Episode 69: Can Constant News Impact Your Healing?
May 15, 2025
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Can Constant News Impact Your Healing?
Before moving to Daisy Hill, I had the TV on constantly.
Morning shows, midday news, evening updates—it was part of the background of my life. It helped me “stay informed,” or so I thought.
But now? I haven’t watched live TV in over a year. And I’ve never felt calmer.
In this episode of Wellbeing Interrupted, I reflect on something unexpected that’s supported my healing more than I ever imagined: turning off the news.
There’s Always Something “Breaking”
From May 2024 to May 2025, the headlines have been relentless. Here are just a few major stories that would’ve dominated my screen:
- The Israel–Gaza conflict
- The ongoing war in Ukraine
- Donald Trump’s U.S. election win
- The global IT outage
- Iran’s helicopter crash tragedy
- Deadly landslides in Papua New Guinea
- Australia’s federal election
- Record-breaking climate data
- Rising tensions between India and Pakistan
- US–China trade issues
And that’s just the global coverage—local Australian news adds even more. From youth crime to domestic violence to heartbreaking stories of children with illness… it’s a lot to take in.
The Real Cost of Constant News
I used to think if I didn’t watch the news, I didn’t care. That not staying up to date was selfish.
But here’s the truth: Being constantly distressed doesn’t mean you’re more compassionate.
Mayo Clinic backs this up. In an article titled “Constant coverage of scary news events can overwhelm the body”, Dr. Robert Bright explains how your adrenal system stays stuck in fight-or-flight when constantly exposed to stressful content.
It doesn’t just affect your mood—it affects your body’s ability to heal.
We Need to Prioritise Our Healing
If you’re already facing a serious health condition—like I am with MS and Stage 4 breast cancer—your nervous system is already under pressure.
Add in the noise of 24/7 news, and it’s no wonder your body feels overwhelmed.
Instead, what if we created an environment that supports our healing?
I talked about this in Episode 67 too. Whether you're facing a new diagnosis or simply feeling burned out, the environment around you matters. Peace, quiet, intention—it all helps your nervous system reset.
A Simple Challenge
This week, I challenge both of us:
- Turn off the TV a little more.
- Put the phone down.
- Spend 10 quiet minutes grounding yourself.
Notice how you feel.
You can still care deeply about the world without drowning in it. You can support others and protect your energy.
Final Thoughts
We often underestimate how much our environment affects our ability to heal—and that includes what we’re exposed to every single day.
I’m not suggesting we tune out completely or stop caring about the world. But I am inviting you to notice how often the noise creeps in—and what that might be doing to your nervous system, especially when you’re already carrying so much.
Turning off the news didn’t make me less informed. It made me more present.
So if you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or just stretched too thin… maybe it’s time to press pause.
Give yourself the space to heal. The world will still be there tomorrow.
And remember—healing doesn’t happen in chaos. It happens in calm.
Resources
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”
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]
