Five ways to stop feeling overwh

1. Limit the time spent reading news

“Headline anxiety” is a growing problem. Psychoanalytical psychotherapist Prof Brett Kahr says: “People are overwhelmed and bombarded by every type of communication. You can feel like a dartboard, being hit by little shards of news – none of which is personalised or compassionate, so it can feel like a psychologically persecutory experience.” One way to reduce the impact of the non-stop news cycle is to use screen-time trackers, available on iOS and Android, to limit the time you spend reading or watching the news on your mobile.

2. Turn off push notifications

If the urge to scroll is too strong to resist, then at least turning off your push notifications from news apps can stop you from being assailed with breaking events. A 2016 study found that push notifications “exerted a negative influence on cognitive function” through disruption to daily tasks, while another from 2015 stated they “may create stress due to information overload”.