Why the News is Making You Sick
Do you ever feel physically sick or run-down just from keeping up with the news? It’s not just in your mind, but it is in your brain. News consumption, especially bad news, affects the hormones released by our brains. Those hormones impact the body’s ability to perform routine maintenance and healing, which can lead to physical illness.
Why the News Feels Overwhelming
These are turbulent and tense times. Exhausting if not traumatic. We have normalized the consumption of news of the world to an unprecedented amount.
Our nervous systems are designed to handle our local/tribal environs, yet through news we are exposed daily to global chaos and mayhem. News is also a business and what sells is sensational. The world is overwhelming our nervous systems, specifically our primitive brain stems.
News anxiety increases adrenaline and lowers oxytocin production in the brain.
How Media Overload Affects the Brain
Our brain stems are designed to keep us alive. They do all the usual maintenance of body temperature, heart rate, blood flow, digestive activity, etc. The brain stem also makes us go to bed when we are ill. We call this sick-behaviour. It's the feeling of malaise, fever, fatigue that is designed to get you in a safe place until your robust ability to protect yourself is back on line.
Tasked with keeping you alive, your brainstem also maintains the level of vigilance adequate to respond to danger when necessary. When the brain stem is fed news, it will ratchet up this vigilance. In turn this causes the release of adrenaline, the hormone of “You are not safe, do something now!”
The more adrenaline there is, the less oxytocin is released, which is the hormone of “You are connected socially and safe”. Oxytocin is the chemical messenger that creates our ability to receive and respond to physical and emotional contact.
Constant Adrenaline = Delayed Healing
Much of the way we consume news and social media drives our adrenaline levels up and our oxytocin levels down. This has profound effects on our health. The bodily systems which I would collectively call our healing system are not active in the presence of adrenaline. It is as if our healing system is waiting for us to arrive at a safe place and only then will it be active again.
Our healing system is activated in the presence of oxytocin. You can say that news makes us sick. It leads to loss of adequate release of oxytocin and stimulation of our healing systems.
How to Combat News Fatigue and Illness
How can we convince our brain stems we are safe? Calming sights, sounds and smells, aka “Brain Stem Whispering”.
It is important to understand what “information” your brain stem uses. It doesn’t have a language, it is millions of years evolutionarily older than our language center. We can’t talk to it with words, however it is monitoring images, sounds and smells. Here is where we can “talk” to our brain stems with safe sights, smells, and sounds.
Research has shown that simply playing the sound of chirping birds causes the listener's heart rate to drop, a clear sign of a relaxation of the vigilance of the brain stem. Similarly, Swiss researchers studying post traumatic stress disorder and nightmare disorder found that smells can improve these patients' condition. They taught the patient to sniff a fragrance and imagine a safe and connected scene at the same time, several times during the day. This anchored the fragrance to safety and connectedness. When they went to bed they repeated the smell and imagery. Over time this reduced the frequency and severity of their nightmares.
Safety and Reassurance Before Bedtime
When you go to sleep your conscientious mind goes to sleep leaving your brain stem to run the show solo. Prior to getting to the business of sleep it will assess whether you have fallen asleep in a safe place. To do this it is pulling the most recent memories prior to falling asleep. Last memories in are the first one’s out. Feeding your brain stem before bed the reassuring sounds of chirping birds and the images and smell of safety is a modern day antidote for our distressed brain stems.
Everyday Treatments for News Fatigue
Besides limiting your exposure to distressing news there are other ways to stimulate your oxytocin release.
Time with close friends and family, especially when there is eye contact.
Time in nature.
Time in contemplation.
Listening to emotionally evocative music, poetry, imagery.
Physical contact like massage, hugs, sex.
Physical activity, exercise, dance, Tai chi, Qi gong, yoga.
Pets, especially dogs.
Anything that opens your heart will do.