hello lovely people I hope you are off
to an awesome day I'm Koy wire this is
cnn0 and for today's show we have a
special guest who's going to help us
learn about ourselves specifically about
our brains our thoughts and our emotions
the current conflict in Israel and Gaza
has had a deep impact on the hearts and
Minds
of many a lot of the images we're seeing
pop up on social media stories we're
hearing in the news they're really sad
and upsetting and the whole situation
can make us feel worried uncertain and
even angry at times about what's
happening in our world and those are
completely understandable justifiable
normal emotions to feel during
situations like this but knowing that
doesn't necessarily make it any easier
to deal with so we wanted to provide you
with some tools that maybe you can use
for yourself or for someone you know who
Maybe is having a tough time dealing
with bad news and this might help you
understand or support them better rise
up it's a privilege to introduce you now
to my friend our CNN chief medical
correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta who's here
for all of us great to have you with us
doc thank you Coy and a heartfelt hello
to all of you as well it's great to be
here for this really important topic and
as koi said if you've been following the
news out of Israel and Gaza chances are
you've seen some pretty disturbing
images they may be tough to process and
you may be wondering this what happens
to your stress levels when you're
exposed to this kind of violence well
here's the truth even if witnessing all
of this from afar it can still have an
impact on your brain now seeing a lot of
these intense images and reading and
hearing about violence can trigger your
brain's amydala the amydala is the
emotional Center of your brain remember
that it can also send what would best be
described as distress signals to the
rest of your brain and your body that
can cause you to feel jittery cause you
to feel anxious you could have something
like stomach aches or headaches or
things that are not even seemingly
related but are in fact caused by the
disturbing images you have consumed so
what does that all mean and how can we
protect ourselves I spoke to an expert
who knows a lot about this he knows
about kids and coping and gave me and I
hope you as well some great words of
wisdom when something like this happens
in the world and you are consuming the
news just like all of us
are what do you do to make sure you're
taking care of your your mental health
and your mindset at the same time as
being an informed citizen I've learned
to know what the signals are that when I
feel my body responding and my sense of
Despair increasing what are some of
those signals you know your own body
well what should people be looking for I
think you know when when we talk about
stress it's a big word to describe lots
of very specific reactions that we may
not even register except that it doesn't
feel good we may actually find ourselves
sweating or feeling more antsy and and
agitated fidgety not not able to to pay
attention not able to keep our our eyes
on on the ball that's in front of us
what do you recommend for for young
people in particular who want to be
diligent about saying my mental health
is important and I want to be proactive
in taking care of it I think one of the
first steps um I is to actually step
back and realize what it is we share as
human beings there is strength and
numbers and that when we recognize that
we are not
alone that we are not the only ones who
are feeling upset and our upset is not a
a a a demonstration of weakness but part
of who we are as human beings that
actually allows for um substituting a
feeling of helplessness with some very
real small but critical ways of taking
action when we're able to actually
translate our vulnerability what it is
that makes us human into empathy
identification with others it actually
allows us to move from feeling isolated
to reaching out to one another to
actually reminding each other that there
are normal reactions that are not
pleasant and that we are here for one
another here is 10-second trivia about
how long is the Gaza Strip 100 Mil 25
mil 8 Miles 42
miles Gaza is a narrow strip of land
west of Israel with a population of
around 2 million people it's around 25 M
long and only only 7 m wide that's just
over twice the size of Washington DC
while we watch this war unfold from home
there are students just like you living
through this war in fact CNN 10 producer
Maya Blackstone spoke with two siblings
from Gaza 11-year-old Muhammad and his
older sister AFA more than a week ago
their family left their home in Gaza
City to stay in what they hoped was
going to be a safer United Nations
sanctioned hotel which was nearby they
moved us all to like the the lower floor
of the building uh we're talking about
330 350 people in the same place the
hotel itself the the windows shattered
the ceiling fell down the last few days
of staying at the hotel we were out of
drinking water and we were out of food
on October 13th Israel dropped pamphlets
in Gaza urging citizens to evacuate
South but that was hard to do in fact it
took the siblings and their family 3
hours to travel just 15 mil away to
their grandparents place in the the city
of Han
yunes there's a lot of stuff going on
like the bombings they're really loud
and they're really scary also the water
cut off and the electricity cut off and
that's also pretty bad before the war
Muhammad was in Primary School the
seventh grade he was excited to join the
robotics Club I was like really excited
because I had a lot of fun things that
were going to happen but then the war
started and I couldn't really attend
school anymore 21-year-old AA had to
cancel her engagement party last week
the war has separated her now from her
fiance who is staying with his own
family you know the the the receipts of
the engagement ring the hole the the
dress um so that was that was pretty
devastating I still uh don't really get
a hold of my fiance CNN 10 also spoke
with 12-year-old Talia who lives in
Holan that's a city in Israel just a few
miles to the south of Tel Aviv Talia has
three older brothers the oldest is a
combat engineer in the military in fact
he was at home celebrating the Jewish
holiday simal Tor When The War Began
instead of celebrating with him our
holiday or holy day one of the holiest
days in the year he was called to his
base he had 15 minutes to get ready I
was crying my mom was crying I couldn't
sleep I barely ate everyone even if
doesn't know someone who's dead or
kidnapped knows someone that knows
someone that is dead or kidnapped and
it's such a scary feeling everyone is so
anxious here you can't really be happy
every day when living in Israel you need
to be scared for the life Talia afaf
Muhammad they are all experiencing
trauma we Palestinians do not want any
Bloodshed we Palestinians do not want
any War we Palestinians do not want any
loss of life on both sides I hope that
this war ends and I also hope that maybe
we could go somewhere safer we are just
kids we can't fight we can do anything
it's not a fault or of any innocent
citizen neither from our side of or in
their side we've heard from a mental
health expert we've heard from students
living in Gaza and Israel what about the
people covering this war here at CNN we
have report ERS and producers and Camera
people on the ground including my
colleague Sarah seider she's been
reporting on the war from Tel Aviv and
Israel about 40 miles north of Gaza and
she wanted to share with all of you in
class how she and her team get their
stories and what life is really like
when the cameras are off Sarah sagner
has arrived in Tel Aviv she's on the
ground I spoke with one of the family
members of a hostage roet I'm here in
Israel on the Israel side of the Border
covering the war between Israel and
Hamas we're in a really important place
because of the equipment that you see
behind me that military equipment there
that doesn't look like much it looks
like kind of a rectangular box that's
the Iron Dome but it is probably the
most important piece of equipment to
save lives here in Israel no president
since 1967 uh has recognized in 2012 and
13 I lived in Jerusalem it I was here
for work it has been pretty constant we
heard it early in the morning but I've
never seen anything quite like this
where Israel has actually officially
declared
war when you're doing coverage of a war
you don't sleep much and it is pouring
rain suddenly which seemed like out of
nowhere and so when that happens the
crew has to figure out what to do so
they have
created just kind of creating a big
thing to cover all the
cameras and this
is this is Tel Aviv CNN temporary
headquarters we came in uh from New York
um ailio and I my photographer came in
from New York we met with a producer who
came in from London they're basically a
reporter that that is not on television
their role is to help facilitate things
and make sure that everything is ready
and available so that when you see me on
television uh all of those other things
have been taken care of so it is the
best possible shot uh with the the best
possible information that we can get to
you 60 hospital beds are now filled with
victims from the Hamas
attack mentally you prepare before you
get into the country as you're packing
so you have to remember to get a helmet
to get a flack jacket you have to sort
of just get yourself in a very quiet
place and very much pay attention to
what's going on around you 360 there are
five incoming right now can you guys get
me my helmet please you have to do a lot
of reading you have to do a lot of
studying about what's going on where
things are happening and know a lot
about the country that you are in I
don't know about you but I learn better
when I'm there in person and I get to
see things and touch things and feel
things and you make relationships with
people I have Israeli friends I have
Palestinian friends I have friends who
have have left
Gaza when you get home and you think
about what could have happened or you
think about the images that are in your
head um the horrible things that you've
seen those things tend to stay with you
for a lot longer at least that's what I
found um so talking to to someone
professional talking uh to your
colleagues your your family it is really
really important that's how I deal with
the intense stress that comes from this
but while I'm on the job I'm I'm really
focused on what I'm doing so writing a
story or interviewing someone or or um
talking to camera about what we've seen
and experienced and trying to get those
stories out it helps you concentrate and
it doesn't uh it doesn't make your
stress worse it actually helps you
lessen your stress because you have a
focus and a reason to be
here for today's 10 out of 10 a lesson
to find calmness when your anxiety
starts to build it's called paste deep
breathing psychiatrist Dr Gail saltz
taught me to take a 5-second inhale
through the nose and then follow it with
a 7c exhale through the
mouth those extra last two seconds of
forced exhale are what actually lowers
your heart rate and can immediately
relax you do this 10 times and it can
quickly quiet your stress
response and that's it for today's
special episode of CNN 10 if there are
other topics you'd like to learn more
about let us know you can add your
questions in the comments below this
episode on YouTube and before we go
today's shout out goes to my alma mater
the Novi High School wild cats in Novi
Michigan thank you all for watching I'm
Dr Sanjay Gupta CNN's chief medical
correspondent Koy is going to be back
tomorrow for a regular episode of CNN
10