Avoid Watching Or Reading Scary Health News
By our team of in-house writers.
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By admin
First publised on 2021-07-02 15:32:21
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By our team of in-house writers.
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The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the mental health of many people, including children. Normal life has been disrupted. Jobs have been lost. Income streams have dried up. Businesses have come to a standstill or even closed down. We have had to remain cooped up at home for long periods. Some have suffered due to Covid infection to family or self as also loss of near and dear ones. If all this was not enough to cause stress, the constant barrage of scary information on conventional (mostly true, but sometimes sensationally presented, especially on television channels) and social media (true and fake, mostly fake), takes an additional toll.
In a blog post in the Harvard Health Publishing website, Dr Robert H Shmerling, senior faculty editor of the group, has warned that scary health news can be harmful to your health. He has written that "the medical stories that make it to screens or publications tend to be the highly dramatic - not highly typical, informative, or even useful." Although written in a different context, it holds true for the millions of stories coming out in the pandemic. He says that these scary stories can cause unnecessary worry, misinform you if the complete picture is not provided, distract you from common and important health issues and set the stage for unnecessary medical evaluation and tests. In the present context, they can even lead you to not take the vaccine.
The scary stories that are doing the rounds as WhatsApp forwards and Facebook posts are most of the times fake. The common man is not aware or resourceful enough to do a fact-check. As it concerns health, many believe in them if they come from a known person. Hence we have had people trying self medication and innumerable home remedies to ward off coronavirus. Dr Shmerling has a sane advice. He says "Beware the spectacular medical news story. More often than not, it's an exceptional situation that may not have much relevance to you. And it might even lead you away from what's most important to your health."
