Focus

I heard a fascinating interview on NPR last night where the host was talking to 'experts' about recent findings in the UK that 1 in 7 people reported anxiety issues. The experts were talking about potential explanations for this high rate of anxiety, which is increased relative to years past.

I was intrigued by the proposed explanation--a loss of personal contact and increased exposure to negative news caused by hard situations in the world, but primarily due to the constant media exposure that people receive these days. The experts hypothesized that since people spend so much more time exposed to news via 24 hr cable, internet news feeds, internet on our mobile devices, etc. that we are subconsciously influenced by the heavy negative outlook on the world that the news media takes. Obviously, negativity sells, so it makes sense that the news outlets share it. The experts forward the idea that by hearing about all the negativity in the world, which there is plenty to worry about these days, people focus on that, and ignore many of the positive things in their lives. Couple that to the personal isolation that occurs when you read/watch TV/surf the interent, etc along with the general stress most people feel these days with layoff concerns, decreased income, etc, you get a generalized increase in stress/anxiety levels.

What most intrigued me though, was the impact that this could have on my graduate school experience. Would spending time reading about the stock market crashing or joblessness or declines in real estate values increase my stress and anxiety? As a graduate student, I have complete job security--unless I spend too much time doing other things, but even that can be forgiven occasionally. So could reading about other's anxiety actually increase my own?

In addition to reading negative news, graduate school has its own constant rate of failure that is inherent to science, especially when you're young and still learning. Grad school also definitely provides plenty of alone time, especially when you've made the choices I made that left me as the only person in my particular field at my university. Together it seems like a recipe for excess anxiety.

The lesson, it seems, is that as a graduate student, we are at significant risk for anxiety related disorders--as most grad students will attest, it is a rather stressful endeavour. So, how do we deal with it? I think the key is staying tuned into the big picture, and then focusing on our work so that we're not distracted or exposed to excess negativity, which can be provided bountifully by all the favorite news sites. For me, the greatest struggle is staying focused on work and not spending time reading news, blogging, etc... hmmm. Back to work, so I can get home and increase my personal contact. : P