If you’re finding yourself scrolling through your phone and scrolling some more, refreshing your screen, and scrolling even more, it may be time to put the phone down.
“If you voted you’ve done all that you can do at this point so now you just have to wait,” said Dr. Jinneh Dyson, an executive mindset coach, and mental health advocate.
But if you’re like most of us, that’s easier said than done, and with 24-hour news cycles and social media, getting hooked on updates is pretty easy.
“You got to get a sense for, are you enjoying the drama of this or is this something that’s really stressing you out,” said Dr. W. Nate Upshaw, the Medical Director for NeuroSpa TMS.
If you said yes to the latter, it’s probably time to act.
“You have to have boundaries or you’re going to drive yourself down this rabbit hole of constantly checking and not being able to function on anything else,” said Dr. Jinneh.
She says put your phone in a drawer in another room and walk away. Then, set a goal to check your phone in an hour for 15 minutes, before you put that phone back in the drawer.
“It’s very easy to just let your mind run away to some very worst-case scenarios which makes you just feel awful,” said Dr. Upshaw.
He says election-related stress was a big theme with patients and he expects the same this year and then some with even more people seeking help right now.
“In general there would be about 10-15% of people who are suffering from a clinical anxiety or depression episode at any given time,” said Dr. Upshaw. “Right now with COVID we’re already running about 30% and then you add onto this, the stress of this for the last few days it’s just been a lot for people.”
Both Doctors encourage folks to plug into things that make you happy — going for a drive, playing a game with family, or working out. Plus, make sure you’re eating and sleeping.
“We need to rest, that’s healthy, that’s what keeps the stress down, that’s what helps us to make logical decisions,” said Dr. Jinneh.
