5 ms·

Five ways to soothe a mind overstimulated by anxiety, stress and information

53 points by axiomdata316 4y ago

y3k 4y ago
archive.org link https://web.archive.org/web/20230306233158/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/well/mind/stress-anxiety-mind.html https://web.archive.org/web/20230306233158/https://www.nytim...
yrdmb 4y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- legrande 4y ago
  I like to know what's going on in the world. Not reading the news is not an option for me. Knowing what's going on, even at just a cursory level is vital as it adds context to how I operate in the world.
  - Syonyk 4y ago
    Why, how, and at what latency is tolerable? All anyone can ever manage is some hopefully representative cross section of some set of events, at some reasonable latency. I'm happy with a lower cross section (important stuff filters in despite my best efforts to live under a rock), and longer latency (which also means less uncertainty - a long article a month after an event happened is going to be a better way to understand it than trying to surf the "now" feeds that are full of noise and false signals). If something is going on locally (storm, rail derailment, etc), I'm a whole lot more interested in keeping up to date than, say, events going on half a globe away from me, which I'll get to eventually. I don't know if you're the sort to use the phrase "being informed" as an unquestioned good (you didn't use it, but the sentiment is there), and I'd ask the simple question, "What's the difference between being informed and being a news junkie?" There's a line, somewhere, and I'm curious as to where you draw it.
  - readthenotes1 4y ago
    Have you heard of the "circle of concern" vs "circle of influence"? Do you curate your input wisely?
  - AussieWog93 4y ago
    Is the news actually informative, though? I mean that seriously - would you get a better understanding for the macro-changes in the world by just shutting the laptop off andwalking around the city with your eyes focused upwards?
  - sethammons 4y ago
    I stopped being a daily AM talk show listener and stopped any daily newscasts around 10 years ago. Somehow the guy I didn't want to be president still managed to win. But my stress levels are much better!
legrande 4y ago
https://archive.today/bbKEg https://archive.today/bbKEg
jonahbenton 4y ago
Not enough. I need 10 ways.
Syonyk 4y ago
I find it entertaining that the best solution, "Not reading the news as regularly," is happily enforced by their paywall. > LIMITED TIME OFFER Well, as my time is clearly limited, I'll take your offer and go elsewhere!
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  "LIMITED TIME OFFER", in other words this deal is available all the time, indefinitely, and it's not even that great a deal.
givemeethekeys 4y ago
People say, "stop reading news". But you might have to for your work, for example, if you're trading equities. My suggestion is to have a, "who cares?" mentality. Bus full of baby elephants got hit by a tank? Yeah, who cares? Someone in a state far away did a horrible thing to someone you've never met? You know it... who cares? Did your local chieftain cheat on his sister's husband? You get the idea. Despite the quality of posts being much higher than the internet at large, I still maintain a "who cares?" attitude towards 90% of Hacker News posts. It's great! Highly recommend.
- Syonyk 4y ago
  > But you might have to for your work, for example, if you're trading equities. And what if you get kidnapped and put on a gameshow where you have to know about absolutely current world events or they'll kill you and your whole family? Then keeping up to date on the Twitterverse would be literally life saving! Neither one applies to most people. Subscribe to a news magazine and read stuff a few weeks after the fact when it's been digested and the dust has settled. Way better than trying to keep up with stuff as it's happening.
- wonder_er 4y ago
  "who cares" is an attitude able to be held only by those that have cauterized their own souls (or had their souls cauterized by others.) I'd caution you against leaning too far into this attitude. Some day your own children, for example, might bring to you an injustice or sadness, and they'll see the emotion in your face proclaiming "who cares?" and they'll know... you sure don't.
- johnfn 4y ago
  Suppression of emotional reactions is not a good long-term strategy for mental health.
  - GuB-42 4y ago
    What seems to be bad is not communicating your emotions. Like being sad but not showing it, because you want to show how strong you are. But it is not exactly that here. "Who cares" is not something you do for others, it is something you do for yourself. And I don't think it is bad, at least compared to the alternative, which is feeling helpless because something horrible happened somewhere and there is not much you can do about it, you may try, but then another horrible thing happens and you really can't do anything about that one, and again, and again...
readthenotes1 4y ago
Darn it, I think the article has some good advice for us: Tl;Dr: Practice mindfulness Try the Bullet Journal method Declutter your physical space Reconnect with the people you lov Edit: oops, deleted Reduce information overload
i-use-nixos-btw 4y ago
tl;dr - mindfulness, connect with loved ones, and the usual stuff. Never found it particularly helpful. For me - comedy. My job is relatively high stress and this impacts my sleep significantly. In low-stress times I listen to an audiobook to get to sleep, but when things get intense I can’t focus on it and just sit there thinking all night. So now, in those times, so avoid audible and instead head to Spotify - where many stand up comedians have their live shows available in audio format. Ok, sure, it’s a distraction technique. But there’s the catch - if I’m stressed it’s for a reason, and no amount of mindfulness nonsense is going to remove the underlying reasons. “Ah, yes, we have a major deadline this week and my senior dev responsible for the current blocker is sick, other seniors don’t have the knowledgebase, the juniors are cracking under pressure, management is making things worse because they mistake pressure for motivation, and we’re in a hiring freeze anyway, so it’s left to me and this pack of energy drinks - but nah, I’ll just meditate and ring my father for a heart to heart”.
- jw_mc 4y ago
  Stress, anxiety, excessive worrying, etc all have reasons and causes you could use to justify them. Mindfulness is really just a deeper state of awareness and introspection. Observing your mind and beginning to see the patterns of thought and behavior that cause you unnecessary pain and suffering, and experimenting to find healthy solutions that work for you.
- orev 4y ago
  You seem to be focusing on mental stress with mental remedies, however the best remedy for mental stress is physical remedies. The mind reacts to stress as if you’re being attacked, and the historical remedy to being attacked is to fight (flight, or freeze, but those just get you killed). So to remedy mental stress, go do something physically demanding. Run, scream, punch stuff (safe stuff, like a punching bag or a pillow). Simulate what you’d be doing during the “fight” response.
say_it_as_it_is 4y ago
Here is one simple way to soothe your mind. Pack your gear and go camping. Turn your phone off when you arrive and turn it back on when you leave.
- michaelrpeskin 4y ago
  Or work in a SCIF. I get forced no news time that way. Camping is definitely more fun, though.
drewcoo 4y ago
That image and the context made me think of Jeff Noon. Sadly, it was not espousing virtues of Vurt. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17401136-vurt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17401136-vurt
meghan_rain 4y ago
archive link?
- karaokeyoga 4y ago
  Some were just shared on the thread. FYI, you can generate these yourself at https://archive.ph https://archive.ph (and other services).
seneca 4y ago
> I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time... General facts may indeed be collected from them... but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false." - Thomas Jefferson This is not new. Don't subject your mind to this dreck.
johnea 4y ago
I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints, and then I smoke two more... Smoke two joints...

53 points by axiomdata316 4y ago

y3k 4y ago

archive.org link https://web.archive.org/web/20230306233158/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/well/mind/stress-anxiety-mind.html https://web.archive.org/web/20230306233158/https://www.nytim...

yrdmb 4y ago

[flagged]

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
legrande 4y ago
I like to know what's going on in the world. Not reading the news is not an option for me. Knowing what's going on, even at just a cursory level is vital as it adds context to how I operate in the world.
- Syonyk 4y ago
  Why, how, and at what latency is tolerable? All anyone can ever manage is some hopefully representative cross section of some set of events, at some reasonable latency. I'm happy with a lower cross section (important stuff filters in despite my best efforts to live under a rock), and longer latency (which also means less uncertainty - a long article a month after an event happened is going to be a better way to understand it than trying to surf the "now" feeds that are full of noise and false signals). If something is going on locally (storm, rail derailment, etc), I'm a whole lot more interested in keeping up to date than, say, events going on half a globe away from me, which I'll get to eventually. I don't know if you're the sort to use the phrase "being informed" as an unquestioned good (you didn't use it, but the sentiment is there), and I'd ask the simple question, "What's the difference between being informed and being a news junkie?" There's a line, somewhere, and I'm curious as to where you draw it.
- readthenotes1 4y ago
  Have you heard of the "circle of concern" vs "circle of influence"? Do you curate your input wisely?
- AussieWog93 4y ago
  Is the news actually informative, though? I mean that seriously - would you get a better understanding for the macro-changes in the world by just shutting the laptop off andwalking around the city with your eyes focused upwards?
- sethammons 4y ago
  I stopped being a daily AM talk show listener and stopped any daily newscasts around 10 years ago. Somehow the guy I didn't want to be president still managed to win. But my stress levels are much better!

legrande 4y ago

https://archive.today/bbKEg https://archive.today/bbKEg

jonahbenton 4y ago

Not enough. I need 10 ways.

Syonyk 4y ago

I find it entertaining that the best solution, "Not reading the news as regularly," is happily enforced by their paywall. > LIMITED TIME OFFER Well, as my time is clearly limited, I'll take your offer and go elsewhere!

rootusrootus 4y ago
"LIMITED TIME OFFER", in other words this deal is available all the time, indefinitely, and it's not even that great a deal.

givemeethekeys 4y ago

People say, "stop reading news". But you might have to for your work, for example, if you're trading equities. My suggestion is to have a, "who cares?" mentality. Bus full of baby elephants got hit by a tank? Yeah, who cares? Someone in a state far away did a horrible thing to someone you've never met? You know it... who cares? Did your local chieftain cheat on his sister's husband? You get the idea. Despite the quality of posts being much higher than the internet at large, I still maintain a "who cares?" attitude towards 90% of Hacker News posts. It's great! Highly recommend.

Syonyk 4y ago
> But you might have to for your work, for example, if you're trading equities. And what if you get kidnapped and put on a gameshow where you have to know about absolutely current world events or they'll kill you and your whole family? Then keeping up to date on the Twitterverse would be literally life saving! Neither one applies to most people. Subscribe to a news magazine and read stuff a few weeks after the fact when it's been digested and the dust has settled. Way better than trying to keep up with stuff as it's happening.
wonder_er 4y ago
"who cares" is an attitude able to be held only by those that have cauterized their own souls (or had their souls cauterized by others.) I'd caution you against leaning too far into this attitude. Some day your own children, for example, might bring to you an injustice or sadness, and they'll see the emotion in your face proclaiming "who cares?" and they'll know... you sure don't.
johnfn 4y ago
Suppression of emotional reactions is not a good long-term strategy for mental health.
- GuB-42 4y ago
  What seems to be bad is not communicating your emotions. Like being sad but not showing it, because you want to show how strong you are. But it is not exactly that here. "Who cares" is not something you do for others, it is something you do for yourself. And I don't think it is bad, at least compared to the alternative, which is feeling helpless because something horrible happened somewhere and there is not much you can do about it, you may try, but then another horrible thing happens and you really can't do anything about that one, and again, and again...

readthenotes1 4y ago

Darn it, I think the article has some good advice for us: Tl;Dr: Practice mindfulness Try the Bullet Journal method Declutter your physical space Reconnect with the people you lov Edit: oops, deleted Reduce information overload

i-use-nixos-btw 4y ago

tl;dr - mindfulness, connect with loved ones, and the usual stuff. Never found it particularly helpful. For me - comedy. My job is relatively high stress and this impacts my sleep significantly. In low-stress times I listen to an audiobook to get to sleep, but when things get intense I can’t focus on it and just sit there thinking all night. So now, in those times, so avoid audible and instead head to Spotify - where many stand up comedians have their live shows available in audio format. Ok, sure, it’s a distraction technique. But there’s the catch - if I’m stressed it’s for a reason, and no amount of mindfulness nonsense is going to remove the underlying reasons. “Ah, yes, we have a major deadline this week and my senior dev responsible for the current blocker is sick, other seniors don’t have the knowledgebase, the juniors are cracking under pressure, management is making things worse because they mistake pressure for motivation, and we’re in a hiring freeze anyway, so it’s left to me and this pack of energy drinks - but nah, I’ll just meditate and ring my father for a heart to heart”.

jw_mc 4y ago
Stress, anxiety, excessive worrying, etc all have reasons and causes you could use to justify them. Mindfulness is really just a deeper state of awareness and introspection. Observing your mind and beginning to see the patterns of thought and behavior that cause you unnecessary pain and suffering, and experimenting to find healthy solutions that work for you.
orev 4y ago
You seem to be focusing on mental stress with mental remedies, however the best remedy for mental stress is physical remedies. The mind reacts to stress as if you’re being attacked, and the historical remedy to being attacked is to fight (flight, or freeze, but those just get you killed). So to remedy mental stress, go do something physically demanding. Run, scream, punch stuff (safe stuff, like a punching bag or a pillow). Simulate what you’d be doing during the “fight” response.

say_it_as_it_is 4y ago

Here is one simple way to soothe your mind. Pack your gear and go camping. Turn your phone off when you arrive and turn it back on when you leave.

michaelrpeskin 4y ago
Or work in a SCIF. I get forced no news time that way. Camping is definitely more fun, though.

drewcoo 4y ago

That image and the context made me think of Jeff Noon. Sadly, it was not espousing virtues of Vurt. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17401136-vurt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17401136-vurt

meghan_rain 4y ago

archive link?

karaokeyoga 4y ago
Some were just shared on the thread. FYI, you can generate these yourself at https://archive.ph https://archive.ph (and other services).

seneca 4y ago

> I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time... General facts may indeed be collected from them... but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false." - Thomas Jefferson This is not new. Don't subject your mind to this dreck.

johnea 4y ago

I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints, and then I smoke two more... Smoke two joints...