How to cope when the news fuels anxiety

Is headline anxiety bringing you down? You’re far from alone. Social media has forever changed the way we consume news, and it can have a significant effect on mental health.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, anxiety remains a common issue nationwide. News consumption has likely played a significant role in that anxiety, as 49% of responders to the APA’s December 2025 Healthy Minds Poll said they were anxious about current events.

According to health and wellness expert Dr. Esther Sternberg, continuous negative news consumption can exacerbate the feeling of uncertainty in a profound way.

“‘Flooding the zone,’ the constant barrage of new and unexpected events, and the associated uncertainty they engender trigger the brain’s anxiety, fear, and stress centers and overload them,” Sternberg wrote to Psychology Today.

Being bombarded with stressful events unexpectedly, she explained, can lead to anxiety and anger. Left unchecked, those feelings can worsen into sleepless nights, a loss of appetite, inability to focus, impaired relationships, depression and even physical illness.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Koustuv Saha, Ph.D., pointed out that social media has only complicated the matter. Traditional news media — newspaper, radio and television — require the audience’s active choice to consume content. Social media has made it more difficult for people to decide when and how they consume that content.

“As a result, news exposure is no longer a discrete activity but an ambient condition of online life,” Saha wrote to Psychology Today. “Headlines surface repeatedly across feeds, are reshared by friends and strangers alike, and are algorithmically prioritized based on engagement rather than emotional cost.

“This persistent, incidental exposure creates psychological dynamics that traditional media environments were never designed to produce.”

There are, however, practical tips and strategies that can help you manage this constant exposure and protect your mental health.

How to take back your mental health

If you are suffering from headline anxiety, the first step is to de-stress. According to Sternberg, you can reduce your stress by gathering with friends for social support through positive relationships.

“Another way to reduce your stress is to find or create a place of sanctuary,” she wrote. “This can be as small as a favorite chair in your home or a bench in a garden or park, or as large as a forest or mountaintop.”

For at least 15 minutes a day, your sanctuary will be a place for deep breathing, meditation and quiet serenity. Once you’ve de-stressed, you’ll want to remove as much doomscrolling from your daily routine as possible.