When everything is irritating: psychotherapists named 5 habits that make us aggressive

Sometimes people don't understand why they suddenly lose their mood and snap at everyone. Psychotherapists have identified the reasons for this behavior. According to them, it's something we automatically encounter every day: social media, scary movies, and lack of fresh air.

The experts named the five most common habits that, instead of distracting us from harmful thoughts, make us more irritable and aggressive. HuffPost provides a list of them and tips for overcoming them.

Eating a snack when you're hungry. Heather Kent, a writer and psychoanalyst from Canada, believes that lack of energy is the cause of irritability and lethargy. Therefore, the expert advises to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat right.

"Try setting an alarm for every few hours to check your hunger levels or plan meal breaks in your day," Kent recommends.

Watching horrors at night. The Canadian psychotherapist also believes that watching even your favorite crime series at night does not do you any good but only tires your mind and irritates your thoughts.

"As we stay awake and are distracted by TV, we don't go to bed later. Then we realize we have to get up in five hours. If we don't sleep well, we feel irritable the next day," the expert believes and advises TV lovers to watch "light" movies and programs at the end of the day.

Locking yourself in a closed space. Susan Zinn, a psychoanalysis expert from Santa Monica, found that a 30-minute walk in the fresh air at least once a day is enough to reduce irritation. If you don't have time to do this during the day, it's a good idea to wake up half an hour earlier in the morning and get direct exposure to natural light.

The psychotherapist also recommends putting off your morning cup of coffee for a few hours because caffeine is a stimulant that can trigger a surge in stress hormones. It is best to take vitamin D.

Excessively checking notifications on your phone. Statistics show that people check their phones on average about 50 times a day. This takes about 20 minutes. This results in time management problems and a feeling of overwhelming, followed by general irritability.

"Once we've gone down the rabbit hole, we scold ourselves for being distracted and wasting time, which upsets us and undermines our focus and productivity. Thus, we seek distraction from the frustration, and the cycle of mini-frustration repeats, prolonging the last one," said Timothy Jeider, a psychiatrist at Nevada Mental Health.

Therefore, it is better to take the phone to another room or at least turn off pop-up notifications.

Being immersed in death news too much. Kent argues that misinformation, conspiracy theories, and other warnings in the news can be extremely damaging to our mental well-being.

"All of this leads to increased feelings of irritability, aggression, and anger, and we're usually really addicted to this news cycle because of the news," the psychotherapist says and advises watching the news twice a day: in the morning and in the evening.