Experts: Politics Has a Real Negative Effect on Health

When you turn on the news feed, you will probably see politicians talking about local or global issues. If you feel anxious, sick, or lack of sleep because of the things you watch or read, you are not alone.

A study published earlier this week in Plos One, which looks at the physical and emotional consequences of news monitoring and political debate, claims that politics causes people insomnia and anxiety. Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska In the US, which also authored the study, focused on American society during the 2016 presidential election. It interviewed 800 people for one year and found that 40% of participants were stressed by politics, "Sabah" writes.

The study revealed 20% have damaged friendships because of political disagreements. One in five participants claim that they are feeling fatigued. Some 4% of people said they've had suicidal thoughts because of politics. Also, 11.5% reported politics had adversely affected their physical health; 31.8% said exposure to media outlets promoting views contrary to personal beliefs had driven them crazy; 29.3% said they've lost their temper as a result of politics and 22.1% admit they care too much about who wins and who loses.

"Politics is really negatively affecting a lot of people's lives, or at least, they perceive that politics is really negatively affecting their lives in deep and meaningful ways," Smith said. "Stress is a real phenomenon that can have disastrous health effects. If politics is a significant contributor to the levels of stress that American adults are experiencing, then yeah, it makes sense that there's a real add-on health effect from that." Daily Sabah quoted the survey.