Constantly checking our social media pages and consuming endless amounts of bad news or doomscrollng isnt exactly new, but 2020 has definitely brought more awareness to the habit. Never has that been more apparent than this week, as we face the outcome of elections and grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Theres actually a valid reason why we doomscroll, according to Kaz Nelson , an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis: The human brain is always on the lookout for threats to our safety and well-being in order to prepare ourselves for whats to come.

When we read upsetting news, the threat response is activated, she said. This can be helpful if it helps us to be aware of true threats to our safety and health and motivates us to work to address or respond to the threat. This is why it is so tempting to scroll page after page. Our brain perceives that we are doing something essential and productive.

However, she added, our brains did not evolve to access information in this manner and to this extent so information overload can contribute to overwhelming amounts of stress. It can also lead to other significant mental health problems, like an anxiety or panic, depression, insomnia and self-harm.

But just because we know doomscrolling is bad for us doesnt mean we can easily stop doing it. Instead, experts recommend introducing some healthier habits into your routine to help cut back. Give some of these a try:

1. Set aside a realistic block of time to spend scrolling.

Pavan Madan , a psychiatrist at Community Psychiatry in Davis, California, said it could be helpful to give yourself a predetermined amount of time on social media.

Set a reminder to turn off your phone, and use apps that educate you about your total screen time each day and how much you spent on each social media site, he said.

You can also carve out chunks of time throughout the day. For example, give yourself 15 minutes to catch up on Twitter and the news, then put your phone down or exit the apps for a few hours. Then you can return to them later for another 15 minutes, and so on. This can be a difficult habit to develop, but after a few days of practice, itll become simpler.

2. Examine the thoughts that come up when youre doomscrolling.

Madan also suggested using tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT.

One of the techniques used in CBT is called cognitive restructuring, and involves identifying and evaluating your irrational or maladaptive thoughts, he said.

Basically, you spend time examining the negative thoughts you have and then slow your reaction to them. This includes taking the time to reflect on how accurate your immediate thoughts really are, identifying what triggered them (so, in this case, what tweets or headlines are causing the most damage?), examining what your instant reaction is to these thoughts (do you yell or lash out? Do you withdraw from friends?), and then finally working to change this reaction.

While this is ideally done under the guidance of a psychotherapist, CBT-based self-help books may also help in learning them, Madan said.