Is monitoring your mood good for your health?
How’s your mood been recently? You may be feeling pretty good as you’ve recently had a good experience or received some good news maybe. Conversely, however, you may be feeling a bit down for the opposite reasons. In this article we’ll explain how monitoring your mood can be good for you.
The main thing to know is that it’s perfectly normal for our mood to go up and down. It’s perfectly fine to feel a bit sad every now and again or even maybe feeling an emotion you can’t quite explain. There’s a great explanation of mood here however mood is part of your emotional rhythm. With Spark, you can keep monitoring your mood and here’s how.
You can post how you’re feeling when you create a journal post
(However, if you haven’t already done so, you can find a prompt in the Updates For The Day section at the top of your screen)
Follow the scale and let Spark know how you’re feeling today
You’ll receive a notification to let you know once done
Tap the two-way arrow under Mood Score to see how you’ve been doing recently
Get a summary of your mood
(Always remember that regardless of where you’re at in your journey, you’ve achieved so much already!)
There are many benefits to monitoring your mood. A key benefit is when you’re going through a particularly low point you can reflect back to a time when things seemed a bit better. Hope, or lack of, can sometimes magnify a small problem and knowing of times when things are good can help.
Additionally, monitoring your mood, and more specifically when, is beneficial to help determine likely causes for that behaviour. Quite simply, try to do more of the things that make you feel good and, if possible, avoid the opposite. As detailed in the article above, there’s many likely causes for ups and downs in mood including the following.
- stress
- poor sleep, tiredness and overwork
- needing to eat
- interactions with the people around you
- the news
- the weather
- hormonal changes, such as due to your period, puberty, menopause, or pregnancy
- lack of exercise
- a need for a break
- drugs and alcohol
- poor nutrition
- medication side effects
- depression
- anxiety
- substance abuse
- attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
- bipolar disorder
- dementia
- physical illness or chronic pain
The good news is, even when you’re going through a low point, Spark is here to help. By making time to do things you enjoy, you can work towards trying to uplift that mood. Habits you could work on and schedule through our app include the following.
- connect with others ‒ you could take a friend to the movies or grab a coffee
- take time to enjoy ‒ spend some time in your garden or go for a walk
- participate and share interests ‒ joining a sports club perhaps or take up painting
- contribute to your community ‒ volunteer some of your time for a cause
- take care of yourself ‒ have your hair cut or go for a swim
- challenge yourself ‒ train for an event or learn to cook something new
- reduce your stress ‒ declutter your house or try meditation
Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a comment below or check out our exclusive merchandise here.