Senior News Line: Yes, you can turn off the news

Several months ago I took a “short” break from watching the daily news — except that break wasn’t so short after all when I extended it to over a month.

Then, wanting to continue with the peace that came from not being hooked into the daily news cycles and media hysteria, I set my phone to send me alerts with short blurbs about important news.

I could quickly scan the few lines of the alert, catch up and be done with it. That’s worked well these past months.

Except it doesn’t keep people from calling me to ask if I’ve seen a certain piece of news or telling me to quickly turn on the television. The bigger the news, the more people who call.

I’ve advised more than one upset person to turn the television off and not turn it on again for an hour or two.

After a serious event, news stations will continue to hash over the same initial information, even if they don’t know anything new. Nothing good can come from hearing the same bad news over and over.

There’s more to it than just keeping up with what’s going on. If you’re having trouble sleeping, if you’re stressed all the time, if you’re afraid or angry — all these things can be a result of watching too much of the news.

If you have high blood pressure and a home monitor, keep track of it as a way to spot whether any spikes in your BP coincide with events you’ve watched on the news.

If you have a cellphone, there are several free news apps you can use that will alert you to events.

And, in case no one has ever told you, it really is OK to just turn off the news.