (2016). psychologically speaking. Paid.