Bad for our mental health

By Alex P. Vidal

“Humanity is so weird. If we’re not laughing, we’re crying or running for our lives because monsters are trying to eat us. And they don’t even have to be real monsters. They could be the ones we make up in our heads. Don’t you think that’s weird?” ― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea

THE series of bad and depressing news that flooded the mainstream and social media after the Holy Week, or these past days can easily make many of us disconsolate and down in the dumps.

When we absorb these negative stories, we are, in one way or the other, affected emotionally and mentally and become more depressed wherever and which platform we monitor these bizarre news.

So many lives were lost by drowning; an off-duty cop caught brutally mauling a live-in partner; “Amang” running amuck and causing heavy floods in affected areas; climate change; oil price increase; scantily clad teenage showbiz and beauty contestants being promoted and paraded like sex objects; a seven-year-old girl raped and killed by her own godfather.

Five OFWs jailed in UAE due to TikTok post (and it seems their case is hard to defend by consulate authorities); P6.7 billion shabu coverup by the PNP bigwigs; a hard-working and successful on-line seller died of a mysterious cancer; leaking of “confidential” information allegedly detailing China’s plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 or earlier (the Philippines will be caught between the devil and the deep blue see if this will happen because of the EDCA); etcetera.

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These bad (media did not create them; they just happened) stories can definitely make many of us with weak heart and mind more vulnerable to mental health problems, aside from the individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use and genetics.

Exposure to unfavorable social, economic, geopolitical and environmental circumstances–including poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation–also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions, warned the World Health Organization.

Mental health risks and protective factors can be found in society at different scales.

Local threats heighten risk for individuals, families and communities. Global threats heighten risk for whole populations and include economic downturns, disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and forced displacement and the growing climate crisis.

The WHO has warned further that each single risk and protective factor has only limited predictive strength. Most people do not develop a mental health condition despite exposure to a risk factor and many people with no known risk factor still develop a mental health condition. “Nonetheless, the interacting determinants of mental health serve to enhance or undermine mental health,” according to WHO.

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US VISA FEES INCREASE. The U.S. Department of State has increased certain nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application processing fees globally. These fee increases are effective as of May 30, 2023.

The application fee for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s) and other non-petition based NIVs, such as student and exchange visitor visas, has increased from $160 to $185.

The application fee for certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) has increased from $190 to $205.

The application fee for a treaty trader, treaty investor, and treaty applicant in a specialty occupation (E category) has increased from $205 to $315.

Other consular fees remain the same, including the waiver of the two-year residency required fee for certain exchange visitors.

Applicants who have already paid a visa application fee that is currently valid and non-expired, but who have not yet appeared for their visa interview or are waiting for their case to be processed, will not be charged any additional fees.

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HAPPINESS DRINK. A study involving more than 1,000 Japanese people age 70 or over found that those who drank at least four cups of green tea a day enjoyed better moods than those drinking a cup or less. The uplifting ingredient is theanine, the researchers believe.

STRATEGY. In addition to talking to our youngsters about the dangers of cigarettes, encourage them to play team sports and watch tobacco-free flicks. It could keep them from lighting up, according to a recent study. Nonetheless ages 9 to 14 were twice as likely as sporty kids to become smokers later in life, and all kids who watched movies showing heavy smoking were about 20 percent more likely to get addicted.

SPEED OF LIGHT. In round numbers, the speed of light in a vacuum is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second. The exact figure is 186,282 miles (299,792.458 kilometers) per second.

CALORIES. People who eat at least a quarter-cup of rice per day consume 54 fewer daily calories. We generally pair rice with lower-cal foods like veggies and fish, theorize the Iowa State researchers, and we don’t slather it with butter or cheese. To gain the weight-losing benefit, eat it solo or as a side with lean stir-fries.

CREMATED. Albert Einstein was cremated after his death on April 18, 1955. The doctor who performed the autopsy removed Einstein’s brain, part of which now rests in a bottle somewhere in Weston, Missouri. Dr. Paul Broca was not alone.

ALL ABOUT SCIENCE. The sun is an incandescent ball of gases. Its mass is 1.8 x 1027 tons or 1.8 octillion tons (a mass 330,000 times as great as the Earth), according to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)