Managing burnout and anxiety during elections

Tight margins, high stakes, and the reality that counting mail-in ballots stretches over weeks. The election might feel like a marathon if you're already feeling the burnout and anxiety of it all. You are not alone. For more insight, let's welcome Dr. David Spiegel, psychiatrist and professor of medicine at Stanford Medical School or Stanford Medicine. Doctor, thank you for joining us. I think that elections can be stressful, doctor. They sure can. Again, You know, the election is sort of like the alarm going off on your in your house without knowing what's setting it off. You know, you just know something's wrong and there's a part of the brain deep in the center of the brain called the cingulate cortex. That is our default mode. It's our it's our network for responding to stress. And so when people are doing those things, that network is firing. But you haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Doctor, what is the cause of the stress? Uncertainty, because I know that, well, financial markets don't like uncertainty, and maybe that translates to other things, too. We don't like when we don't know what is going to happen. Is that what causes the stress? Well, it's partly the uncertainty, but it's partly also the lack of a path to dealing with the uncertainty. And what I advise people to do is start out from the body up rather than the head down. We know that we're stressed because we're, we evolved to deal with all stress threats as if they were physical threats. So think about getting your body comfortable first and then deal with the problem. Think about what you can do about one thing you can do about it. Have you found, doctor, that because our politics have become very polarized, I would say almost hyperpolarized in the last 20 years, that has added to this effect? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because it's starting to feel, it has for a while, not like a respectful disagreement that democracies are meant to help us manage peacefully into a just irreconcilable difference that pits one group against another. And that's very unfortunate because it separates us as citizens. It doesn't give us a peaceful and constructive way of dealing with differences. So if I am feeling stressed after I vote, because after I vote really is out of my hands, I just have to wait for the results. Is there something that I can do? Should I just check out for a while? Should I, you know, maybe checking out is not the right thing because it's going to be in the back of your mind. What do you suggest that people do when really they've already voted and it's out of their hands? Well, I think it, you know, obviously we're all going to be interested in what the outcome is, but I would say don't do it all the time. You know, check in, make a deal with yourself. You know, I'll check in every hour and see how things are going. And other than that, I'll get some physical exercise or I'll do something that I enjoy doing so that you dose yourself and you don't keep going through the same thing over and over. We studied reactions to the 9-11 attacks and we found that people who were watching two hours or more of news a day about the same horrible event did worse six months later when we tested their level of stress. So the thing to do is find something that soothes you, give yourself a break and check periodically but not all the time. I want to ask you for a ray of hope here, doctor. Has there been anything that people have become, maybe people have become a little bit better because we have been polarized for quite some time. People have been better maybe at shutting it off. Yes, I think that's true. I think people are, you know, they don't automatically jump into an argument every time a disagreement comes up. And I think people are finding ways to say, look, we have to live with this situation. Voting is, you know, think of voting as the democratic process that gives you the most control over what's happening in your world. And just pat yourself on the back for participating in it and see that you can Engage in respectful discussions, even with people you disagree with. Doctor, the last question I have is about undergraduates, because you deal, you do teach undergraduates, right? I do. Okay, so have you noticed any difference in this generation of undergrads as opposed to, let's say, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, where maybe they're coming in with a slightly different, more optimistic view? I think they're learning how to swim in a changing environment. It's been a difficult time. It's been a very difficult time for universities because the government has been, frankly, disrespectful and undermining of much that we do in universities. And I'm hoping, I think students are trying to sort of recalculate their life paths and figure out what's the best way to live with what's happening. And that's a good thing. But it's a hard time, frankly, for people, because there is so much uncertainty. And I think the main thing is find things to do to soothe yourself, soothe your body, and then face the problem realistically. Dr. I was a poli-sci grad at your rival university. And I think I would have enjoyed taking your class, sir. Thank you very much for your insights. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Dr. Davis. I would have enjoyed teaching you there. Thank you very much, sir.