Stressed out about politics? It could be impacting your health

In downtown Toronto, it doesn’t take long to find people with politics on their minds. 

“I think everyone is pretty stressed about politics right now. It’s hard not to be,” said Tonya Facey when stopped by CBC News. “Politics is a part of everyday life and there’s a lot going on, politically.”

Jamie Haynes, visiting from St. John’s, said he too worries about politics. 

“Especially with the war on the go with Donald Trump and Canada — it’s quite concerning,” he said. 

The trade war with the U.S., an Alberta referendum and Quebec election this fall, global conflicts: these are the kinds of political events that can trigger stress, researchers say. Political decisions that impact people’s daily lives, and political disagreements that cause conflict with others are also sources of worry.

Political stress is now an entire field of study that gained traction in the U.S. around the 2016 presidential election. Here in Canada, political scientists, psychologists and mental health experts are also investigating the toll this form of stress can take on someone’s health. 

“There has been a lot of documented evidence, particularly over the past 10 years, in looking at things like loss of sleep, loss of appetite, negative emotions, periodic depression — these sorts of things that people can tie to things like a major election or maybe a particular conflict that’s happening in the world,” said Amanda Friesen, a Canada Research Chair in Political Psychology. 

The professor of political science at Western University in London, Ont., launched the Body Politics Lab in 2022, where her team carries out studies investigating how people’s bodies and minds react to politics.

One study gave 81 undergraduate students a ring-like device that measured their temperature, pulse and sweat level as they scrolled their TikTok accounts. Western University PhD student Samantha Jones said a key takeaway from the results was not so much the physical reactions to viewing political content, but the emotional ones.

“They were more likely to report feeling negatively afterwards, compared to other types of content,” said Jones. 

They were also more likely to engage with it — by sharing it and viewing the comments — and that informs the algorithm. 

“So despite this content making them feel negatively,” said Jones, “they are inadvertently saying they want more.”

Finding a healthy balance

Friesen said these kinds of studies are aimed at understanding what stresses people out when it comes to politics, and what that stress can mean for their health — and the health of democracy. 

“One of our projects right now is balancing democratic and personal health,” she said.

If something is shown to harm someone’s well-being, they’re usually advised to avoid it. But politics trickles into people’s everyday lives, and with social media and the 24/7 news cycle, it’s hard to avoid. Plus, people need to stay engaged in politics in order to have a thriving democracy, said Friesen.

Noah Vanderhoeven, one of the Body Politics researchers, said he thinks a balance between staying informed and maintaining healthy habits can be struck.

Some people even respond to the stress in ways that are good for democracy, he said.

“These kinds of anxieties about politics in the world can also be addressed through political action and being involved and engaged as a citizen,” said Vanderhoeven. 

He’s leading a study this fall tied to the Alberta referendum, which he said could be a stressful event for some. 

Staying informed about politics in a healthy way can be a challenge for some Canadians, according to Dr. Allison Crawford, a psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who leads Canada’s national 9-8-8 suicide crisis hotline.

She said people are reaching out because of political stress.

“When political worry causes uncertainty in general, especially related to finances or people’s sense of security or the safety of the world, we do often see that in our texters and callers,” said Crawford.

People report losing sleep, feeling unsettled, overwhelmed and helpless, she said. 

Recognizing symptoms is a good first step, said Crawford, then people should reach out to someone they trust for support.

“We do want people involved in our democracy and we want people to not disengage but there are things that we can control and things that we can’t control,” she said. 

Time spent consuming news and social media is something that can be controlled, Crawford advised, and could be limited as a way to de-stress. 

Trade war stress ‘spike’

Recent news headlines in Canada are dominated by the trade war with the U.S. and Friesen said she believes Canadians’ political stress levels have “spiked” since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a second time and took aim at Canada.

“Suddenly there was this sort of external ‘enemy’ that pulled Canadians together but increased this stress,” said Friesen. “I think there’s this kind of element of uncertainty. Is this all posturing? What does this mean? And anytime there’s uncertainty, that is going to cause anxiety.”

That’s exactly what Amélie Valois said she’s feeling.

“Politics do stress me out especially what’s going on with the U.S. right now, and how it’s going to impact our grocery bills, and business, and everything going forward,” she told CBC News as she walked towards the Rogers Centre to take in a Blue Jays game. “It’s stressful.”