How to Protect Your Brain When the News Feels Overwhelming
- Caroline Langston
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Modern news is designed for speed, emotion and impact. It reaches us in real time and often before our nervous system has the chance to process what we are seeing. The result is predictable from a basic neuroscience perspective. Our brain treats disturbing news as a potential threat even when we are safe at home. Understanding this response is not about ignoring the world. It is about learning how to stay grounded, regulated and mentally available for ourselves, our families and the people we lead.
What Happens in the Brain When You See Bad News:
The Amygdala Your Alarm System
The amygdala detects danger and keeps you alive. It reacts to strong emotional cues such as words like crisis, fire or tragedy and to the images that often fill breaking news banners. When it activates, it releases stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline. Physicall,y you may feel a tight chest, faster heart rate or that prickly sense that something is wrong.
The Prefrontal Cortex Your Perspective and Logic Centre
This part of the brain helps you think clearly, make decisions and regulate emotions. However, the prefrontal cortex is sensitive to stress. When the amygdala is highly active, the prefrontal cortex reduces activit,y which makes rational thought more difficult. This is why news spirals can feel so intense. The more emotional the headline, the more the amygdala drives the experience. The objective is not to stop the amygdala but to bring the prefrontal cortex back online.
Three Practical Exercises to Rebalance Your System:
(Disclaimer: only complete these if you feel totally comfortable and have not had a medical warning about breathwork or any breathing conditions)
1 The 60 Second Physiological Reset
This exercise is simple, fast and rooted in the biology of the nervous system. To do it, inhale slowly through your nose for four seconds. Hold your breath for 4 seconds. Exhale gently through your mouth for six seconds. Hold your breath out for 4 seconds and repeat as needed. Longer exhales activate the vagus nerve, which sends signals of safety back to the body. Within moments, your heart rate slows, your muscles release tension, and your amygdala becomes quieter. This is a quick way to interrupt the stress response when news feels overwhelming.
2 The Name and Tame Technique
This technique reduces emotional intensity. Simply state silently or aloud what you are feeling. For example, say I am feeling anxious or I feel unsettled, or I feel sadness. Research shows that naming an emotion reduces activity in the amygdala and increases activity in the prefrontal cortex. You shift from being inside the emotion to observing it, which gives you back a sense of control.
3 The Attention Audit
With constant news, the skill is learning what deserves your attention. Ask yourself Do I need this information right now. If not, set a boundary. This could mean checking news only twice a day, turning off alerts, switching to long-form journalism or protecting your mornings with no news to preserve cognitive freshness. Your attention is limited. When you protect it your brain has more capacity for clarity, empathy and calm reasoning.
Bad news will always exist. But how you meet it with a regulated nervous system and a trained mind determines the difference between overwhelm and resilience. Leading yourself well allows you to lead others with greater steadiness and presence.
1. Emotional Labelling Reduces Amygdala Activity
Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labelling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421 to 428.
This foundational study demonstrates that naming emotions significantly reduces amygdala activation and increases prefrontal cortex engagement.
2. Vagus Nerve Activation and Slower Exhales Reduce Stress
Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012).
Effects of yoga, breathing, and mindfulness-based practices on stress responses and vagal tone. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 3, 117.
Although focused on yoga and breathwork more broadly, the paper highlights why slow exhales and controlled breathing increase vagal tone and downregulate the stress system.
3. Stress Impairs Prefrontal Cortex Function
Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 410 to 422.
This widely cited review explains why stress weakens prefrontal cortex activity and shifts control to more reactive brain regions like the amygdala.
Caroline Langston is the Co-Founder of Successful Consultants Ltd, an Executive, Personal and Career Development Coaching company in Hong Kong and New York. She is also Chief People Officer at Raffles Family Office. A specialist in Neuroleadership, Caroline is dedicated to coaching people to achieve performance success, wellness, and happiness in their careers and lives. She is degree-qualified, with a postgraduate certificate in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health. She is studying at King’s College London for an MSc in the same subject. With a Certificate in Professional Coaching Mastery, she is also a Professional Certified Accredited Coach (International Coaching Federation), has a Certificate in Team Coaching from the EMCC and further certifications in Neuro Linguistic Programming at Master Practitioner and Coach level. www.successCL.com
