Irritability is an emotionala condition characterized by an acute feeling of disappointment or annoyance. There can be many reasons for irritation, the most common of which are various stressful life situations. Most people experience periods of moderate irritability from time to time, but if this condition becomes permanent, it may indicate some diseases.
Possible causes of irritability
Irritation can affect anyone,no matter how old or young he is. And the reasons for irritability can be very different. It can be something simple, like lack of sleep, or something much more serious, like a complex illness. In order to understand how to manage your irritability, you first need to figure out what caused the problem. Some people become more irritable in the morning, while others get irritated by any trifle in the evening. The degree of irritation depends largely on the specific situation for each person. But in general, such a reaction creates a higher level of tension in those around you, so it is so important to find ways to keep your irritability under control. Who among us has not experienced this, when suddenly, seemingly for no apparent reason, we are suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible dissatisfaction with everything? We can be irritated by those with whom we work, sit at the same desk, live under the same roof; and at the same time, it may seem to us that there is no reason for this. How can you pull yourself together, control your behavior, if you can’t even figure out what exactly made you angry? To figure out what’s going on, you need to try to determine what’s bothering you the most. To do this, you need to step back from the situation and analyze it. Keep in mind that if you don’t want to work on it and look for the reasons for your irritability, it can very quickly develop into anger. Once you cross this invisible line, you can do or say a lot of things that you will regret later. But if you take the trouble to find the root cause, you will be able to find a solution to the problem. Or, at least, you will try to avoid such situations in the future. Medical reasons Too often, emotional breakdowns can be caused by physiological processes occurring in our body. For example, irritability can become a secondary sign of the development of some chronic disease. To determine whether the constant feeling of irritation is caused by a medical or emotional factor, you should undergo a thorough examination. In any case, we strongly recommend that you do this. In the meantime, let's talk about all the possible medical reasons.
- Medicines Some medicines,affecting the central nervous system of the patient, can provoke irritability in him. It can cause such a condition and change the dosage of the drug. And sometimes not the medicine itself, but the side effects it causes, can give all the same state of nervousness.
This effect can be caused by the interaction of twoor several drugs, each of which separately will not have a similar effect on the nervous system. In this case, the irritation that a person experiences will be persistent and long-lasting - it will last as long as you take such a combination of drugs. If you take drugs at your own discretion, then you should immediately stop treatment. And if the drug was prescribed by a doctor, then you should hurry to consult with him. There is one substance, the effect of which many do not even suspect, but it can also cause increased irritability. This is caffeine. Ingesting large amounts of caffeine during the day can cause anxiety and an increase in heart rate; in addition, caffeine can interact with the drugs you are taking.
- Disease itself can causea person feel nervous and impatient in dealing with everyday problems. Our body, being protected from the disease, causes us to feel unwell, and this can lead to fatigue and irritability. It is not surprising that when we become ill, we become much more vulnerable emotionally.
- Pain Anyone can make you losetolerance to people and circumstances, which leads to increased irritability. Try to enter into a dispute with a person who has a toothache - you just quarrel if you do not know the reason for his incontinence! Headache, too, can make a person unbearable in communication. And so with any pain stimulus.
- Alcohol abstinence When a person does not receivethe usual share of alcohol, the central nervous system reacts sharply to factors such as bright light, noise, a sharp smell and a change in ambient temperature. The absence of alcohol can also cause a general malaise, which in the end can also lead to irritability.
- Diabetes mellitus Here, mood swings dependfrom the level of sugar in the blood. These level fluctuations, which are due to the constant struggle of the body for trying to regulate the amount of sugar, can cause the opposite emotional states - from satisfaction and calmness to negativity and irritability. Effects on the central nervous system can also occur due to the use of drugs against diabetes.
- Problems with sleep It happens that we are overwhelmedinsomnia, or we simply do not have the time or conditions for a full-fledged sleep. Lack of sleep is not only able to make a person irritable, but also can lead to serious mental problems. Not for nothing that the most terrible torture in China was considered compulsory sleep deprivation for several days - as a result, many went crazy!
The most common physiological causes of irritability in women In addition to the reasons already mentioned, there are those that occur most often (or even only) in women.
- Depression This is a painful condition thatmakes you feel immersed in sadness so much that living in the ordinary regime seems impossible. Women, as individuals more emotional, are depressed much more than men. For example, a woman may fall into postpartum depression, as she is depressed by the changes taking place with her body, and scares the tremendous responsibility she feels when she becomes a mother.
- Premenstrual PMS is very commonbecomes a trigger for the imbalance of women. Irritability, accompanied by constant mood swings, begins to bother us about a week before the onset of menstruation. And all these behavioral "tricks" are explained by changing the hormonal background.
- Menopause The principle is the same as during PMS -all due to the change in the hormonal background in the female body. The menstrual cycle is broken, and the woman enters the perimenopause. At this time, much less estrogen and progesterone are produced, and these are the hormones that affect the emotional state of a woman.
- Basidov's disease Irritability is oneof the signs of this disease. It is an autoimmune disease, and it affects the thyroid gland in such a way that it begins to produce an excessive amount of certain hormones. As soon as this occurs, the heart rate begins to increase; the speed with which the body processes food into useful energy also changes.
- Anemia This is a blood disease caused bya decrease in the level of hemoglobin. Since he carries oxygen from the lungs to every cell of the body, the lack of hemoglobin and, consequently, oxygen leads to the fact that the body can not function normally. Man begins to experience a constant sense of fatigue, and tired and angry is much easier than a person vigorous. Women are more prone to anemia, in particular because of increased blood loss during menstruation due to various diseases.
Emotional problems Emotional problemsmay be the main cause of irritability. They can be temporary - for example, a quarrel with family or a conflict at work - or permanent - stress, depression or similar reasons. Stress is the most common reason that leads a person to incontinence and nervousness. To combat irritability, you must first identify the cause that caused the stress and then eliminate it, if possible. If it is impossible to eliminate the cause of stress, then you need to learn to control your reaction to it. For example, if you are faced with harsh criticism from colleagues, try to respectfully accept their opinion and consider it from a neutral point of view, not allowing emotions to prevent you from finding the right solution. In this case, you suppress the emotional response so as not to give free rein to negative feelings that can cause stress and irritability.
How to overcome irritability
Excessive nervousness and lack of restraint cancan lead to a lot of relationship problems with others. But you can take steps to avoid this. If your mood is significantly affecting your ability to succeed at work and maintain healthy relationships at home, then you should make an effort to work on yourself. Here are some steps you can take to find your peace of mind:
You must help yourself!
Sometimes people become irritable becausethat they lack the skills to communicate effectively with others. For example, you don’t know how to explain to someone that their words or actions make you uncomfortable. This can lead to serious disappointments, since it is very difficult to remain silent if you don’t like something. But harshly assessing what was said or done will not improve the situation either – in both cases, irritation and anger will only increase. It would be much more effective here not to assess the actions of your interlocutor, but to talk about your feelings that arise in you. Or to diplomatically end the conversation altogether. Let’s say someone is telling you too loudly about an event in their life, and you have a headache and want silence. You can say: “Oh, shut up already! Your annoying squeaky voice is tearing my brain apart!” Or you can ask: “I have urgent work to do; come on, can you tell me about it a little later?” Correct communication is especially important if you know that you have a weakness – a tendency to irritation. Why ruin your relationships with others when you can simply improve your communication skills! Don’t forget that every person sometimes needs to be alone with themselves and their thoughts. It’s very easy to get irritated when you are constantly surrounded by a large number of people with all their habits and peculiarities. It is impossible to constantly adapt to someone and take into account someone’s needs; you need to regularly devote time to yourself. Irritation not only tires you out, but also makes it difficult to communicate with other people. You will be nervous yourself and make others feel unhappy. Therefore, fight your irritability, don’t give it a chance to ruin your life! We recommend reading:
