Whether it’s just a fleeting funk or a more persistent cruddy mood you’ve been experiencing, lifting yourself out of these depths is always the goal, is it not? Sure, you may allow yourself a pity party for awhile, but there comes a point when enough’s enough. Some ways to brush off your bad mood—a few that are simple, and others that’ll take a bit more time and effort.
Go to enjoy some art
Skip watching the game and head out to in some art galleries and museums instead. A study conducted by researchers at the University College London found that when participants were exposed to artwork, the level of activity in the brain related to pleasure increased. The more the person liked the artwork, the more the blood flow increased in this area of the brain.
Quit smoking
You’ve got plenty of reasons to quit your cigarette habit (healthier lungs, decreased risks of cancer and heart disease, to name just a few), and you can add improving your mood to that list, too. While you feel like lighting up is what helps you ease your worries and stress, research published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research found that people trying to quit feel most happy when they are at a successful stage of their butting-out attempt (even if only managing to quit temporarily).
Eat some comfort food
You know how when you’ve had a bad day at the office, you always seem to find yourself chowing down down on some chicken wings? There’s much truth to the term comfort food, it seems. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers found that fatty acid in particular resulted in the study participants feeling less sadness when compared to a saline one.
Go to a yoga class
Sun salutation your way to a better mood? Indeed. While exercise in general is often touted to help improve one’s mood, but yoga in particular was found by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine to be beneficial in decreasing anxiety and lifting one’s outlook. Throw out your bad mood with the trash You play Paper Toss on your iPad when you’re procrastinating. Now paper toss away your foul mood: A study published in Psychological Science found that you can help alleviate a bad mood by writing down your negative thoughts and and then throwing out that sheet of paper. It seems this action tricks your brain into thinking of these negative notions as gone.
