How To Beat A Bad Mood

By Jancee Dunn Sigh if this has happened to you: You're heading out the door, feeling reasonably upbeat -- your outfit is cute, the weather is sunny. And then, wham! Your husband asks, "Why do you look so tired?" You forgot your phone. Oops, it's dead. And now you're late. A rotten mood builds. Though you're aware of what's happening, you can't stop it. It's probably not much comfort to know that bad moods are having a moment: Americans reported record high levels of negativity about the future in an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. "If things look uncertain, there's no question that people will be crankier than normal," says Jair C. Soares, M.D., director of the University of Texas Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders. Kicking it up another notch is the amplification of social media (ISIS! Ebola!): "The 24/7 media frenzy of contemporary life makes people even more apprehensive," Soares notes. Meanwhile, we're in one of the least perky times of year, which wears on some of us more than others. A study published in the journal Emotion found that inclement weather can make a person's foul mood even worse. It sure doesn't help when someone tells you to cheer up. "You're not getting any empathy," points out psychologist Guy Winch, Ph.D., author of Emotional First Aid, "and that only makes you feel annoyed." If reading this has upset you, take heart: "It's important to have emodiversity -- a variety of negative and positive feelings," says June Gruber, Ph.D., assistant professo...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news