Our weekly advice column from Giselle Massi, a former journalist with The Denver Post.

A senior who I have been assisting with a variety of issues told me they found themselves in the hospital due to an irregular heartbeat. The treating physician had let it be known that there have been a slew of other patients coming in for treatment for heart issues.

The theory posited was there has been an increase in stress from the unrelentingly negative political and economic situations our nation and world are facing. It has affected certain patients. They have quite possibly been internalizing the chaos to a point that it discombobulates their body’s ability to maintain homeostasis. They’ve lost the ability to self-regulate to maintain boundaries.

How is one to avoid a similar disruptive and expensive health crisis?

G: The answer can depend on what camp you align with. Are you someone who believes we all possess the capacity to have a large influence upon our overall health, or are you in the camp that thinks it’s all a crap shoot, believing things are just going to happen no matter what we may do to try to delay or prevent problems?

If you are the latter member, you are free to move on and read something else that interests you. It won’t bother me. However, if you are in the former group, read on, as you may be able to support someone else you know who is suffering from these self-induced calamities.

Many people who dwell upon outside events, particularly those that are out of their control, are more susceptible to having their emotions influence their responses, including what their body does with the information coming in. Therefore, it is wise to have a filter working at all times. This can help to deflect or disperse the negative energy that is streaming in from various sources.

That filter can be in the form of blocking certain people on social media, or their phone numbers, or just having the ringer on your phone on mute for stretches of the day or night to limit interruptions.

An information filter can also be the practice of simply choosing to pivot one’s attention away from the concerns of other people’s lives, even away from our elected official’s statements. At least for hours at a time. Nothing they or anyone else may have to say to any of us is that urgent that it must command our focus day in and day out, unless of course, their communication is connected or relevant to our employment.

So, for example, if you are in the military, a first responder or in the media business, sure, then go ahead and keep a stream of information at your fingertips, ears or eyes. Otherwise, you can permit yourself the quiet period, as though you were a preschooler, and it’s time to get on the mat, cover yourself with the blankie, and close your eyes. Figuratively.

Consider the break like what happens during sport events. Visualize that you’re the coach and you don’t like how certain players are performing, especially after a lousy pass or penalty. Blow the whistle, or throw the flag, but this time, you’re calling out yourself. Then act like the team leader who says in no uncertain terms, “You’re out of bounds, out of line.”

This is a quick way to get your attention. Admit it has swerved too far away from your priority. Get back in step with you. Stop allowing others’ dramas to invade your sanctuary and steal your peace, as it will just drain your mind’s creative juice.

Now, of course, you can choose to continue to live the way you’ve been living, believing that other people are more important than you, more accomplished, have way more interesting lives. But that’s a fabrication that holds you in an orbit of insignificance. As long as what other people are doing seems greater in your mind than what you can do with your own time, you are preferring to hold yourself back from knowing the best parts of you.

Like many of us do until we learn better, you’ll continue to do this until a moment of inspiration, a crisis or a grace is bestowed, and you finally recognize that none of us needs to continually ingest the things that are not contributing to the positive, to the greater good, or to the solution. Or, will do this, until the moment the emergency room doc turns to you and kindly says, “You’re one of the masses who have mistakenly taken to heart a level of stress that was never yours to bear. Wake up.”

Giselle was a journalist with The Denver Post and is the author of “We are Here for a Purpose: HOW TO FIND YOURS” and the novel “Just Dance the Steps.” Her new romantacy “WYNTER’S DREAM” is now available. Email Giselle with your question at [email protected] To read more columns go to www.gisellemassi.com