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8 Ways to Calm Hypomania
- mentalhealthclarit
- Jan 16, 2020
- 3 min read
What is Hypomania?
Mania and hypomania symptoms of similar but mania is more intense. So if you have experience hypomania or mania you may have Bipolar Disorder.
Hypomania is a milder form of mania. If you’re experiencing hypomania, your energy level is higher than normal, but it’s not as extreme as in mania. Other people will notice if you have hypomania. It causes problems in your life, but not to the extent that mania can. If you have hypomania, you won’t need to be hospitalized for it.
Self-help strategies that maybe useful
Psychotherapy and antipsychotic drugs may help reduce the symptoms of both mania and hypomania. Lifestyle changes and self-help strategies may also help you cope with your symptoms as well.
Below I have listed some ways to combat symptoms of Hypomania
Self-Help for Hypomania – How to Calm Down Your Hypomania
Here are some things to consider if you’re hypomanic and you want to calm down:
Try meditating. Now, meditating isn’t for everyone and if you try to start meditating when you’re hypomanic, you’re likely to fail, but if you have a regular mindfulness meditation practice, now would be the time to put it into action.
Exercise. Exercise overall is useful for physical and mental health, and many many studies prove this to be true. In regard to hypomania some people find that they can “burn off” their hypomanic energy through exercise. You could try something cardio-intensive to burn off energy or try something like calming like yoga to try to bring yourself down directly.
Try progressive muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation is sort of like meditating but it’s easier because it’s physical and It’s really simple. Lie on the floor and simply work from the top of your body to the bottom or the bottom to the top and clench each muscle as hard as you can for five seconds and then release. Then move on to the next muscle. This will progressively relax your entire body. Do it more than once if you need to.
Take your PRN medication. PRN medication is taken “as needed.” , it has medications that you can take when things get bumpy. Typically this medication is a benzodiazepine (like Ativan) or an antipsychotic (like Seroquel). These medications can be used to calm a hypomania or even to induce sleep.
Use blue light-blocking glasses. Blue light is the type of light that tells your brain it’s time to wake up and be energetic and this is exactly the wrong message to give if you’re hypomanic. And the trouble is, if you’re reading this right now, you’re making it worse because electronics all emit a fair amount of blue light (as do the lighting fixtures in your home). The solution is simple though: just pop on a pair of blue light-blocking glasses. They’re cheap on Amazon and you can get a pair that can fit over your existing glasses if you need them. (These are also great every night when you’re calming down to go to bed. Wear them an hour before bedtime in help induce sleep.)
Remove distractions. Hypomania may make you want to seek distractions and stimuli. Don’t listen to this urge. Instead, turn off lights, turn the volume down on the television, turn music off and do something simple, if you can, like read a book, write in your journal or pet or play with your cat or dog.
Practice deep breathing. When your hypomanic force your body to slow down with deep breathing that can affect how fast your brain is moving.
Sleep. If you allow your hypomania to block your sleep you know you are going to get out of control very quickly so you know that sleep is essential for you. When you are hypomanic, you have to take extra medication to sleep, but it’s worth it when you wake up the next day in a semi-normal state.
These calming strategies are intended to be used in conjunction or one after the another. Please don’t overwhelm yourself and try to do all at once instead try one at a time and see how it works for you.
Any questions, queries or concerns, please feel free leave a comment below or drop me an email.
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