Moody Much? How to Make Your Mood Swings Work for You
The Moody Bitch's Survival Guide
Our hormones can teach us a lot about ourselves, but they can also be pretty damn disruptive. Here, six things you can do if the symptoms they cause become unbearable.
1. Eat a diet heavy on protein and whole foods, and light on carbs.
Keep it simple: Choose vegetables over fruit (they contain less sugar), natural foods over processed ones, and proteins over starches. Eating this way can help your mood—one study that put people on either a whole-food diet or processed-food diet found a 58 percent higher risk of depression in the processed group. Eat a big salad every day if you can. And increase your intake of anti-inflammatory foods (such as ginger, turmeric, blueberries, dark chocolate, green tea, and red wine) as well as omega-3-rich foods (like salmon, halibut, and flaxseed), which have been shown to improve mood and anxiety.
2. Spend at least 20 minutes outside three days a week.
Three quarters of us are vitamin D-deficient due to our diminishing time spent in the sun. Low vitamin D levels correlate with depression, and giving patients adequate doses of it has improved their depressive symptoms. One tip: Take those fashionable sunglasses off for a few minutes; the sunlight needs to hit your retinas to exert its antidepressant effect.
3. Do regular cardio.
Research shows aerobic exercise can be as effective as antidepressants in improving mood and energy and reducing feelings of malaise. Aim for 30 minutes three times a week in the first half of the day (exercising too late in the day can interfere with sleep).
4. Get seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Consolidated sleep is best. I tell my patients who are exhausted in the afternoon to try not to nap in order to guarantee that uninterrupted block of sleep at night. If you must snooze, be strategic about it: either 25 minutes or 90 minutes, nothing in between, and try to be done napping by 3:00 P.M.
5. Try a supplement.
The amino acid supplements L-tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5HTP), available at any health-food store, can help boost serotonin production, as can vitamin B6. Taking a magnesium supplement in the days before your period can lower anxiety, prevent insomnia, and help ease bloating; calcium can lessen irritability.
6. If you still have awful PMS, talk to your doctor.
There are prescription medications you can take just before your period starts. I like Lexapro, which starts working quickly and is easier to wean off. If your PMS doesn't go away when your period starts, then see your doctor—it could be depression.
What I tell my patients: Be your own best advocate. You deserve downtime and pleasure, sleep, good food, and sex. Find the healthiest thing that soothes you, and give it to yourself without shame. But to do all that, you must be able to be your moody self.
*Julie Holland, M.D., is a Manhattan psychiatrist and the author of the book *Moody Bitches, from which this article is adapted.
