On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Kyiv residents ringing in new year caught in Russian attack
Peace talks may still be in the distance as Russia pummels Ukraine during the holidays. Plus, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been sworn in as president, 14 people are dead after an attack on a Mexican prison near the U.S. border, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lies in state at the Vatican, and hear some tips for improving your mental health in the new year with Tara Thiagarajan, founder of Sapien Labs, which builds tools to understand the diversity of the human brain and how it relates to cognitive and mental health outcomes.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning and Happy New Year. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 2nd of January, 2023. Today, more attacks on Ukraine’s capital. Plus, tensions in Brazil as a new president takes office, and we look at how to care for your mental health in the new year.
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Residents in Kyiv celebrating the new year were interrupted by air raid sirens and a series of missiles in what Ukrainian officials are calling a targeted Russian attack on civilians. Dozens were injured on New Year’s Eve as rockets hit the capital city. Officials said two schools were also damaged, including a kindergarten. The latest attacks come after Russia targeted power and water infrastructure in the country over the past week. This weekend, in his New Year’s address, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised never to forgive Russia for its missile barrage. And he said Russian president Vladimir Putin is, “hiding behind the military, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces.” Zelenskyy also addressed Russia in its own language. Putin said last month that Moscow may be open to talks to wind down the war. But Ukraine and much of the West have dismissed the comments and US analysts have said an end to the war doesn’t appear to be close.
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Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president yesterday.
[Music from Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration]
Lula, as he’s known, is taking office for the third time after defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro’s reelection bid. He beat Bolsonaro in late October by less than two percentage points after his opponent spread doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system. Bolsonaro supporters have spent the month since questioning election results and even pushing for armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office. There are fears of possible violence this week. Dozens of people tried to invade a federal police building in the capital Brasilia last month, and burned cars and buses. And on Christmas Eve, police arrested a man who admitted to making a bomb headed to the same city’s airport. For his part, Bolsonaro has fled the country and is currently in the US, in Orlando. He faces several investigations in Brazil, including one linked to his attacks on Brazil’s voting machines.
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Fourteen people are dead after an attack on a Mexican prison near the US border. 10 guards and four inmates were killed early yesterday morning when gunmen in armored vehicles attacked a state prison in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, Texas. In addition to those killed, 13 people were injured and at least 24 inmates escaped, according to the Associated Press. A riot at the same prison in August also spread to the streets of Juarez and left 11 dead. Violence is common in Mexican prisons, where clashes between rival gangs and drug cartels regularly break out. The latest wave of Juarez violence also comes as a surge of migrants has arrived in the city, amid recently dashed hopes that the US Title 42 migrant policy might end, allowing for easier asylum claims into the US. And Reuters reported last month that many migrant arrivals in El Paso were part of a group kidnapped in Mexico.
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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body is lying in state today at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. As daylight broke this morning, 10 white-gloved papal gentleman carried the body to the front of the main altar as thousands lined up to pay tribute. Security officials said they expected 25,000 people to pass by on this first day of viewing. The late pontiff retired as pope in 2013, becoming the first to do so in 600 years. He passed away Saturday at the age of 95. His passing came with a two sentence announcement from the Vatican press office and without many of the traditional rituals for the passing of a pope. Benedict’s funeral, set for Thursday, will also likely be low key. His passing has raised new questions about how to deal with retired popes in the future. It’s not clear if the current Pope, Francis, will issue new protocols to regulate the office of a retired pope going forward.
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Gyms are usually packed at the start of the new year with people trying to lose weight and get in better shape for the resolution. But what about mental health? Producer PJ Elliott talked with Tara Thiagarajan, founder of Sapien Labs, which builds tools to understand the diversity of the human brain and how it relates to cognitive and mental health outcomes. She gives some tips on how people can improve their mental wellbeing in the new year.
PJ Elliott:
Tara, thank you for joining 5 Things today.
Tara Thiagarajan:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
PJ Elliott:
So I want to start with this. The onset of the pandemic clearly put a huge mental strain on all of us, but that hasn’t seemed to go away with the ebbing of COVID. I saw the stat from Mental Health America that said nearly 20% of adults are experiencing mental health, which comes to about 50 million Americans. Why are we still so stressed out?
Tara Thiagarajan:
One of the things that we’ve seen, where we’re struggling the most, is in a dimension of mental health that we call the social self, which is how we see ourselves and how we relate to others. Obviously, this became a much greater challenge during the pandemic, but it was something that was already present prior to the pandemic, and I think the lockdowns and all of this simply amplified that challenge.
And from our data, what we see is that lack of in-person social interaction is actually a really outsized predictor of your mental health status, far more than exercise, or sleep, or any of the other things that we really think are big challenges with mental health. So, I think one of the things we haven’t appreciated fully is how much our social interaction and being part of a social fabric are really fundamental to human wellbeing.
PJ Elliott:
Social media obviously gets blamed a lot for some mental health issues, and as the use continues to grow and more of us are spending more hours online each day, many people, especially teens, are reporting feelings of anxiety and depression. Should we be putting our phones down more often?
Tara Thiagarajan:
Absolutely, absolutely. I think if you look at the statistics, we are online, on average different countries, between seven to 10 hours a day. And what that means is, one is what that does and what the social media environment does to us. But besides that, it’s also taking away from so many of the things that are pro-wellbeing, which is getting out and spending time in person with friends and family, exercising, being outdoors, all of the things that we used to do before we became internet addicts. I think if we put the phone down, we’ll have more time for all of those things that will help our wellbeing.
PJ Elliott:
Yeah, it’s scary because every Sunday I get these notifications that show my daily average phone usage and when it shows that it’s 10 plus hours a day, I’m like…
Tara Thiagarajan:
Yeah, it’s scary.
PJ Elliott:
… at some point, you just have to put the phone down and find something else to do.
Tara Thiagarajan:
Yes.
PJ Elliott:
Tara, I have one more question here for you. For those that want to prioritize their mental health in the new year, what else would you recommend?
Tara Thiagarajan:
I think the first thing is, be bold and reach out to people because I think a lot of people sit back and wait for something to come and set things right for them. I think unless we all make that effort to bring people together, rather than waiting for it to happen for us, that everyone will be better for it. I think the other thing that we see as very important in relationships, is those who have stronger friendships, stronger families, tend to be doing much better. And one of the things I see frequently in the culture today is a lot about how to get rid of family, how to get rid of friends, and everybody is toxic and so on. But I think the real challenge is to say how do we work through differences to build stronger relationships? I would say, reach out to someone you’ve had a disagreement with because no two people will agree on everything, and try to find your common ground and resolve your differences, and I think everyone will be better off with that.
PJ Elliott:
Tara, great stuff. Thank you so much for doing this.
Tara Thiagarajan:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning right here, wherever you’re listening right now. I’m back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
