Is The News Negatively Impacting Your Health?

How do you feel when you watch the news? Are you even aware of how you feel? As the unfolding events of the Ukraine war hit our screens this weekend and the wall-to-wall coverage of the truly awful scenes, it hard not to be emotionally impacted, but what do we do about it?

This was the topic for discussion in the Winter Wellness feature on BBC Radio Scotland with Kaye Adams.  With any event that is breaking and causing human suffering, there is the compulsion to watch and be kept informed. But learning to understand the impact on you and creating some awareness around that is key so you can put in the boundaries you need to keep yourself from spiralling downwards. 

We discussed what can happen physically when we watch these scenes and what we need to do to reduce the impact on our mental and physical health. I explained about the TOP principle, something I teach in my stress management workshops that I run. 

 If something is TOTALLY in your control, then you need to take action. If something is PARTIALLY in your control, do what you can, but if something is OUTSIDE of your control, you need to let it go, otherwise you’ll find yourself ruminating on something that you can do nothing about, which will have a negative impact on you. I’m not saying its easy, but if you find that you are negatively impacted by the news, then reducing what you watch of abstaining from it completely, is ok to do.  Your health needs to be your priority. 

Tune in and have a listen for more tools and techniques to help your wellbeing. 

If you would like coaching support, contact me on 

Info@changeyourworld.me 

To listen to the interview click here: