By Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio, MIT Sloan Management Review, June 17, 2020
Research shows us that even in normal times, constant exposure to negative news can have a heavy impact on our mental health. In the midst of an unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, people are not only faced with new challenges in their work and personal lives but also subjected to a constant barrage of troubling headlines.
Among other things, negative news increases the level of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. Continuous exposure to cortisol has been shown to cause severe side effects, including being unable to naturally regulate blood pressure. Furthermore, negative news stories have been shown to significantly change an individual’s mood and mindset — particularly if there is a tendency to emphasize suffering, death, and other emotional components of the story. A survey from the American Psychological Association found that even prior to COVID-19, more than half of Americans said that the news causes them stress, and many report anxiety, fatigue, or sleep loss as a result.
In a recent article, I discussed my work using behavioral insights to support decision-making for senior leaders and create effective communication plans for their employees. While the extent to which COVID-19 news consumption will affect our minds and bodies in the long term is still unknown, my research and my work as a consultant within organizations reveals there are still concrete actions that leaders can take to battle the effects of bad news and boost employee morale.
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