According to a new study that sought to investigate the mental resilience of journalists, results showed that journalists' brains have a lower-than-average level of executive functioning.
Researchers suggest that journalists might have a more difficult time than others when it comes to things like suppressing biases, solving complex problems, switching tasks, managing emotions, and trying to engage in flexible or creative thinking.
At least 40 different journalists were studied, from about 90 who applied to take part in the investigation.
Of the 40 that were chosen to take part, they came from magazines, broadcast, newspapers, and other areas. But not every participant was able to complete every task that was required of them.
The journalists were required to keep a food and drink diary, submit to blood tests, heart rate tests, and a brain profile questionnaire. The study took place over a period of several months and the journalists took part in exercises that were meant to assess their health, behavior, and lifestyle.
The reason they wanted to look at journalists was because this is believed to be a profession that is regarded as being a high-stress environment and filled with many different pressures.
Researchers suggest that the various elements which contribute to journalism being a stressful environment are things like deadlines, public accountability, public scrutiny over their work, unpredictable workloads, and more.
It was assumed that because of the stress surrounding the job, that those in the profession would exhibit things like poor diets, lousy sleep quality, high levels of stress, and so on. Surprisingly, they found that on average that the journalists were no more stressed physically than the average person would be.
What they did find was that journalists have issues with alcohol, caffeine consumption, and high-sugar foods. At least 41 percent of the participants said that they drank about 18 units of alcohol a week or more. They also scored lower on executive functioning tasks and showing an ability to silence the mind.
Issues with this study are that it hasn't yet been peer reviewed, the sample size was obviously very small, there weren't enough variables, and there was no control group.
There are a variety of different journalists out there today and these results are not representative of them all.
Pics:
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Sources:
http://www.bandt.com.au/media/study-journalists-insominiac-alcoholics-crap-diets
http://www.businessinsider.com/journalists-brains-function-at-a-lower-level-than-average-2017-5
http://www.taraswart.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Report-Study-into-the-mental-resilience-of-journalists-Dr-Tara-Swart.pdf
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/booze-and-coffee-addled-journalist-blames-impaired-executive-function-for-lack-of-scepticism-in-intro/
This post is funny. I would like to do this test on other occupations. Bar tenders... ooh man they would be interesting. I wonder what photographers do.
lmao this makes sense. I know a news reporter that gets sloshed on the weekends.
@doitvoluntarily
I think one of the reasons they struggle with their emotions is because they always have to hide their true emotions when reporting. In other words, no matter what breaking news story is happening at the time, they have to project composure and calmness. In the long run, this makes some of them emotionally crack over time. These are my opinions, at least.
Really interesting post!
LMAO! Well I don't drink and I'm exceptionally good at managing my emotions, so I suppose I don't count in this equation. :P
think it's more in ref to the press tent g20 type lol
lol Oh I know. I remember at a press conference last year, seeing one of the top news anchors (won't disclose his name for legal reasons) call over one of the top writers for the local newspaper to go to the bathroom and do lines of coke. This was in the middle of the damn conference. lmao
Definitely sharing this with my journalist friends lol!
Great content as always.
This might explain all the fake news. Great article resteemed.
Haha, no wonder Trump doesn't like 'em. Wonder if the study also disclosed which newspapers the most drunk ones worked for, lol.
LOL that would've been awesome
HaHa. Loved this!
poor journalists!
Another study has shown that journalism and media are among the top careers for psychopaths (who also have low executive functioning)
hahahaa!
How stressful can it be, when you just sit down and make up untruths? If the personnel of the news media have health problems, it's probably due to the hatefulness of their profession.
"How stressful can it be, when you just sit down and make up untruths?" -- lmfao!
Curious if it applies equally to bloggers and creative writers. Awesome piece.
So were all my professors at the University. So are all the lawyers, military personnel, Day care center owners, nurses...and on and on we could go. If it's not alcohol then it's some other addiction.
Why are the reporters being focused on? Look in the mirror. What are you addicted to? I'm addicted to eating junk food late at night. Just keeping it real, like I do.
did you read the post? :) it mentioned why researches decided to focus on reporters, i am sure there are other studies out there as well focusing on other professions, can't cover them all with just one study :)
To be very honest, I skimmed through parts of it and truly read other parts. You caught me! Running my mouth before my brain.
I was not insinuating that you should cover them all. My point is that we are all responsible for the state of the planet. Pointing fingers at any particular group is inefficient. The only true solution to the dysfunctions of the world is looking in the mirror.
thanks for even taking the time to check it out though :)
it isn't about pointing fingers at groups.. it's about trying to gain insight into different lifestyles etc, knowledge is power.
Okay, I get that. Looking at the bigger picture is a good place to explore. I'm grateful for your quality material.
Good Content
Thanks for sharing
Upvoted & Followed
Worth the read...You have my vote !
These days, reporters seem to be more interested in expressing a viewpoint or proving someone wrong than in reporting the truth. It's unfortunate because I have known a few reporters and they are good people.