Back to school, cooler weather, and changing leaves mean that fall is just around the corner—and so is election season. For many individuals, election season can cause significant stress and anxiety. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll, 43% of U.S. adults report feeling more anxious than they did last year, with 73% of adults reporting that the U.S. election was a current event that caused stress and anxiety (2024). In previous years, this stress has been significant, regardless of one’s party affiliations, as reported by the American Psychological Association (2020). With stress and anxiety on the rise, how do we care for our mental health in such a tense season? Here are five ways to care for your brain and body during this election season:
- Mindfulness: practices like deep breathing, yoga, and guided imagery can help you reconnect and ground yourself in your own body. When things in our environment feel chaotic and outside of our control, reconnecting with your body and sense of self can be stabilizing and can reduce stress.
- Social Connection: stay connected with the people you love. Spending time with the people closest to us—especially time unplugged—can increase your overall sense of wellbeing. Leaning into relationships also reminds us that we’re not alone when things around us feel scary and uncertain.
- Stay Active: engaging in exercise or other recreational activities that engage your body can help release the excess energy that accumulates in times of increased stress and anxiety.
- Avoid Information Overload: limit time spent consuming news coverage and how often you receive news alerts. While having access to information at our fingertips is helpful, constant intake of information can be overwhelming, particularly when the information is negative or stressful.
- Counseling: see a professional to manage fears and uncertainty. Counseling can help you manage stress more effectively and increase your emotional resilience. You don’t have to wait for those fears and uncertainties to become unmanageable before starting counseling. Counseling is a great place to learn and practice coping skills and to process your emotions during an election season.
While you may not be able to determine the outcome of an election or fully disconnect from the election buzz, you can care for your own body and mind by managing stress and anxiety symptoms through self-care.
