Overexposure to Ukraine war coverage may impact mental health, sleep, experts say

ATLANTA - After two years of a pandemic, we are watching a war unfold in Ukraine.

Three million refugees have fled their homes as the shelling and bombing intensify across the country.

Dr. Roy Reese, Ph.D., a child psychologist with AKOMA Counseling in Decatur, says it is important for families with children to talk about what' is happening in Ukraine.

"It's another traumatic event that we are bearing witness to, and that our kids are watching,"  Reese says. "I think many parents did an awesome job supporting their kids through the pandemic.  And, I think that gets extended here, by talking about our sadness and our disappointment, that this thing is happening, that this is yet another type of suffering the people are experiencing."

On a practical level, Reese says, he would limit how much exposure children are having to the coverage of the crisis.

"You certainly should be talking about it, but you should be talking about it in chunks, and you should be limiting how much the 24-hour news programs are on in your house, as kids are walking through and seeing those horrific images," he says.

It may also help, Reese says,  to talk about what you can do.

You may want to consider donating to a humanitarian or relief agency helping the Ukrainian people, Reese says.

The website charitynavigator.org has a list of 36 highly-rated charities working to help the Ukraine people.

"These are things we can do to help and to make a statement about what we believe is important," he says.

Watching the trauma unfolding can also impact our sleep.

So, Dr. Russell Rosenberg, a sleep specialist with Neurotrials Research, recommends disconnecting from watching the war coverage or scrolling through posts about it for about an hour before you got to bed.

"It's not that you want to ignore those things, but you want to be able to control when you're exposed to them," Rosenberg says.  "So, an hour or more before bedtime, it's well worth watching something that's more comedic or more calming, because you just don't want to be more emotionally upset at bedtime.  And, in fact, some people who say, 'Oh, I can watch anything before bedtime,' don't realize that it can impact their sleep in the middle of the night, either with dreaming, nightmares, or just waking up unexpectedly."

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