The news is a lot right now. 😳 It's a LOT and not letting up any time soon.
Back when the war in Ukraine broke out, I wrote an article for Forbes Health about how to deal with stress when the news is so bad.
👉 One key message was to GET MOVING. Physical activity and/or taking action to do something productive can help alleviate high levels of adrenaline and the stress hormone, cortisol.
👉 Another was to keep an eye on how you're interacting with news sites and social media and make very conscious decisions about how much attention to give the news.
If you want more insight on how to do that, last week, a reader called Stuck on Social asked:
"Hey, Health Coach,
Most nights, when I’m done with work, I end up in bed, scrolling through social media for hours. By the time I go to sleep, I’m exhausted and irritated, but then I do the same thing again the next night. I don’t know why because it’s clearly bad for me. How is social media affecting my mental health, and how can I cut back?"
I know from some version of that story is true for a lot of people, especially right now. 👀
However, I am seeing a sea change among my clients. They are getting clearer about the hold social media had on them in the past, the impact on their well-being, and—with a few accessible tools—they are breaking away.
They are forging different relationships with their phones, so this week I took this question head on.
In this article, we cover:
👉 The impact of social media on mental health
👉 Why it’s so hard to step away from your phone
👉 Six specific ways to reduce social media use (You'll need a paper and pen for this!)
We're all doing our best to stay well. I have zero doubt folks in this community are also doing our best to have a positive impact on the world.
Social media can connect us. It can give us joy. It can also rob us of peace and recovery time. Finding the right balance for our health and sanity is going to be crucial this fall.
If you need a reminder of how taking care of your body helps fuel everything else that matters, this could be a good time to revisit Physical Disobedience.
I hope this helps. We're all in it together.
Sarah
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