8 Ways to Boost Your Mood

Negative emotions and bad moods are two unavoidable conditions that no one wants to deal with. Furthermore, everyone wants to boost their mood without medication, and there are some techniques that might bring you some luck.

In this article, we'll outline the difference between mood and emotion and suggest some techniques to help you improve your mood and energy at home without spending a cent.

What Causes Bad Moods and Negative Emotions?

The main difference between moods and emotions is the duration that they typically last. Negative emotions like anger or frustration are often reactionary in response to a specific event or trigger. On the other hand, bad moods can often last for hours or days and are generally the result of more serious situations, such as prolonged stress, hormonal imbalances, tiredness, and more. Emotions are immediately identifiable, whereas bad moods and their causes can be much more difficult to understand.

Despite their differences, the two can be quite closely related. A particularly annoying event that triggers some intense anger can cause a lasting bad mood, whereas a bad mood can make your emotions far more volatile.

Can You Improve Your Mood at Home?

When you're in a bad mood, there's often nothing worse than someone giving you advice on how to fix it. However, if you're reading this article, chances are you've found yourself experiencing enough bad moods for no reason and want to learn how to change or manage that. Luckily for you, here are some great mood-boosting activities and techniques you can implement immediately.

8 Mood-Boosting Techniques You Can Do at Home

1. Exercise regularly

Often the reason for a bad mood can be attributed to decreased or imbalanced neurotransmitters in the brain. The primary neurotransmitters in question are dopamine and serotonin. Low levels of either are indicative of many mood-related disorders like depression and anxiety.

Research has shown that exercise can lift your mood instantly by boosting these neurotransmitters and helping your body modulate their release. It doesn't take hours of extensive exercise every day; a mere 20-30 minutes of light aerobics (such as a walk around your neighbourhood or some basic yoga) is required to reap the mental benefits of exercise.

2. Get more sleep

Sleep deprivation is one of the major causes of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more. It can also make you more prone to rapid mood swings and depression. If you've noticed some extreme shifts in mood recently, assess how much sleep you're getting and consider increasing it.

Adults generally need less sleep than children, but experts recommend getting no less than 7 hours a night, though you should aim for closer to 8. This excludes the time it takes you to fall asleep after going to bed.

3. Stick to a bedtime routine

This means trying to wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day, including weekends. Our brains crave routine and order, and living without a semblance of some basic routine is a surefire way to stress yourself out and bring down your mood. This is also a key step to cultivating healthy sleeping habits.

4. Spend less time in front of screens

This is another factor that can benefit your mood and sleeping patterns at the same time. Blue light from the screens of computers and smartphones triggers the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, which can impact your circadian rhythm. If you'd like to learn more about this topic, read our article about 5 ways to improve your sleep quality.


Another problem with screen use is that the constantly elevated dopamine levels when using these devices can lower dopamine levels overall. Social media addicts exhibit some of the same brain changes common in smokers and drug addicts. As such, it's no surprise that there is a link between screen time, declining mental health, and depression in adults.

5. Spend more time in nature

The evidence for nature being a mood uplifter is anecdotal as well as scientific. You've likely heard many spiritual people discuss the healing powers of nature, but there is actually supporting evidence for this. Research has shown that the stay-home orders issued by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a drastic increase in rates of depression, irritability, and sleep issues in previously healthy individuals.

6. Eat a healthy diet

It's not exactly a secret that your diet can impact multiple functions in your body, and your mood is no different. Poor dietary decisions can lead to and aggravate various health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Painful, uncomfortable, and restrictive symptoms are incredibly likely to negatively affect mood. Don't just take our word for it; a systematic review of 18 studies refined from an initial 2,857 concluded the same result.

7. Socialise

There are multiple reasons why socialising can improve your mood.

Firstly, humans are inherently social creatures that require interaction with other humans. Socialising is so ingrained into our physiology that we are the only species on the planet to develop complex language. For most of history, socialising was critical to our survival, and because of this, our brains penalise us if we fail to meet this criterion. Research has shown that loneliness can cause severe psychiatric disorders like depression, personality disorder, and even suicide.

Secondly, as humans, we tend to bottle up our emotions without realising the consequences. More often than not, speaking about your problems can be an effective way of dampening the effect they have on your mood and emotions.

8. Use supplements

Although this method might not be free, mood support supplements and products can still be used if all the aforementioned techniques haven't worked. For natural ways to relieve stress, improve sleep problems, and stabilize your mood, visit our shop. Cannabotech combines the powers of medicinal mushrooms with cannabidiol (CBD) oil and some other healthy ingredients.

When Should You See a Doctor for Mood Problems?

There is no absolute answer to this question as everyone is different. However, it's safe to say that if your negative mood has been dramatically affecting your life for a few months and none of the techniques discussed in this article have worked, then it might indicate a more serious condition being afoot. Severe hormonal imbalances, psychiatric disorders, and mental health conditions are not a subject to be taken lightly and should be addressed by a qualified medical practitioner as soon as possible.