20/10/2018
Sometimes feeling emotional and teary can be due to situations in our life or our hormones etc. and of course if you’re feeling anxious or unable to cope, please do speak to someone about it. However, we often overlook some simple physical causes that can have a big impact on how we feel:
1. Sleep. How tired are you? Studies have shown that lack of sleep heightens our emotional responses to negative and even neutral situations. Of course, any mum with young kids can relate to being so tired that you just want to sit and cry! But we often don’t notice when we’re losing just 30mins of sleep a night how much it can accumulate and lead to tiredness and a feeling of not coping. This spring/summer try moving your bedtime 30-60 mins earlier to counteract the earlier wake ups and don’t forget to take time to wind down before you shut your eyes - perhaps try a sleep meditation to help you doze off and improve your sleep quality.
2. Daily burnout: you may sleep enough but are you doing too much in the day without stopping? Try taking 5-10 minutes out for a cup of tea, to walk around your garden, have a nice shower, sit and look out of the window or sit/lie down and meditate (try the Calm app or headspace, both have free content). Doing this before heading to school pick up or while you’re waiting in the car can help you switch from work-brain to child-brain. Just a few deep breaths and quiet can completely shift your emotional state.
3. Water 💧Hydration may not be your number 1 thought when it comes to emotions until you realize your brain is 85% water. Most of us wait until we’re thirsty to drink but thirst kicks in at 1-2% dehydration and just a 2% drop in hydration leads to inattentiveness in children at school or adults at the wheel. If you’re feeling flaky, low or emotional try to start drinking more (good quality) water. 2 glasses as soon as you wake, 1 glass before any meal, 2 glasses between meals as a minimum. You will be amazed how differently you feel after a day or two of hydrating yourself (and I promise that needing to wake for the loo at night will pass once your body is hydrated!)
4. Food: sugars, carbs, sodas, coffee and alcohol can all affect your emotions (and of course dehydrate you!) Eating these foods feeds your cravings for them and so it’s very easy to get stuck in a cycle of eating them to give you a slight boost but then you crash and crave more of them while all the time you feel lower and lower. Try going shopping (when you’re not hungry) to buy a lot of fresh fruit, vegetable and unprocessed foods. Prepare some healthy fruit and vegetable snacks, water based soups, salads and stir fries. A day or two of fresh, water intensive foods and no sugary snacks, breads etc and something funny happens.. your body starts craving the healthy foods instead of the sugary, carby ones and just see what happens to your mood!
Don’t forget, if you have been feeling low for a long time or if even the thought of making any of these simple changes feels too much for you then please go and see someone, but if you can then try these tips and let me know how your mood shifts. Much love x
