Anger is a perfectly normal, valid emotion. Many people try to avoid angry feelings because they’re negative. However, negative feelings are just as important as positive ones because they give you valuable information.

Those emotions aren’t just there for no reason. Anger, sadness, fear, and anxiety are all emotions that allow you to process negative situations healthily so your brain can move on from them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Some people get stuck, drowning in their negative emotions. Anger is good and healthy until it’s not. A bad mood stops being good and healthy if it causes you to act badly toward others.

Anger isn’t healthy if it’s something you’re feeling every day for long periods. At that point, feeling angry at the world becomes a great cause for concern because it is unhealthy to feel those negative emotions for extended periods.

It’s not just mentally unhealthy, but physically too. For example, anger and aggression are associated with higher cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is a hormone your body produces to help you deal with stressful or dangerous situations, and it can affect your blood sugar and cardiovascular health. It can also change how different parts of your body prepare for fight or flight.

And while that’s fine when you’re going through something stressful or dangerous temporarily, it’s not okay for extended periods. Cortisol is often at the root of the problem when people speak about stress causing high blood pressure, exhaustion, or other physical health problems.

Anger in small doses is okay, but waking up angry every day is not. To change that, you’ll need to understand why you’re angry so you can develop coping skills to help you create peace for yourself. Let’s look at why you may be chronically mad or in a bad mood.

1. You’ve experienced childhood trauma.

Trauma is an experience we all will face sooner or later. Unfortunately, some people experience trauma as children at the hands of the adults who are supposed to love, protect, and guide them.

In a perfect world, all adults would be responsible and mature enough to handle the great challenge of raising happy, healthy children. But we don’t live in a perfect world.

We live in a world where pain and suffering are infectious. Many people don’t receive adequate care or don’t feel as though they can be better than they are. That, of course, spreads to everyone around them.

Childhood trauma primes children for possible mental health challenges in the future. According to the National Center for PTSD, anger is a common symptom of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s a response to being made a victim. This kind of anger goes beyond waking up in a bad mood or grumpy. It is often pervasive throughout a person’s life.

2. Overexposure to negative news.

Much can be said about the positives and negatives of the past. There are certainly plenty of negatives to be had. Still, one great positive was people’s limited exposure to negative news. Before the internet and social media, people caught the news when they picked up a newspaper or tuned in for a 6 pm broadcast.

Now? It’s a 24/7 unending news cycle of pain, misery, and suffering. Today’s news is a never-ending window into just how terrible the world can be. Not only is it unhelpful, but it can ruin your peace and happiness. Dr Steven Stosny, who specializes in helping people experiencing anger and resentment, has coined this a type of “headline stress disorder.”

And even worse, this kind of negative news is the most engaging; that’s why it is so prevalent. Plenty of people are doing great work to make the world a better place, but you only hear about that sparingly.

Instead, the negative news is front and center because people tune in for the same reason they gawk at a car crash. They want to see the spectacle.

3. Social injustice is riling you up.

Let’s face it, the United States is fighting an extreme culture war within itself stoked by division and anger. Much of that division and anger is due to the injustice that so many people experience.

It rarely seems like the rich are held accountable when committing crimes. Companies can pollute, be fined, and avoid paying through legal loopholes.

The government has been steadily chipping away at your rights for decades.

Police officers who act unjustly get a paid vacation throughout the internal investigation process, or they get let go and hired by a different department.

Why wouldn’t you wake up angry?

4. Economic inequality is breaking your spirit.

Everything is so expensive. Everything from the carton of eggs at the grocery store to preventative healthcare seems massively overpriced and unattainable for too many people.

Do you want to buy a house in a high-cost-of-living area? You better pull in a high income to make that happen in the current housing markets. Inflation is out of control, interest rates are terrible, and 57% of Americans can’t even cover an unexpected expense of $1000.

Poverty is stressful, anxiety inducing, and depressing. The working class is more like the working poor. So many people work two or more jobs and still live paycheck to paycheck. It’s infuriating, particularly when you watch the news and see all these companies that provide essentials, like eggs and gas, pulling in record profits. Feeling life is treating you unfairly or unjustly is a common cause of anger, according to Psychology Today.

5. You are mourning for something lost.

Life is suffering. That common sentiment speaks of so much negativity on the surface. But, in reality, it is a truth of life. Life is suffering. Everyone, everyone, will know suffering at some point in their life.

Relationships crumble, loves end, people get sick, people die, random tragedy strikes—no one is above it. No one can avoid it. But still, we are all expected to somehow find a way through it and keep a smile on our faces.

It’s long been accepted that anger is often part of the grieving process. It’s normal to be angry while mourning for something you lost. However, some people get stuck there and remain stuck there for years.

The brain knows what it needs to do to properly mourn and move on. Basically, it needs to be able to experience the feelings manifesting so it can process the emotions. But we interrupt that. Who has time to sit around and feel their feelings? There’s too much stuff to do!

6. Anger is the mask of other emotions.

Let’s face it, for many people, anger is the only socially acceptable negative emotion. Few people have time for your fear, grief, sadness, and pain. And not many people want to make themselves vulnerable by exposing these sensitive parts of themselves to the world.

Anger, however, is attention-grabbing. It’s intimidating. It’s far more socially acceptable than being sad or afraid. And frankly, it’s necessary because if you show vulnerability to the wrong people, they will eat you alive. They see anything other than anger as an exploitable weakness.

It takes a great deal of emotional intelligence and maturity to be vulnerable and keep yourself safe from people who would use it against you.

7. You’re experiencing substance abuse or addiction.

Nowadays, people seem to have a blasé attitude toward substance abuse of different flavors. Quite a lot of it has to do with marketing. Sure, it’s easy to look at things like meth or fentanyl and say to yourself, “You know what? I probably shouldn’t do those things. That seems like a bad idea.”

But alcohol? Bro, check out this sick party! Don’t you wish you were having fun with all these pretty, happy people? Mommy needs to relax after work with a nice glass of wine—or four—to unwind from the stress of her day! Mmm, nothing like a mimosa at 10 o’clock in the morning.

Energy drinks? Yeah, man, totally fine to inundate your body with 300% caffeine and sugars. That won’t cause any problems at all—like hypertension, anxiety, and stress.

And with legalization in many places—marijuana. Granted, pot has been much maligned by alcohol and tobacco lobbyists who want to control the “recreational” markets, but it’s not the innocent wonder plant that many people make it out to be.

Instead, pot can cause or make many psychological problems much worse. Still, chew down this edible or pick up this new strain at your local dispensary!

The fact is that substances like these can mess up the equilibrium in your body. Research has shown that they can cause depression, anxiety, and stress, which may all manifest as anger. And if you are using substances regularly, you are affecting your brain and body chemistry in a way that may make you irritable.

8. Your anger is a symptom of mental health problems.

Perpetual anger, bad moods, or irritability may be a symptom of mental health conditions. These feelings are generally categorized under the “irritability” of diagnostic criteria. That is, if your grumpiness, anger, and moodiness feels like it’s ruining your daily life, then it may be a symptom of a larger problem.

Many people don’t realize that anger is a common symptom of depression and anxiety, particularly in men.

In closing…

In simple terms, if you wake up angry in the morning for seemingly no reason—there is a reason. It just may not be apparent. The best thing you can do is seek help from a certified mental health professional to explore why you feel the way you do so that, hopefully, you can get some relief.

Yes, life can be hard, and the world is a messed up place sometimes, but there is more to it than anger and sadness.

And if anger is what you most often feel, then it might be a good idea to talk to a professional who will be in the best position to help you.