Cybersecurity is one of the most crucial areas for ensuring a business’s success and longevity. With cyberattacks growing in sophistication, it’s essential for business owners to protect their companies by hiring qualified cybersecurity experts to manage this aspect of their business. The best candidates will have a certification in information security and cybersecurity. This guide breaks down the top certifications and other guidance you’ll need to make the right hire for your company. It’s also a great primer for individuals who are embarking on a cybersecurity career.
When evaluating prospective InfoSec candidates, employers frequently look to certification as an important measure of excellence and commitment to quality. We examined five InfoSec certifications we consider to be leaders in the field of information security today.
This year’s list includes entry-level credentials, such as Security+, as well as more advanced certifications, like Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). According to CyberSeek, more employers are seeking CISA, CISM and CISSP certification holders than there are credential holders, which makes these credentials a welcome addition to any certification portfolio.
Absent from our list of the top five is SANS GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC). Although this certification is still a very worthy credential, the job board numbers for CISA were so solid that it merited a spot in the top five. Farther down in this guide, we offer some additional certification options because the field of information security is both wide and varied.
The CEH (ANSI) certification is an intermediate-level credential offered by the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council). It’s a must-have for IT professionals who are pursuing careers in white hat hacking and certifies their competence in the five phases of ethical hacking: reconnaissance, enumeration, gaining of access, access maintenance and track covering.
CEH credential holders possess skills and knowledge of hacking practices in areas such as footprinting and reconnaissance, network scanning, enumeration, system hacking, Trojans, worms and viruses, sniffers, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering, session hijacking, web server hacking, wireless networks and web applications, SQL injection, cryptography, penetration testing, IDS evasion, firewalls and honeypots. CEH V11 provides a remapping of the course to the NIST/NICE framework’s Protect and Defend (PR) job role category, as well as an additional focus on emerging threats in cloud, OT and IT security, such as fileless malware.
To obtain a CEH (ANSI) certification, candidates must pass one exam. A comprehensive five-day CEH training course is recommended, with the exam presented at the course’s conclusion. Candidates may self-study for the exam but must submit documentation of at least two years of work experience in information security with employer verification. Self-study candidates must also pay an additional $100 application fee. Education may be substituted for experience, but this is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Candidates who complete any EC-Council-approved training (including with the iClass platform, academic institutions or an accredited training center) do not need to submit an application prior to attempting the exam.
Because technology in the field of hacking changes almost daily, CEH credential holders are required to obtain 120 continuing-education credits for each three-year cycle.
Once a candidate obtains the CEH (ANSI) designation, a logical progression on the EC-Council certification ladder is the CEH (Practical) credential. The CEH (Practical) designation targets the application of CEH skills to real-world security audit challenges and related scenarios. To obtain the credential, candidates must pass a rigorous six-hour practical examination. Conducted on live virtual machines, candidates are presented 20 scenarios with questions designed to validate a candidate’s ability to perform tasks such as vulnerability analysis, identification of threat vectors, web app and system hacking, OS detection, network scanning, packet sniffing, steganography and virus identification. Candidates who pass both the CEH (ANSI) and the CEH (Practical) exams earn the CEH (Master) designation.
Certification name | Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) (ANSI) |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses | Training is highly recommended. Without formal training, candidates must have at least two years of information security-related experience and an educational background in information security, pay a nonrefundable eligibility application fee of $100 and submit an exam eligibility form before purchasing an exam voucher. |
Number of exams | One: 312-50 (ECC Exam)/312-50 (VUE) (125 multiple-choice questions, four hours) |
Cost of exam | $950 (ECC exam voucher) Note: An ECC exam voucher allows candidates to test via computer at a location of their choice. Pearson VUE exam vouchers allow candidates to test in a Pearson VUE facility and cost $1,199. |
URL | https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh |
Self-study materials | EC-Council instructor-led courses, computer-based training, online courses and more are available at ECCouncil.org. A CEH skills assessment is also available for credential seekers. Additionally, Udemy offers CEH practice exams. CEH-approved educational materials are available for $850 from EC-Council. |
While EC-Council offers both instructor-led and online training for its CEH certification, IT professionals have plenty of other options for self-study materials, including video training, practice exams and books.
Pluralsight currently offers an ethical-hacking learning path geared toward the 312-50 exam. With a monthly subscription, you get access to all of these courses, plus everything else in Pluralsight’s training library. Through Pluralsight’s learning path, students can prepare for all of the domains covered in the CEH exam.
CyberVista offers a practice exam for the CEH 312-50 certification that includes several sets of exam-like questions, custom quizzes, flash cards and more. An exam prep subscription for 180 days costs $149 and gives candidates access to online study materials, as well as the ability to get the materials for offline study. Backed by its “pass guarantee,” CyberVista is so confident its practice exam will prepare you for the CEH exam that the company will refund its practice test costs if you don’t pass.
FYI: Besides certifications in information security and cybersecurity, the best IT certifications cover areas such as disaster recovery, virtualization and telecommunications.
The CISM certification is a top credential for IT professionals who are responsible for managing, developing and overseeing information security systems in enterprise-level applications or for developing organizational security best practices. The CISM credential was introduced to security professionals in 2003 by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).
ISACA’s organizational goals are specifically geared toward IT professionals who are interested in the highest-quality standards with respect to the auditing, control and security of information systems. The CISM credential targets the needs of IT security professionals with enterprise-level security management responsibilities. Credential holders possess advanced and proven skills in security risk management, program development and management, governance, and incident management and response.
Holders of the CISM credential, which is designed for experienced security professionals, must agree to ISACA’s code of ethics, pass a comprehensive examination, possess at least five years of experience in information security management, comply with the organization’s continuing education policy and submit a written application. Some combinations of education and experience may be substituted for the full experience requirement.
The CISM credential is valid for three years, and credential holders must pay an annual maintenance fee of $45 (ISACA members) or $85 (nonmembers). Credential holders are also required to obtain a minimum of 120 continuing professional education (CPE) credits over the three-year term to maintain the credential. At least 20 CPE credits must be earned every year.
Certification name |
Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
To obtain the CISM credential, candidates must do the following:
|
Number of exams |
One: 150 questions, four hours |
Cost of exam |
Exam fees: $575 (members), $760 (nonmembers) Exam fees are nontransferable and nonrefundable. |
URL |
https://www.isaca.org/credentialing/cism |
Self-study materials |
Training and study materials in various languages, information on job practice areas, primary references, publications, articles, the ISACA Journal, review courses, an exam prep community, terminology lists, a glossary and more are available at ISACA.org. Additionally, Udemy offers comprehensive training for the certification exam. |
In addition to CISM, ISACA offers numerous certifications for those interested in information security and best practices. Other credentials worth considering include the following:
The CISA designation was created for professionals working with information systems auditing, control or security and is popular enough with employers to earn it a place on the leaderboard. The CGEIT credential targets IT professionals working in enterprise IT management, governance, strategic alignment, value delivery, and risk and resource performance management. IT professionals who are seeking careers in all aspects of risk management will find that the CRISC credential nicely meets their needs.
Pluralsight offers a CISM learning path containing five courses and 17 hours of instruction. The courses cover the domains addressed in the exam, but the learning path is aimed at the CISM job practice areas.
CyberVista offers a CISM online training course in both live and on-demand formats. The course includes more than 16 hours of training videos, supplementary lessons, custom quizzes, practice exam questions and access to experts through the instructor. As with other CyberVista courses, the CISM training course comes with a “pass guarantee.”
Did you know?: According to CyberSeek, there are enough workers to fill only 68% of the cybersecurity job openings in the U.S. A cybersecurity certification is an important way to demonstrate the knowledge and ability to succeed in these job roles.
CompTIA’s Security+ is a well-respected, vendor-neutral security certification. Security+ credential holders are recognized as possessing superior technical skills, broad knowledge and expertise in multiple security-related disciplines.
Although Security+ is an entry-level certification, the ideal candidates possess at least two years of experience working in network security and should consider first obtaining the Network+ certification. IT pros who obtain this certification have expertise in areas such as threat management, cryptography, identity management, security systems, security risk identification and mitigation, network access control, and security infrastructure. The CompTIA Security+ credential is approved by the U.S. Department of Defense to meet Directive 8140/8570.01-M requirements. In addition, the Security+ credential complies with the standards for ISO 17024.
The Security+ credential requires a single exam, currently priced at $381. (Discounts may apply to employees of CompTIA member companies and full-time students.) Training is available but not required.
IT professionals who earned the Security+ certification prior to Jan. 1, 2011, remain certified for life. Those who certify after that date must renew the certification every three years to stay current. To renew, candidates must obtain 50 continuing-education units (CEUs) or complete the CertMaster CE online course prior to the expiration of the three-year period. CEUs can be obtained by engaging in activities such as teaching, blogging, publishing articles or whitepapers, and participating in professional conferences and similar activities.
Certification name |
CompTIA Security+ |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
None. CompTIA recommends at least two years of experience in IT administration (with a security focus) and the Network+ credential before the Security+ exam. Udemy offers a complete and comprehensive course for the certification. |
Number of exams |
One: SY0-601 (maximum of 90 questions, 90 minutes to complete; 750 on a scale of 100-900 required to pass) |
Cost of exam |
$381 (discounts may apply; search for “SY0-601 voucher”) |
URL |
https://certification.comptia.org/certifications/security |
Self-study materials |
Exam objectives, sample questions, the CertMaster online training tool, training kits, computer-based training and a comprehensive study guide are available at CompTIA.org. |
You’ll find several companies offering online training, instructor-led and self-study courses, practice exams and books to help you prepare for and pass the Security+ exam.
Pluralsight offers a Security+ learning path as a part of its monthly subscription plan for the latest SY0-601 exam. Split into six sections, the training series is more than 24 hours long and covers attacks, threats and vulnerabilities; architecture and design; implementation of secure solutions; operations and incident response; and governance, risk and compliance.
CyberVista offers a Security+ practice exam so you can test your security knowledge before attempting the SY0-601 exam. The test comes with a 180-day access period and includes multiple sets of exam questions, key concept flash cards, access to InstructorLink experts, a performance tracker and more. As with CyberVista’s other offerings, this practice exam comes with a “pass guarantee.”
CISSP is an advanced-level certification for IT pros who are serious about careers in information security. Offered by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, known as (ISC)2 (pronounced “ISC squared”), this vendor-neutral credential is recognized worldwide for its standards of excellence.
CISSP credential holders are decision-makers who possess the expert knowledge and technical skills necessary to develop, guide and manage security standards, policies and procedures within their organizations. The CISSP certification continues to be highly sought after by IT professionals and is well recognized by IT organizations. It is a regular fixture on most-wanted and must-have security certification surveys.
CISSP is designed for experienced security professionals. A minimum of five years of experience in at least two of (ISC)2’s eight common body of knowledge (CBK) domains, or four years of experience in at least two of (ISC)2’s CBK domains and a college degree or an approved credential, is required for this certification. The CBK domains are security and risk management, asset security, security architecture and engineering, communications and network security, identity and access management, security assessment and testing, security operations, and software development security.
(ISC)2 also offers three CISSP concentrations targeting specific areas of interest in IT security:
Each CISSP concentration exam is $599, and credential seekers must currently possess a valid CISSP.
An annual fee of $125 is required to maintain the CISSP credential. Recertification is required every three years. To recertify, candidates must earn 40 CPE credits each year, for a total of 120 CPE credits within the three-year cycle.
Certification name |
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Optional CISSP concentrations:
|
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
At least five years of paid, full-time experience in at least two of the eight (ISC)2 domains or four years of paid, full-time experience in at least two of the eight (ISC)2 domains and a college degree or an approved credential are required. Candidates must also do the following:
|
Number of exams |
One for CISSP (English CAT exam: 100-150 questions, three hours to complete; non-English exam: 250 questions, six hours) One for each concentration area |
Cost of exam |
CISSP is $749; each CISSP concentration is $599. |
URL |
https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CISSP |
Self-study materials |
Training materials include instructor-led, live online, on-demand and private training. There is an exam outline available for review, as well as study guides, a study app, interactive flash cards and practice tests. |
Given the popularity of the CISSP certification, there is no shortage of available training options. These include classroom-based training offered by (ISC)2, as well as online video courses, practice exams and books from third-party companies.
Pluralsight’s CISSP learning path includes 12 courses and 25 hours of e-learning covering the security concepts required for the certification exam. Available for a low monthly fee, the CISSP courses are part of a subscription plan that gives IT professionals access to Pluralsight’s complete library of video training courses.
When you’re ready to test your security knowledge, you can take a simulated exam that mimics the format and content of the real CISSP exam. Udemy offers CISSP practice tests to help you prepare for this challenging exam.
ISACA’s globally recognized CISA certification is the gold standard for IT workers seeking to practice in information security, audit control and assurance. Ideal candidates can identify and assess organizational threats and vulnerabilities, assess compliance, and provide guidance and organizational security controls. CISA-certified professionals demonstrate knowledge and skill across the CISA job practice areas of auditing, governance and management, acquisition, development and implementation, maintenance and service management, and asset protection.
To earn the CISA certification, candidates must pass one exam, submit an application, agree to the code of professional ethics, agree to the CPE requirements and agree to the organization’s information systems auditing standards. In addition, candidates must possess at least five years of experience working with information systems. Some substitutions for education and experience with auditing are permitted.
To maintain the CISA certification, candidates must earn 120 CPE credits over a three-year period, with a minimum of 20 CPE credits earned annually. Candidates must also pay an annual maintenance fee ($45 for members; $85 for nonmembers).
Certification name |
Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
To obtain the CISA credential, candidates must do the following:
|
Number of exams |
One: 150 questions, four hours |
Cost of exam |
$575 (members); $760 (nonmembers) |
URL |
|
Self-study materials |
ISACA offers a variety of training options, including virtual instructor-led courses, online and on-demand training, review manuals and question databases. Numerous books and self-study materials are also available on Amazon. |
Training opportunities for the CISA certification are plentiful. Udemy offers more than 160 CISA-related courses, lectures, practice exams, question sets and more. On Pluralsight, you’ll find 12 courses with 27 hours of information systems auditor training covering all CISA job practice domains for the CISA job practice areas.
In addition to these must-have credentials, many other certifications are available to fit the career needs of any IT professional interested in information security. Business owners should consider employing workers with these credentials as well.
Also, consider these five entry-level cybersecurity certifications for more options.
Tip: Before you decide to purchase training for a certification or an exam voucher, see if your employer will cover the cost. Employers may cover all or part of the cost if you have a continuing education or training allowance, or if the certification is in line with your current or potential job duties.
According to CyberSeek, the number of cybersecurity job openings in the U.S. stands at almost 598,000, with about 1.05 million cybersecurity professionals employed in today’s workforce. Projections continue to be robust: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 33% growth in information security analyst positions between 2020 and 2030; in comparison, the average rate of growth for all occupations is about 8%.
Security-related job roles include information security specialist, security analyst, network security administrator, system administrator (with security as a responsibility) and security engineer, as well as specialized roles, like malware engineer, intrusion analyst and penetration tester.
Average salaries for information security certified and security engineers – two of the most common job roles – vary depending on the source. For example, SimplyHired reports about $74,000 for specialist positions, whereas Glassdoor‘s national average is about $108,000. For security engineers, SimplyHired reports almost $112,000, while Glassdoor’s average is more than $111,000, with salaries on the high end reported at $261,000. Note that these numbers frequently change as the sources regularly update their data. [Meet the man who kept Microsoft safe and secure for more than a decade.]
Our informal job board survey from April 2022 reports the number of job posts nationwide in which our featured certifications were mentioned on a given day. This should deliver you an idea of the relative popularity of each certification.
Certification |
SimplyHired |
Indeed |
LinkedIn Jobs |
TechCareers |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CEH (EC-Council) |
1,989 |
3,907 |
7,952 |
2,829 |
16,677 |
CISA (ISACA) |
5,389 |
12,507 |
20,573 |
4,701 |
43,170 |
CISM (ISACA) |
3,467 |
6,656 |
14,503 |
4,072 |
28,698 |
CISSP [(ISC)2] |
11,472 |
23,463 |
34,716 |
11,060 |
80,711 |
Security+ (CompTIA) |
5,953 |
6,680 |
5,998 |
1,851 |
20,482 |
Did you know?: Cybersecurity matters even when you’re traveling. Find out how to keep your computer secure when you’re on the road for business or pleasure.
According to Risk Based Security‘s 2021 Year End Data Breach Quickview Report, there were 4,145 publicly disclosed breaches throughout 2021, containing over 22 billion records. This is the second-highest number of breached records, after an all-time high the year before. The U.S. was particularly affected, with the number of breaches increasing 10% compared with the previous year. More than 80% of the records exposed throughout 2021 were due to human error, highlighting an ever-increasing need for cybersecurity education, as well as for highly skilled and trained cybersecurity professionals. [Learn how to recover from a data breach.]
If you’re serious about advancing your career in the IT field and are interested in specializing in security, certification is a great choice. It’s an effective way to validate your skills and show a current or prospective employer that you’re qualified and properly trained. If you’re a business owner, hiring certified professionals and skilled IT managers can help prevent cyberattacks and provide confidence that your company’s security is in the right hands. In the meantime, review our quick cybersecurity tips to Strengthen your company’s protection.
Jeremy Bender contributed to the writing and research in this article.
Before November, election officials prepared for the possibility that Republicans who embraced former President Donald Trump's lies about voter fraud would challenge the verdict of voters by refusing to certify the midterm results.
Three weeks after the end of voting, such challenges are playing out in just two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Democrats won the marquee races for governor and Senate.
Legal experts predict the bids are doomed because local governmental agencies typically don't have the option to vote against certifying the results of their elections. But experts also say the delays are a signal that the United States must brace itself for similar disruptions in the next presidential contest.
“It is one of the few places where election deniers have a lever of power,” Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said of the local political authorities responsible for certifying election results in most states. “It’s a good test run for 2024, showing state courts they’re going to have to step in.”
For now, the certification delay in a smattering of rural counties in just two states reflects the limited ability of election conspiracy theorists to disrupt the midterms. One rural Arizona county has drawn court challenges after its refusal to certify, but a second one that was flirting with blocking certification backed off amid legal threats.
In Pennsylvania, a handful of the state's 67 counties have delayed certification because of recounts demanded by local conspiracy theorists in scattered precincts. But in most states, certification has gone smoothly.
“Before Election Day, I thought Republicans would exploit the certification process to undermine election results,” said Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who has sued to compel the lone Arizona county to certify.
That there's only one county delaying so far in that important battleground state, where Republican candidates who denied Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential race ran unsuccessfully for governor and secretary of state, is “good news, and a bit of a surprise,” Elias said.
In Wisconsin, where Trump pressured Republican lawmakers to decertify the 2020 results, the chair of the state elections commission certified the results of the midterm election during a quick meeting Wednesday without fanfare. Minnesota, where the failed Republican secretary of state candidate had cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, the state canvassing board certified this year's results without drama on Tuesday.
The smooth outcome in most of the country is a reflection of the diminished opportunities election conspiracy theorists have to control elections after a number of their candidates were routed in statewide elections for positions overseeing voting. They're largely left with a footprint in conservative, rural counties. Still, that's enough to cause headaches for having the election results certified on a statewide basis, raising concerns about how rural counties might respond after the next presidential election.
The movement that embraces Trump's lies about voting hoped it would have many more levers after November. Candidates who backed Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election ran for top posts with power over state voting — including secretary of state, which in most states is the top election position — in five of the six swing states that were key to Trump's 2020 loss. They lost every race in each of those states.
Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs defeated Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake in the race for Arizona governor, flipping it out of the GOP category, and a Democrat also won the race to replace Hobbs. A Democrat defeated an election conspiracy theorist running for Nevada secretary of state, shifting another swing-state election office from the GOP.
On the local level, the picture is blurrier.
There are more than 10,000 local election offices in the country that follow guidelines set by secretaries of state or other agencies that their states designate as the top election authorities. That's where conspiracy theorists won at least some new offices and still have the power to disrupt proceedings.
During the June primary in New Mexico, rural Otero County refused to certify the results of its election, preventing the state from making the winners official until the state Supreme Court ordered it to act. That set a template that election lawyers feared would be vastly replicated in the weeks after the midterms. But this time, even Otero County certified its winners without a delay. New Mexico's canvass board certified the statewide results Wednesday.
In Michigan, where a GOP slate of election conspiracy theorists was defeated in statewide races, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, Kristina Karamo, implored the state's bipartisan board of canvassers not to certify the election during a hearing this week. Karamo insisted there had been widespread fraud, even though she lost her race against Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson by more than 13 percentage points.
Tony Daunt, the Republican chair of the certification board, responded by blasting candidates who “feed into this nonsense” by making “claims that fire everybody up because it’s a short-term gain for them, and that’s dangerous to our system.” The board unanimously certified the election.
In Pennsylvania, the most prominent certification hiccup has come in Luzerne County, north of Philadelphia, which voted for Trump by 14 percentage points in 2020. County commissioners delayed certifying the election on Monday after one Democrat abstained from voting following an Election Day fiasco in which the election office ran out of ballots.
The Democrat, Daniel Schramm, joined the two other Democratic commissioners on the five-member board Wednesday to certify the vote after telling reporters he was confident no citizen was unable to vote. Certification is being delayed in a few other counties after local Republican committees and voters requested recounts.
In Arizona, the two Republicans on Cochise County's three-member county commission blew past Monday's certification deadline, saying they needed more information on the certification of vote tabulators, even though there have been no problems with voting or ballot counting in their county.
The secretary of state's office has sued, saying that it must certify the state's elections by Dec. 8.
“The only legal effect this has is to disenfranchise all their voters,” said David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation.
The efforts to delay certification are dangerous even if they're doomed to fail, Becker and others said. They continue to sow discontent and distrust of voting and democracy.
David Levine, a former election official who is a fellow with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, noted that conspiracy theories about elections have reached such a fever pitch in Arizona that Bill Gates, the Republican chair of the county commission in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. has been given additional security by the local sheriff.
“When you deliver legitimacy to baseless accusations about the election process, there is a concern that more of that will occur," Levine said.
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, certified its election results on Monday, after dozens of attendees demanded the board not do it. Some complained about printer malfunctions in the county, the state's most populous, that led to confusion and long lines on Election Day — even though Maricopa officials said everyone had a chance to vote and that all legal ballots were counted.
In other counties, activists also spoke out against certification, though unsuccessfully. In Yavapai County, north of Phoenix, a woman who gave her name as Nancy Littlefield, wearing a hoodie patterned on the American flag, made clear that part of her objections were because she simply didn't like the outcome of the election.
She urged Yavapai board members not to certify the vote because “I moved from California so I could be free and live my life and have my voice heard.”
___
Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Jonathan J. Cooper and Anita Snow in Phoenix; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat, or somewhere in between; we can probably all agree that the current political climate is doing a number on us. From behavior by a former contentious president to an administration that's struggling to do the best it can but not always pleasing the people who voted for it, the last several years have been strange and stressful, to say the least. In fact, a 32-question survey found that politics is actually making people sick — physically and psychologically.
The 2020 survey, conducted by author Kevin Smith, Ph.D., was the second survey he had conducted on the topic. In 2017, he conducted the same survey and wanted to see if, in 2020, things had changed — they didn't. What he found was that 25% of Americans had seriously considered moving because of the politics in the U.S., and 40% could point their finger directly at politics as the source of the major stress in their life, citing politics as the reason for their lack of sleep, anger, compulsive behavior, and difficulties in not acting out on those angry feelings.
"The fact that so many people are pointing at politics as a chronic source of stress and as exacting a negative toll on their psychological health suggests that politics certainly isn't supporting mental health and is likely detracting from it," Dr. Smith tells Very Well Mind.
But while we can't change the political climate, we can change how we allow it to affect us. Here's how to keep your mental health in check, as the political world feels like it's spinning out of control.
When it comes to supporting your mental health, it's always good to start with your body. If your body isn't in tip-top shape, meaning you're not getting the necessary vitamins and hydrating, you can't expect your mind to be strong enough to stand up against stress.
"We tend to separate our brain from the rest of our body, but good health means good health from a holistic perspective — from head to toe," board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Gabriela Cora tells Aetna. "Why wouldn't we think eating well would also impact our mental health?"
As the link between what we eat and how it affects our moods and feelings has become more of a discussion, a field of study called nutritional psychiatry has emerged. Nutritional psychiatry focuses on how essential it is to eat right and how food impacts one's mental state — not just those who are diagnosed with things like depression, but everyone. This means eating foods that nourish the brain instead of harming it. Foods that nourish are antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Sugar, for example, is a food that harms the brain, so that's something to decrease or, if you can, eliminate altogether — it can actually cause the brain to shrink.
Too much of anything is bad, even if it feels good in the moment. While you may be enjoying all your intake of news while it's happening because, honestly, it's like watching a car wreck you can't take your eyes off of, too much of it is going to mess you up.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, there are ways to stay informed but not overdose on too much news. One technique is asking yourself if the news is helpful or not. If you're constantly glued to negativity, that's not helpful for anyone. Between the world pandemic and politics, to say we're living in unprecedented times feels like an understatement. So, choose what you can take in and handle carefully. Also, stick to reliable news sources and limit your social media time. Social media has already been proven to cause depression in adults, so there's no sense in just piling it on with posts from other people that are politically charged.
It's natural to feel powerless when it feels like the world is going crazy, so you can help your mental health by speaking up and getting involved. A good place to start is looking at organizations that are meaningful to you in your community and advocating for change on a local level. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, being part of a community and doing hands-on work when it comes to productive change can help people feel accepted and supported. Feeling like you belong to someplace outside of yourself and your usual surroundings is fulfilling through and through — it certainly gives you a purpose and a way to feel like you have control over at least something in your life.
A study published in April 2021 found that being part of a community atmosphere, especially during a crisis like Covid-19, does so much for mental health. The study cited that a "shared identity" and "solidarity" leads to people feeling emotionally and mentally supported. If the political climate feels like a crisis, then get involved in something important to you.
According to the World Health Organization, just 30 minutes of physical activity every day is directly linked to positively supporting mental health. That can mean running, working out, gardening, yoga, or just going for a stroll to clear your head. Just do something you love to do that involves moving your body and devote a half hour to it.
Not only does exercise help with your mental health, but research has found that it also helps you sleep better at night — and since the 2020 survey had so many people blaming politics for not getting enough shut-eye, exercising can help with that as well. It's also a healthy alternative to sleeping aids, which can be addictive, to get your recommended seven to nine hours a night of sleep. Getting up, feeling refreshed, and ready to start your day won't only set the mood for the day but can even set the mood for the week.
Sometimes there's only so much we can do on our own. It's then that we need to reach out to a professional for therapy sessions or, perhaps, even medication too. If there was anything to come out of the early days of Covid-19, when no one was sure what was going to happen in the world, it was that people were getting professional mental help and it was making a big difference in so many lives. Even those who had never thought they would need therapy were setting up online sessions.
"I think everybody was just in a state of disbelief that this was coming on so quickly and dramatically," psychologist Dr. Mary Alvord tells CNBC. "That first rush was anxiety in terms of daily uncertainty of not know what was going to happen [regarding] the pandemic. And I think that it turned to a lot of sadness."
The American Psychological Association confirmed that therapists were in such high demand — and continue to be so — that some have waiting lists. There's something to be said for those who finally admit to themselves they need professional help to guide them. If you find that you can't navigate the political climate on your own and its toll has pretty much leveled you, then find a therapist near you.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
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Before November, election officials prepared for the possibility that Republicans who embraced former President Donald Trump's lies about voter fraud would challenge the verdict of voters by refusing to certify the results.
Three weeks after the end of voting, such challenges are playing out in just two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Democrats won the marquee races for governor and U.S. Senate.
Legal experts predict the bids are doomed because local governmental bodies typically don't have the option to vote against certifying the results of their elections. It also reflects the limited ability of election conspiracy theorists to disrupt the midterms. One rural Arizona county has drawn court challenges after its refusal to certify, but another flirting with blocking certification backed off amid legal threats.
In Pennsylvania, a handful of the state's 67 counties have delayed certification because of recounts demanded by local conspiracy theorists in scattered precincts. But in most states, certification has gone smoothly.
“Before Election Day, I thought Republicans would exploit the certification process to undermine election results,” said Marc Elias, a Democratic attorney who has sued to compel the lone Arizona county to certify.
That there's only one county delaying so far in that important battleground state, where Republican candidates who denied Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential race ran unsuccessfully for governor and secretary of state, is “good news, and a bit of a surprise,” Elias said.
The outcome is a reflection of the diminished opportunities election conspiracy theorists have to control elections after a number of their candidates were routed in statewide elections for positions overseeing voting. They're largely left with a growing footprint in conservative, rural counties. Still, that's enough to cause headaches for having the election results certified on a statewide basis, raising concerns about how rural counties might respond after the next presidential election.
“It is one of the few places where election deniers have a lever of power,” Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said of the local political bodies charged with certifying election results in most states. “It's a good test run for 2024, showing state courts they're going to have to step in.”
The movement that embraces Trump's lies about voting hoped it would have many more levers after November. Candidates who backed Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election ran for top posts with power over state voting — including secretary of state, which in most states is the top election position — in five of the six swing states that were key to Trump's 2020 loss. They lost every race in each of those states.
In 2020, Trump tried unsuccessfully to get Republican governors and secretaries of state to overrule their own voters and declare him the winner of some of the states won by Biden. With 2024 on the horizon, Trump now has fewer officials in his party to pressure if he becomes the nominee.
A Democrat, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, defeated Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake in the race for Arizona governor, flipping it out of the GOP category, and a Democrat also won the race to replace Hobbs. A Democrat defeated an election conspiracy theorist running for Nevada secretary of state, shifting another swing-state election office from the GOP.
On the local level, the picture is blurrier. There are more than 10,000 local election offices in the country that follow guidelines set by secretaries of state or other agencies that their states designate as the top election authorities. That's where conspiracy theorists won at least some new offices and still have the power to disrupt proceedings.
During the June primary in New Mexico, rural Otero County refused to certify the results of its election, preventing the state from making the winners official until the state Supreme Court ordered it to act. That set a template that election lawyers feared would be vastly replicated in the weeks after the midterms. But this time even Otero certified its winners without complaint.
In Michigan, where a GOP slate of election conspiracy theorists was defeated in statewide races, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, Kristina Karamo, implored the state's bipartisan board of canvassers not to certify the election during a hearing earlier this week. Karamo insisted there had been widespread fraud, even though she lost her race against Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson by more than 13 percentage points.
Tony Daunt, the Republican chair of the certification board, responded by blasting candidates who “feed into this nonsense” by making “claims that fire everybody up because it’s a short-term gain for them, and that’s dangerous to our system.” The board unanimously certified the election.
In Pennsylvania, the most prominent certification hiccup has come in Luzerne County, north of Philadelphia, which voted for Trump by 14 percentage points in 2020. County commissioners delayed certifying the election on Monday after one Democrat abstained from voting following an Election Day fiasco in which the election office ran out of ballots.
But the Democrat, Daniel Schramm, later told reporters he would vote to certify on Wednesday, after having time to confirm that the foul-up didn't disenfranchise any voters. Certification is being delayed in a few other counties after local Republican committees and voters requested recounts.
In Arizona, the two Republicans on Cochise County's three-member county commission blew past Monday's certification deadline, saying they needed more information on the certification of vote tabulators, even though there have been no problems with voting or ballot counting in their county.
The secretary of state's office has sued, saying that it must certify the state's elections by Dec. 8. If Cochise, which voted for Trump in 2020 by nearly 20 percentage points, declines to include its conservative electorate in the total and a court doesn't force it to, that would change the tally in one of the state's congressional seats from being narrowly won by a Republican to narrowly being taken by a Democrat.
“The only legal effect this has is to disenfranchise all their voters,” said David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation.
The efforts to delay certification are dangerous even if they're doomed to fail, Becker and others said. They continue to sow discontent and distrust of voting and democracy.
David Levine, a former election official who is a fellow with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, noted that conspiracy theories about elections have reached such a fever pitch in Arizona that Bill Gates, the Republican chair of the county commission in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. has been given additional security by the local sheriff.
“When you deliver legitimacy to baseless accusations about the election process, there is a concern that more of that will occur," Levine said.
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, certified its election results on Monday, after dozens of attendees demanded the board not do it. Some complained about printer malfunctions in the county, the state's most populous, that led to confusion and long lines on Election Day — even though Maricopa officials said everyone had a chance to vote and that all legal ballots were counted.
In other counties, activists also spoke out against certification, though unsuccessfully. In Yavapai County, north of Phoenix, a woman who gave her name as Nancy Littlefield, wearing a hoodie patterned on the American flag, made clear that part of her objections were because she simply didn't like the outcome of the election.
She urged Yavapai board members not to certify the vote because “I moved from California so I could be free and live my life and have my voice heard.”
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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Jonathan J. Cooper and Anita Snow in Phoenix; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.