New Delhi, Aug 11 - For ages, women have always been accused of having mood swings, but with increasing stress levels, men too are displaying erratic behaviour and admit as much.

'I am very moody. I have been like this always. There are days when I feel low and I don't talk to any of my friends, but there are days when you will see me chatting and gossiping with my friends,' admits 21-year-old Ajitesh Raina, who is doing his masters in advertising.

'With so much competition around, sometimes I feel it takes a toll on my personal life. There are days when I am unable to deal with never-ending presentations and deadlines. I feel stressed out and that's when I get these mood pangs,' Raina added.

Leading psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh said: 'Yes, it is true that men have mood swings. It may not be as predictable as the Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)- related mood swings in women. But men too have their share of mood changes.'

According to Samir Parikh, consultant psychiatrist at Max Healthcare in New Delhi, everyone experiences mood swings regardless of the gender.

'All of us tend to have ups and downs during our lifetime and also during the course of any particular day. These ups and downs and individual perceptions of success or failure, satisfaction and dissatisfaction can cause us to experience frequent changes in our mood states regardless of the gender we belong to,' Parikh told IANS.

Feeling extremely low or having an unnaturally excessive sense of euphoria are symptoms which can be described as mood disorders or more specifically depression and bipolar disorder.

Mood swings happen due to chemical imbalances in the brain or changes in life circumstances and psychological factors. Also, some personality types are more prone to having mood swings than others.

Friends of 29-year-old Abhinav Sharma, a business executive here, often wonder why he is so difficult to understand.

'I know him for more than a decade now.