Yesterday, the 4th of November 2020, the cable network CNN published a story titled, “Survive election uncertainty with these expert tips on how to cope.”

That morning-after-the-Election-night-before followed CNN’s allying on #2020Elections night with the Calm app — a marketing alliance meant to address the real phenomenon of political stress that has been ramping up in the U.S. for several years. I liked Teen Vogue‘s coverage of the story best, and linked it here, but you can also view lenses on the event in:

In this political season, CNN has had a strong focus on election stress, continuing with yesterday’s article on surviving election uncertainty noting that 11-4 was,

“The day after one of the most contentious US presidential elections in modern history, and we’re still unsure who will lead our country. You may be reeling with emotion, uncertain how to cope with the stress and uncertainty of the next few hours — or days — and unclear on what you can do to help our divided country heal. You’re not nuts. This really is a crazy time. Here are a dozen ways to cope,”

the story went on prescribing exercise, healthy eating, meditation, and several other self-care tactics for well-being in the toxic time of uncertainty and lack of control over many life-flows beyond the political scene — health, economic, social.

On Election Night, Calm was tied to CNN’s “Key Race Alerts” which feature state-by-state election results for candidates by party. As the photo focuses in on the left, these alerts were “brought to you by Calm.”

A spokesperson for the company explained Teen Vogue, “We understand the uncertainty of this election cycle can be a source of anxiety for many of us, especially as it coincides with an ongoing pandemic. Our goal during CNN’s Key Race Alerts was to provide viewers a moment of Calm, and a reminder to take a deep breath during a stressful night.”

Calm updated its resource hub adding stress-management tools for people to explore in the wake of the election: uncertainty breeding stress and anxiety.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: Election stress is a psychological phenomenon that has been negatively impacting Americans “democratically” across political party, shown by the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America study that was published in October just days before the 2020 Elections.

As we continue the vote count where every person in the U.S. gets their shot in the polls, I’ll take a page (the webpage, that is) from Calm this week with the prescription:

“Let’s look after ourselves, and each other.”

As days of isolation turn into weeks, many of us are feeling increasingly uprooted from our normal lives. In a world on lockdown, it isn’t just our routines that are being disrupted, but our relationships too. Thankfully, distance doesn’t have to mean disconnection.

These challenging times remind us that it’s never enough to just look after ourselves. We must look after each other too. This is what it means to Calm Together.

In that spirit, we’ve handpicked some of our favorite meditations, sleep stories, movement exercises, journals, and music. All of the resources on this page are free to use, and to share.

May they bring you, and those around you, peace,” the Calm folks pray.

Amen to that. Please take care of yourself, and thereby of each other. Your health impacts mine, and mine, yours. This is part of our commitment to being health citizens in and beyond the coronavirus pandemic.

As I continue to count on a complete vote count, I also count on you. As I summon up thoughts of peace and love and health, I invoke the words of Nick Lowe (who wrote) and Elvis Costello who asked and answered, “What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?”

Here’s a joyful performance of Elvis and the Attractions on Dave Letterman from June 2011 that will make you smile at a time when we need to…via music therapy…