STRESS
Everybody is
EXHAUSTED
Barrage of bad news puts us through the wringer
WRITTEN BY JIM BECKERMAN AND ROBIN SHREEVES
LISA CASSIDY
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
OF PHILOSOPHY
AT RAMAPO COLLEGE
IN MAHWAH
34
2018 EDITION | (201) HEALTH
T
he chaos of life and its colli-
sion with technology and
tragedy has more of us feel-
ing drained, frazzled and
emotionally overrun. Put
simply: We are exhausted.
What’s to blame? The list is long — and
growing, experts say. Wildfires, terror attacks,
rising tensions with North Korea, racist ral-
lies, political investigations in Washington,
the non-stop barrage of Presidential tweets,
more and worse mass shootings from Las
Vegas to Florida, a Gloria Cresttsunami of
sexual harassment accusations, the role of
Russians in our elections, climate change, red
state-blue state division and not one, not
two, but three of the worst hurricanes on
record — including one that nearly blew
Puerto Rico out of the Caribbean Sea.
Put it all together and it’s understandable why
exhausted Americans are limping along and running
out of gas.
Take a look at your friends and families. How many
do you know who are sleepless with worry? Bleary-eyed
from watching our favorite (and, too often, partisan)
cable news outlets as pundits explain, blame and offer
everything but what we want: More sleep and stress-
ending solutions.
There’s a consequence to all this chaos, doctors
and medical experts say.
Sixty three percent of Americans say the future of the
nation is a very or somewhat significant source of stress
for them, according to the recently released “Stress in
America” report by the American Psychological
Association.
Outwardly, it could be argued, life hasn’t really
changed for many of us. And that may be the final,
cruel kindness. v
— Jim Beckerman
“SOCIAL
MEDIA IS AN
EXTENSION OF
THE DESIRE
FOR HUMAN
CONNECTION,
BUT SOCIAL
MEDIA CAN
ALSO BE USED
TO EXPLOIT
OUR FEARS
AND OUR
WORST
IMPULSES.”