How to stay informed without increasing your anxiety!

I don’t know about you, but the news this week stressed me out! I went from feeling fairly confident and in some semblance of a routine, to that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach…sound familiar?

I know it isn’t just me because I have seen a dip in nearly all of my clients in the last few days, so I felt like it was important to look at ways of staying informed without it negatively affecting mental health.

This is your brain on worry

Every time you are exposed to a stressful or traumatic event your brain releases hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.  These activate your fight, flight or freeze responses, which either makes you go numb or have an overactive fear response. Either way, this might cause problems like stomach issues, headaches, a tingling sensation in your hands or feet, racing or intrusive thoughts, and difficulty eating and sleeping!

Repeated exposure to traumatic news can cause a secondary trauma stress or compassion fatigue, which is emotional stress caused by exposure to another’s first hand experience of a traumatic event.   The symptoms of this can be things like lethargy, sadness, irritability, feelings of self contempt or feelings of contempt towards others.  In some cases it can even cause symptoms similar to those of PTSD!  Which can be as extreme as avoidance (or shut down), anxiety, the over use of drugs, alcohol food or even overworking!

Pay attention

I’m going to tell you a big secret here….the key to managing anxiety is strong self-awareness.  It means paying attention to your body and noticing how you are feeling when you are facing something that stresses you out.  If you can become aware of when that stress response is being activated, you will more likely to be able to implement a technique or distraction to stop it in its tracks.

So go on, watch the news, If you feel as though you are learning something, being informed, and are still feeling good in your body, then great!

However, if you are watching the news, and beginning to feel stressed or anxious, then it might be time to turn it off.  If you can learn to take yourself away from the thing that is making you feel bad at the first sign of anxiety and it is less likely to run into full blown panic.

4,4,6 breathing

Learning a good grounding technique is always going to be a great way to try and control your emotions. If you are feeling distressed by the news, it might be helpful to shut it off and then practice your favourite grounding technique.

There are literally 1000’s of resources online, but the one I use the most for myself, and the one I share with my clients is the 4, 4, 6 breathing technique.

Inhale slowly, through your nose, until your chest and belly are fully expanded, to the count of 4.  Then hold your breath to the count of 4.  Finally, exhale slowly, through your mouth, until the count of 6.  Repeat as many times as you need to!

Yes, it is a simple as that!

Set strong boundaries

Another great way to keep yourself informed, without the overwhelm, is to set strong boundaries for yourself.  This could be something as simple as committing 30 minutes, around tea time, to seek out your news.

You could find your favourite news source and look for a daily overview that makes you feel informed, then shut it off, that’s it.  How much time you spend doing this is dependent on your unique needs.  The question to ask yourself here is, how much can you take without it having a negative impact on your daily life?

Choose your media carefully

I feel like this might be one of the most important ways to control the impact of the media you consume, and it is to be deliberate about the source of the news itself.  It is important to remember that you have a choice about the type of media you use to inform yourself.  You can stick to mainstream news if that works for you, or you have the option to seek out a more positive news source.  Mainstream news outlets are not the only reliable news sources out there, so look around and find something that suits you!

Be compassionate

This is perhaps the best advice I can give anyone and it is to be really compassionate with yourself.   Learn how to be kind to yourself because some of the most mentally damaging discourse will be coming from the running commentary in your own mind.

We are living in difficult times and it is complicated!  There are so many feelings involved with life during a worldwide pandemic; fear, guilt, relief, sadness, worry, excitement to name a few! So don’t beat yourself up if you have to step back from the news for a bit, it is not the end of the world, it will still be there when you are ready to come back

Don’t forget if anything feels like it is getting to much there is always a bit of support available to you, if there is anything I can do to help then please get in touch!

 

Grace and peace to you all during this crazy time xx