Welcome to Deep Dives, a Health video series where inspiring people talk about a health topic that's meaningful to them and share relatable stories around health and wellness. Watch Karamo Brown's Deep Dive above!
Most of us found ourselves addicted to watching the news in 2020, crazy as it was, and celebrities are no exception. Karamo Brown, 40, one of the fab five of the Netflix show Queer Eye, also got caught in the trap of the never-ending updates. "There was a lot of moments where I caught myself watching the news, constantly on this news cycle," Brown tells Health.
Staying glued to headlines 24/7 isn't necessarily healthy for anyone, but it was especially damaging to Brown because of a chronic health condition he lives with. "I suffer from migraine, and migraine is brought on a lot by stress. [The news] would just be bringing out so much stress to me, which was triggering my migraine," Brown explains.
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"You just think, 'I'm staying informed,' or 'I'm being aware of what's happening'—but literally all you're doing is triggering yourself over and over again," Brown says. This led to an epiphany about the toll it was taking on his body. "It was like: relax, stop watching it. I have to take a step back and focus on something positive."
But while figuring out a healthy way to consume news was the first step, Brown says thoroughly processing the news from last year will be just as important. "2020—a lot of things happened to us emotionally and mentally that a lot of us haven't even focused on. We don't even realize the PTSD we're all going to experience from the year 2020," says Brown, who partners with Amgen and Novartis.
Even though the news of 2020 was traumatizing, Brown's hopes for this year are high. "A 2021 word has yet to be defined, but hopefully it's 'delightful,' 'amazing,' 'stress-free.' Because 2020 took us all through it."
Watch the rest of Brown's deep dive in the video above.
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