Political Stress

Political stress is a significant concern for many people, and it can have a lasting impact on mental and emotional well-being. This is a time to plan ahead and keep calm. Since the news is one of the major ways that political stress can "get under the skin," we need to prevent harm from overconsumption of news.

You might be wondering how you can work when you feel so distracted or anxious. With so much happening right now in the world and with politics, it is sometimes hard to focus. There is a high risk of greater numbers of people falling into depression and anxiety. It is important to plan ahead now — set up your days to be balanced and build in some stress reduction. Here are some tips for managing news overload and getting through these challenging times.

You may feel distracted and inefficient, but also you probably have too much on your to do list as a usual habit. Don’t expect to work the same number of hours as usual, work for shorter periods. For example, you might want to set your alarm for 30-minute segments. Reduce the demands being put on you, by yourself, for others. If you can't change your schedule, try to proactively plan several pleasurable stress-relieving activities.

Short videos and apps can help relieve stress because they remind us to take a break and lead us through it. We have curated a list of some that focus on stress-reducing strategies, such as deep breathing and mindful movement. While these don't touch the weighty and existential issues we are facing, they are still helpful during times of stress. When we take breaks and go inward — focusing on breath or movement — we increase our resilience and cut out the many sources of outside noise and overstimulation. This allows us to gather our scattered attention, be more centered, and think more clearly during this challenging period.

We must restrain our consumption of media even more than usual. It will be hard! The news replays the same headlines and information over and over, adding incremental new information when they can, and offers dramatic and shocking visual images. Reading gives us more information than watching television and leaves less emotionally disturbing imprints on our mood and memories. The more people expose themselves to television during natural disasters, the more they experience long-term consequences such as PTSD symptoms and health issues.

We often don't realize the effect that frequent screen use can have on our quality of life. It splits up our experience of life, preventing quality time. Surveys show that on average people feel more anxious after watching the news and have a worse mood after checking social media.

A recent study found that the time spent on checking a greater number of news sites (radio, television, online, and newspapers), were both linked to greater emotional distress. Another study found that watching collective disasters on television, like 9/11, is sometimes reported to be the most traumatic event in one's life so far. Indeed, many people had PTSD symptoms from watching 9/11 coverage for several years afterward. This shows us the potential power of frequent viewing of violent or traumatic events to contribute to longer-term mental health issues. The visions of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are being replayed over and over — they can trigger current and past feelings of threat to safety and should be avoided.

Remember that it is a relief to focus on positive news and important to celebrate positive events, regardless of how small they may be.

The implications of this research is that to protect your mental health during these stressful times, limit news. Choose only a few reliable news sources or political coverage sites. Some people find it helpful to watch news with a like-minded person so they can discuss things that are upsetting and put them in context.