Mood Swings
™
Aromatherapy
If you have a project you simply must finish or an important deadline, diffusing geranium oil in the room when you have to keep working late should help renew and focus you.
Flower remedies
Try the Bach Flower remedy white chestnut to regain clarity of mind and bring you back to matters in hand.
Meditation
Simple exercises can focus your mind and clear distracted thoughts.
Homeopathy
Arnica is helpful if taken before a long, tiring journey. It helps counter fatigue when you need to concentrate.
Anyone that has lived with a sleep deprived person can attest to the presence of mood swings. As well as the physical feeling of being overtired, hormonal imbalances, which are exacerbated by lack of sleep, can also cause mood swings. This is often an integral part of other conditions, such as menopause and premenstrual syndrome/tension (PMS/PMT) in women. Hormone replacement therapy is usually offered for menopause and taking the contraceptive pill is sometimes recommended by doctors in order to regulate and alleviate symptoms of PMS.
Very tired people are also often found hanging around the coffee maker at the office, offering to buy snacks or looking exhausted just after lunch. This is because tiredness can induce cravings for a sugar hit, and one stimulant often quickly needs to be followed by another.
Common Symptoms
· Irritability
· Aggression
· Anger
· Sadness
· Exhaustion
· Feeling weepy and unable to cope
· Hot flushes
· Aches and pains
· Cravings
· Tendency to eat sweet, processed or snack foods; reliance on stimulants
· Energy slumps during the day
Aromatherapy
A feeling of being unappreciated can often come with mood swings, so making time for yourself is essential. Taking a hot bath with an aromatherapy candle is wonderfully indulgent. Also try adding a few drops of essential oil to the water to complement the candle, such as lavender, chamomile, marjoram and/or frankincense.
Diet
High fibre foods can help lessen mood swings caused by hormonal imbalance. Increase your water intake to 2.5 L a day to help the fibre perform its duties properly. Eat chromium rich foods, such as cheese, shellfish, baked beans and wholemeal bread, to help overcome the symptoms of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar). Fresh fruit is a slow releasing food that will stop you reaching for quick fix, sugar rich snacks.
Flower remedies
The Bach Flower remedy white chestnut will help soothe and restore your clarity of mind when you're feeling unbalanced.
Supplement
Phytonutrient herbs, such as liquorice, that boost levels of oestrogen, and ginseng helps balance the body's adrenal hormones (related to stress) can be used to balance hormone levels. Women who eat phytoestrogens, such as wheat, green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, oats and rhubarb, have fewer problems and menopause.
What is DHEA?
DHEA, or Dehydroepiandrosterone, is a naturally produced steroid often supplemented by athletes to improve their testosterone levels, allowing for fat loss, muscle gain, heightened energy, and increased libido. DHEA gained massive public appeal when average people looking to become more athletic, lose weight, or gain muscle discovered that it could do the same things for them.
Many fitness supplements throughout the 1990's and early 2000's used DHEA as part of their selling point. Numerous studies had come out detailing the effects of DHEA on all the athletic pursuits mentioned above, as well as a number of surprising positive benefits. Some of these included increased insulin production, better sex drive, improved mood, better memory, heightened levels of HDL "good" cholesterol, and various immune system benefits. Indeed, you can still see many DHEA supplements on the shelves in your local vitamin store - however, in recent years studies have surfaced showing the potential harm of DHEA.
DHEA has been shown to increase levels of certain sex hormones in the body - various powerful androgens and estrogens. These sex hormones regulate a number of important processes in the body, and their over supplementation has caused all sorts of unwanted side effects like excess facial hair (for both men and women), mood swings, hypergycemia, or even cancerous growth within the body.
Why is 7 Keto DHEA better?
Luckily, scientists have developed a molecule nearly identical to DHEA, without its propensity for throwing off the body's natural hormone balance. Known as 7 Keto DHEA, it is a natural metabolite (breakdown product) of DHEA. This means that when you ingest DHEA, it isn't actually DHEA that causes a lot of the desirable benefits you want. The body metabolizes DHEA into 7 Keto DHEA and various hormone enhancing compounds. By pre-metabolizing DHEA into 7 Keto DHEA and throwing out the unnecessary compounds, scientists can produce the exact same effects as DHEA, with none of the unwanted side effects.
What are some of the proven benefits of 7 Keto DHEA?
* Fat reduction
* Increased energy production
* Immune benefits - increase in anti-viral antibodies
* Effective treatment for muscle and weight loss for sufferers of HIV or wasting disease
* Improves HDL cholesterol, reduces risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke
There are a few important details regarding these benefits. First of all, fat reduction requires at least 200 mg per day to get weight loss results. This is only the minimum - some people take up to 1400 mg per day depending on their weight loss goals. Many supplement companies sell 7 Keto DHEA in capsules that only contain 50 to 100 mg each, requiring a daily minimum of two or four pills. The companies do not tell you this, because it is quite expensive to take 7 Keto DHEA at the required daily dosage. 7 Keto DHEA is actually exponentially higher in cost than pure DHEA as a supplement.
Also, the increased energy production can come at a cost. The reason energy production is increased is tied into 7 Keto DHEA's use as can the keto diet affect your mood a weight loss product. DHEA does two things related to energy production: makes it easier for the body to metabolize fats into energy, and it makes the body less efficient at burning fat. This makes the body produce more energy by burning an exponentially greater amount of fat. This is great if you have a lot of fat you need to burn off, but if you do not have any fat on your body, 7 Keto DHEA can actually be a dangerous product. By making the body less efficient, you can actually experience an energy reduction.
Regardless of these details, the studies proving 7 Keto DHEA's effectiveness in these areas are unassailable.
Some other benefits of DHEA
This list comprises a number of benefits of DHEA that have been proven, but for which studies of 7 Keto DHEA have not yet been done:
* Decreases lupus symptoms like rashes, anemia, arthritis, and heart, lung, or kidney problems
* Better mood
* Increases libido, better sex drive
* Normalizes blood sugar, prevents diabetes
* Anti-aging - reverses tissue deterioration
While there aren't any studies specifically on 7 Keto DHEA, these have been proven benefits of DHEA, its "mother" molecule. While it only makes sense that it would have similar benefits, one should be wary of websites or products that advertise it making claims of these benefits. Especially the heightened libido/sex drive claim is somewhat dubious, because it isn't supposed to increase sex hormone levels.
Dangers of 7 Keto DHEA?
As mentioned above, if you don't have any fat to burn, DHEA can actually decrease your energy levels.
Also, studies have shown that it may actually decrease levels of sex hormone in the blood. This result is believable, because it doesn't increase them like pure DHEA does.
Regardless of these dangers, it is a powerful weight loss product that can be useful in a number of other areas in your life. Be sure to consult with your doctor or health professional before taking this or any other supplement. Research says if you supplement with 7 Keto DHEA you should consume 200mg per day.