We dined meatless during the mad-cow scare and pleaded for Cipro to combat anthrax. We’ve spent summers worrying about SARS and West Nile, falls fearing the flu, and winters worrying about the latest “bug de jour.” Hardly a month goes by without an orange alert lurking in the background, and in lieu of the recent London attacks, it’s safe to say we’ve all wondered, “Are We Next?”Threats are constant, yet the exaggerated warnings we heed are rarely as dangerous as we all fear. The problem? All of the pre-trauma stress and anxiety, as opposed to the actual occurrences themselves, are causing massive health problems among Americans, from strokes to panic attacks to heart disease.
In his new book, False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear, (Wiley; August 26, 2005; ISBN 0-471-67869-4, $24.95 Cloth) Dr. Marc Siegel explores our current culture of fear, and the true harm all these false alarms are causing. Although we are living in the safest times in history, we are making our health suffer by constantly stressing over our safety.
Fear may advance political agendas and increase drug company profits, but it’s simultaneously hurting the public. When we personalize the horrors we see on TV, we internalize fear and stress, causing our blood pressures to rise and our immunities to wane. Ironically, worrying about saving your life may be the thing that makes you lose it. Siegel thinks this charade has gone on long enough – others’ wealth isn’t worth our health.
In False Alarm, Dr. Siegel debunks threats, old and new, and explores:
· The origin of the Fear Epidemic
· Why we are so afraid
· How politicians use threats and alerts to advance their own agendas
· Businesses that profit from fear
· Real vs. Imagined disasters
· Cures for overcoming the anxiety
Siegel gives perspective to the panicked and solace to the scared. His upfront, enlightening new book will help you assuage and properly assess your fears when warned of the “latest scare.” So quit fretting, give your nervous system a rest, and check out False Alarm… it’s just what the doctor ordered.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marc Siegel, MD (New York, NY) is a practicing internist, an Associate Professor at the New York University School of Medicine and a fellow in the Master Scholars Society at NYU. He is a weekly columnist for The New York Daily News, a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, and a member of the board of contributors at USA Today. He is a syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He appears regularly on CNN, Fox News Channel, NPR and “The Today Show.”
© 2005 HealthNewsDigest.com