Annoyance is described as a state of feeling irritation. It usually serves as a prelude to anger or wrath and has been described by some as a lower stage of anger. Annoyance is usually sudden, caused by an action made by another person or animal. The emotion is usually brief and subsides after a while. The main difference between anger and annoyance is the possibility to perform unpleasant, impulsive actions one would normally not engage in. When you're annoyed, you're less likely to act on impulse.

The emotion of annoyance is usually accompanied by a slight frown on the person's face. In certain cases though, the facial expression of frustration could be concealed. It has been discovered that certain subconscious actions could indicate the feeling of annoyance. They include excessive sighing, looking to the side while you're addressing them, short replies and crossed arms during a conversation.

Reasons You Get Annoyed

Everyone gets annoyed for different reasons each day. Some of these reasons are discussed below.

1. Not having enough sleep

Sleep is necessary for every human. When you do not get enough sleep, your feelings tend to get erratic. When you sleep, nerve cells get parted, which allows for the retention of information and knowledge gained during the day. Short sleep is usually accompanied by fatigue, less focus, and that way could be an answer as to why you get annoyed easily. Sleep that lasts for at least 8 hours is described as sufficient sleep. Anything less than that leads to you not being well-rested. Not having enough sleep typically leads to emotional imbalance and mood swings.

2. Experiencing physical pain

When you are in pain caused by conditions such as cancer, arthritis, and ulcer; annoyance will be an emotion that will surface with ease. It has been discovered that those who feel chronic pain tend to exhibit high levels of irritability. For those with chronic pain, their pain to anger cycle starts with one of their aching episodes to unpleasant thoughts to unfavorable response to people associated with annoyance. That would later lead to emotional pain. Usual drug use to ease pain could also lead to aggravation as certain drugs possess the side effects of decreased tolerance in certain people.

3. Increased angst

Certain events like preparation for an exam, the pressure to perform better at work, stress in a relationship, decreasing performance at school and several other situations could lead to you feeling increased anxiety. A symptom of unease is being jumpy a lot. Unlike other emotions, the feeling of anxiety tends to last for lengthened periods of time. During these periods, it could be the reason why you get annoyed easily toward other people who perform non-irritable actions.

4. People prying into your personal life

In this case, you could think of personal life as a territory. Humans and animals, in general, tend to feel threatened when they feel their territory is being invaded. The response to that threat is usually the same; increased aggressiveness. The same thing happens when a person is trying to start a conversation about your personal life. It feels like such a person is invading your privacy and the dialogue will tend to get punctuated with actions that exhibit your annoyance such as shorter replies, frequent interruptions and even walking out on the person.

5. Impatience

You've most certainly been in one of those situations where you were receiving a call from a close friend and getting to the peak of the conversation when someone decided to interrupt your phone call. Or probably a situation where you were hurrying somewhere and a person decides that's the best moment to advertise some beauty product to you. Situations like these cause impatience and could lead to you get annoyed easily and in the end, provoking an untypical reaction.

6. If you feel you're with a time-waster

Similar to the point above, if you feel like someone is wasting your time, it could lead to intolerance. The particular difference between being with a time waster and feeling annoyed because of impatience is the availability of time. Most people who feel like they're with time-wasters actually have some time to spare.

How to Control Your Annoyance

• Understand that annoyance will get you nowhere

The first step to control your displeasure is realizing that getting easily annoyed with people doesn't add anything to your life. Rather, it takes from it. Imagine a situation where you're on your way to a job interview, you make a negative remark about a man who mistakenly stepped on your shoes in the street, and the man turns out to be part of the panel of interviewers. Efficiently, your earlier behavior will have stopped you from getting that job. It wouldn't matter if what you exhibited isn't your usual behavior. The opportunity would have been missed.

• Consider what will occur

This point particularly aims at tackling annoyance caused by impatience. Realizing the fact that the office you're rushing to or the person you're nervous to meet will still be there. Even if you get there a few minutes late will help curb the tendency to get exasperated and stop you from getting annoyed easily.

• Understand that the tendency to feel annoyed is normal

You're human. The impulse to feel annoyed is ordinary and happens to everyone. The issue is not, however, feeling the tendency to get annoyed. It lies in what you do after tending to feel annoyed. Will you feel annoyed and act based on that annoyance? Actions that would later lead to regret. Curbing that feeling is the crux of the matter.

Take Away Words

The topic of annoyance is discussed in this article. It is centered particularly on things or actions that could trigger irritation in us. Annoyance is generally regarded as a negative emotion and methods on how to curb frustration towards people are discussed.