UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Election season has a way of getting our blood pumping and stressing us out. A recent survey from the American Psychological Association shows 69% of us are feeling anxious during this presidential election cycle, and 77% of us are concerned about the future of our country.
It can feel hard to escape all the commotion of this election season. It’s everywhere– on tv, yard signs, text messages, social media.
“Anecdotally, more than I’ve seen before. This seems to be a particularly anxiety-producing cycle for elections,” said Chad Hale, the Chief Operations Officer at Pathways Community Mental Health in Marquette.
He said elections, especially, can be the perfect storm for inducing anxiety.
“A big portion of creating anxiety for ourselves is not knowing– unknowns, what ifs, things like that. We love to predict the future and worry about it,” he explained. “Functionally, it’s an attempt to try to be ready for it, but when we get stuck in a spinning cycle, it becomes unproductive.”
Hale thinks one of the biggest reasons for that is social media and the algorithm that’s created to show you more of what seems to be grabbing your attention.
“The way social media works, that mixture– there’s some good information on social media, but it’s often littered with personal opinions and other people sharing their anxiety,” he said.
So how do we break out of it?
Hale recommends first and foremost limiting the amount of information you’re consuming, cutting back on social media or logging off altogether, and getting good sleep, exercise (Hale especially recommends yoga), and a healthy diet.
“Trying to disconnect from worries of the future and being really present in the moment, present in what you’re doing, present with the people that you’re with, present in thinking about other things that matter to you, things that are current is a really helpful counterbalance to all the worry for the future,” he said.
One technique Hale suggested if your anxiety is keeping you up at night is to think of random words that don’t necessarily have any association, or to think of a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word: cup, purple, elephant, talons, symphony, yellow, water– and so on. Hale says while it may seem counterintuitive, this exercise can mimic what your brain does when you dream, and doing so can “trick” your brain into letting you fall asleep.
Hale said for a lot of people, anxiety isn’t something they can just “get over,” so if your anxiety feels pervasive, it’s ok to seek help from a professional.
“We’re beings that co-regulate with each other. So just like if I’m really anxious and I bring that to you, you may become really anxious, the opposite can be the case as well: when I’m connecting with other people and they’re calm, then that can encourage me to be calm,” said Hale.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, reach out to Pathways Community Mental Health.
