In the Evening Heartbroken Girl Sitting on a Sofa, Crying, Using Tissues, Eating Ice Cream and Watching Drama on TV. Her Room is in Mess. Photo: (Getty)
The first eight minutes of the local news is pretty much the same regardless of what American city you live in. Somebody got shot, somebody got shanked, somebody died in a car wreck, somebody tweeted something racist, somebody ripped off somebody else either financially or morally and then, hey, let’s take a look at the weather. It’s why I haven’t watched a news report for any reason besides writing jokes for the last eight years.
Doing just that last night in Wisconsin, I learned even the local weather report is scarring and depressing people these days with things like “Swat-Cast.” That’s when they literally put up a different number of mosquito graphics to warn you about the danger of going outside and getting the blood sucked out of you by a bug.
According to CBS Philly, I’m not alone in my thinking that news-binging is bad for your health and overall well-being. A psychotherapist specializing in trauma recovery is advising people to “tune out” from time to time in order to give your mind and nervous system a break from all the bad news.
“Every time we experience or hear about a traumatic event, we go into stress mode,” Susanne Babel said. “We might go numb or have an overactive fear response to the perceived threat. Our physiology is triggered to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, when we experience this process again and again, our adrenal glands can become fatigued. Adrenal fatigue can lead to being tired in the morning, lack of restful sleep, anxiety and depression, as well as a multitude of other symptoms.”
In a related story… Study Says Without Sex A Vagina Can Become ‘Depressed’
Well, that’s good enough for me, as it totally validates my thinking over the last eight years. And guys, that’s something that qualifies as good news, and it’s making me feel terrific.
