The media is the business of selling news, and it is human nature to be drawn to its negative aspects. We want to know what is going on in the world, but it can have dire effects on our system.
Chronic exposure to troubling and negative news events, such as COVID-19, can trigger an alarm that prompts our adrenal glands to flood our body with hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Our body is resilient enough to deal with passing stressors. But when the fight, flight, freeze mode is continually triggered, our stress response may get stuck in the “on” position. We each need to get a sense of what we can handle without feeling overwhelmed or traumatized and weigh the risk of overexposure with the risk of remaining ignorant. One part of self-care is to know our boundaries in relation to how much we can expose our psyches to without feeling paralyzed or besieged.1
It’s easy to put on the TV at home or the radio in the car and listen to news to have some background noise. However, if you are mindful of the effect (if any) negative news has on your stress levels, you might opt for a different TV show or listening to music or an audio book in your car instead.
