69: Can Constant News Impact Your Healing?

Is the 24/7 news cycle draining your energy? 

In this episode of Wellbeing Interrupted, I share what changed for me when I stopped watching the news—and how it’s supported my healing in ways I didn’t expect. 

Discussing an article from Mayo Clinic and my own lived experience with MS and Stage 4 breast cancer, I talk about the toll that constant noise, images, and updates can take on our nervous systems—and what we can do instead. 

I also issue a gentle challenge to you this week: let’s both turn down the noise, even just a little, and create more space for healing. 

If you LOVED the episode, share it on Instagram stories and tag me @hurdle2hope 

Key Takeaways 

• Why constant news coverage activates the stress response 
• How that affects your healing and nervous system 
• What I’ve learned after 12 months without a TV 
• How to create an environment that supports recovery 
• A gentle challenge to reduce the noise and reset 

Show Resources
Healing Journey Quiz

Episode 67: A New Diagnosis or Prognosis? The One Thing You Can Control
Mayo Clinic Article Constant coverage of scary news events can overwhelm the body 

Don't forget to Follow Wellbeing Interrupted on your favourite podcast platform.

Discover more by visiting www.hurdle2hope.com/healing-mindset-illness

Always remember to thrive after a life-changing diagnosis... Your Mindset is Everything!


Learn more about the Hurdle2Hope® Roadmap by watching the Mindset Masterclass Reclaim Your Life. It's available now on-demand.

Podcast Website http://www.wellbeinginterrupted.com/


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Transcript

Transcript Episode 69 Can Constant News Impact Your Healing?

[00:00:00] 

Teisha Rose: Hey there. Teisha here and welcome to episode 69 of Wellbeing Interrupted. I'm still in Creswick and being pretty organized. I'm doing a couple of recordings of podcast episodes, as I mentioned last episode. Next week's gonna be a busy week at the digital health festival.

So very excited about that and trying to get organized in a stress free way. I'm actually in this beautiful room overlooking a golf course and earlier today, I actually looked up and realized there's a TV here, two TVs, both on the wall, one in the bedroom, also one above the beautiful gas log fireplace, which I've had on, and I realized I haven't even turned the TV on.

In life. Before Daisy Hill, I would've had the morning news on the Today Show. I used to watch, probably switched on for the A, B, C midday [00:01:00] update of the news, then watch the news at night. And if I'm to be honest, I probably would've had the TV on in the background as I worked away. But Daisy Hill has changed that.

For those who's new to the podcast, Daisy Hill is where I live now on a hundred acres of the land, , so life is very different to what I used to be doing and we haven't connected a TV in the caravan. And this decision I know has helped in my healing.

And that's what I wanna reflect on today.

Can constant news impact your healing? So have a listen. Hopefully enjoy the episode and also I will challenge you at the end to maybe make some changes in your life as [00:02:00] well.

 So I asked chat, GPT. What are some of the major news events I've missed watching on Australian TV over the last year? This is the list that came out. The Israel Gaza Conflict. Russia's War on Ukraine. [00:03:00] Donald Trump winning the 2024 US Presidential election, A global IT outage. Iran's president and foreign minister dying in a helicopter crash, India and Pakistan.

Tensions a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea. The Australian Federal election, which happened last weekend. Record breaking climate data and trade tensions between the US and China. 

. The local news events within Australia. Yeah, and we know we are bombarded with those, whether it's homicides, whether it's a, you know, youth crime, which is on the increase in the fear of being experienced in relation to that. Whether there's the increase in, um, violence against women and the helplessness you experiencing, watching those things on the news, whether there's children [00:04:00] dealing with cancer or different diseases, , there's so much to be upset about.

Teisha Rose: and when you watch. Global events day in, day out. When you listen to things like this, the first thing in the morning when you fall to sleep, when you keep playing it in the background, when you're just trying to go on with daily activities, when you're really trying to find a little bit of quiet time to heal, that can have a massive impact on your wellbeing emotionally, you know?

Watching people distressed, feeling helpless that I can't do anything to help feeling like there's this way too much happening. You know? How often do you look at the news and think, ah, , when's there gonna be some good news?

It really does have an impact, and I think why is it that I was glued to news so much? [00:05:00] And I think for me at least, there's a bit of a guilt that if I don't watch what's going on around the world, I'm ignoring suffering. That if I don't stay informed, I'm not doing my part to help to support others.

But what I'm starting to think about today as I'm recording this is just by watching something happening on the other side of the world or happening somewhere in Australia, that doesn't mean that I'm helping, you know, being in constant distress doesn't equal being compassionate. You can really still care deeply without having the news on 24 7.

You can still support causes, you can still be empathetic. You can still do all you can to help, , but without the [00:06:00] distress.

So I know intuitively, and I know just logically it's gonna have an impact on our body's ability to heal if we are exposed constantly to news. And as I'm doing in this episode, just reflecting on how much news I haven't watched over the last 12 months, and realizing how much more grounded I feel, how much more relaxed I feel.

It must have such an impact on us. So I actually thought instead of just saying intuitively, I think this has an impact, I would do a little bit of research and I actually just went on to Mayo Clinic, so I'm not sure whether you use that website, but I love that website. It's a wealth of information And I found an article, and the title is, and I'll put it in the show notes, constant coverage of scarey news events can overwhelm the body. [00:07:00] A quote from this mentions knowing what's going on in the world is important, but it also can get to be too much, which is what I've been saying. And in it,

Dr. Robert Bright a, Mayo Clinic psychiatrist. He goes on to say, , sometimes the bad news seems to be coming from every angle. It can be very overwhelming, and I totally agree with that.

But what I also like is they go on to say, when you're stressed, your adrenal glands excrete adrenaline, also called cortisol. The hormone gives you the energy to get up and face the threat, so the fight or run away to a safe place. the flight, not that I'm running away, but I get it.

, But when you're constantly exposed to stress, you become physically and emotionally exhausted, you burn out. So it's [00:08:00] really interesting to find out medically, I guess, what's going on and this whole fight and flight.

 . This all makes perfect sense and what it also makes sense is that if we're living with the stress and anxiety created by health condition, adding to that with constant news.

Watching TV constantly when I'm trying to make sense of what's happening with my stage four breast cancer diagnosis with ms. No wonder it wasn't good, and no wonder I'm feeling so much better now. I'm at Daisy Hill without a TV

And I am sure it's relevant to you as well. If your life is really stressful, let's not add to that stress, you know, by if you are wanting to absorb as much news as possible, that's not good for your body. Instead, what you need to do and what I need to keep [00:09:00] doing. Is create an environment that helps you to heal.

I talked about this in episode 67 when I was talking about a new diagnosis or prognosis, getting through that crisis, it's all about creating an environment that enables you to tap into your strengths. And this is the same thing. If our environment is an environment that's encouraging us to heal, then exposing ourselves to News 24 7, having it playing on the background, waking up, putting the TV on, seeing what's happening in the world, looking at the images, that's not going to help you to heal and remember, that doesn't mean you're not compassionate at all, but it means what we need to do a lot of the time at the moment is prioritise our own wellbeing and we can still support others.

But we need [00:10:00] to put ourselves first, and I know I'm not good with my phone because of course I'm not watching the tv, but that doesn't mean I'm not across news. I don't all the time, but I definitely go onto news.com au, see what's happening. I like the fact that I'm not hearing voices or seeing full on messages.

That's helpful. Yeah, but it still has an impact. When you are trying to sleep and you wake up and you have a quick look on your phone and read something that's distressing, doesn't help your sleep.

So again, it's not about ignoring the world, it's about protecting our nervous system. It's about enabling us to relax, to not be in this fight, or flight mode.

So as I said, here's a challenge for both of us. How can you reduce the noise in your life this week?[00:11:00] 

Can you turn off the TV a little bit more? Can you maybe not spend so much time on your phone and instead spend that time, even if it's 10 minutes, grounding yourself, centring yourself, and breathing. And if you just do some of these things, if you try and detox, you know, from the news cycle, that can become so addictive.

If you can stop doing that so much, you'll be surprised at the impact that can have on you.

So not a very long episode, but I think this is really important because I think we are so bombarded with news 24 7, There is so much happening in the world at the moment that it's scary. It really is scary, and having that anxiety, that overwhelm thinking we've got [00:12:00] not a lot that we can do to have an impact on that. That added to the stress anxiety of dealing with a really scary diagnosis as well. Yeah, that's too much for our bodies to deal with.

So let's shut some of it out. Let's focus on our healing

have a listen to episode 67 if you haven't already. and really what it's talking about, although it's called dealing with a new diagnosis or prognosis, this is what I talk about in dealing with a crisis and I talk about, and in that episode I actually talk about the Healing Journey quiz. In that I talk about if you are faced with a crisis.

There's certain things you can do to create an environment that enables you to get through that, and really that's what we're talking about today as well by creating an environment that blocks out some of this news and enables [00:13:00] us to focus inwardly and create an environment for healing. 

Before I go visit hurdle two hope.com/quiz if you want to go through the quiz and I'll send you emails and we can work together to see where you are at and how you can move forward. Remember, hurdle two hope with a number two. Apart from that, I promise this time I will go. Um, have a great week and I really look forward to chatting to you soon.

 [00:14:00]