advice for mood!
as i was dealing with irritation, anxiety, and lots of mood swings during combo birth control, something that REALLY helped was cyclical breathing - just 5 minutes in the morning stabilized my mood a bit more throughout the day. this basically just means longer exhales than inhales , and a slow pace of breath like 4-6 breaths per minute.
there are many studies supporting this! here’s one -https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2023/02/cyclic-sighing-can-help-breathe-away-anxiety.html
i’m sure it won’t be a cure-all for the nasty BC moodiness, but it really helped me, so i wanted to share! i hope it can help someone who’s going through these kinds of side effects, they suck.
i didn’t believe it at first but it really does have an impact. i also thought deep breathing was more about calming yourself in the moment, and never realized the impact it could have throughout the day.