Managing Anxiety Tip 1: Reduce news watching

Today many are experiencing increased feelings of insecurity about the future of their lives and their loved ones. Television and social media news can be a large contributor to this problem.

Several research studies have shown that watching news triggers negative psychological feelings. A study by Johnson and Davey found that participants who watched news with negative content showed increases in both anxious and sad moods, and also showed a significant increase in the tendency to catastrophize a personal worry.

This means that watching news increases our anxiety not only about the content of the news BUT also increases our anxiety over other areas of our life not related to the news stories we consumed. Viewing many negative stories can leave us feeling like our lives are out of control. But the truth is our feelings of control greatly increase when our minds are filled with positive, uplifting stories. Stories that give us hope. There are many sources of positive events and news. Here are a few:

• Good Net, www.goodnet.org, this website shares uplifting and inspiring current events from around the world that will make you feel good about life;

• GoodNewsNetwork, www.goodnewsnetwork.org, the website shares “Good News Network® as an antidote to the barrage of negativity experienced in the mainstream media. Because of its long history, staying power, and public trust, GNN is #1 on Google for good news;”

• Janeane Bernstein’s book “Get the Funk Out!” which is filled with true life stories of courage and optimism from the author’s work as a radio show host.

Try not watching the news for one week and replacing it with positive, uplifting information. Compare how you feel in the beginning of the week versus after the “news fast” week is over.