It appears that “fake news” isn’t restricted to the political realm. In a New York Times Op-Ed essay , cardiologist Haider Warraich discusses the alarmingly high amounts of false medical information on the internet. He describes how this deceptive material (which stands out through eye-catching titles and dramatic claims) emphasizes the often very small potential risks of evidence-based medicine, dissuading individuals from taking needed medications and receiving vaccines. Patients will continue to search for health information on the internet as doing so is rapid, cheap, and anonymous. But how do we ensure that they are presented with accurate material? Haider writes: "While misinformation has been the object of great attention in politics, medical misinformation might have an even greater body count. As is true with fake news in general, medical lies tend to spread further than truths on the internet — and they have very real repercussions."

This recently posted article in The Sun discusses the role of our dear friend “Dr. Google” in fueling hypochondria. Some of the Google statistics used give us an idea of how more and more people are using the internet to obtain health information - it claims that the search volume for the term "how to know chest pains are serious" has risen 8,781 percent in the past 3 years (it would be nice to see the data here, as this seems like quite a steep increase). What might be some of the reasons for increased health-related searching online? One obvious reason seems to be that more and more people are using the internet as a way of getting all kinds of information. It’s inevitable that as there are more internet users, there will be more health-related searches. It seems that the total number of world internet users will keep increasing throughout the near future, so we can expect there to be more and more searches regarding health information. An interesting reason that the author of this article brings up is that people aren’t seen by their doctors quickly enough, leading them to search for information on their own. Is a shortage of physicians fueling cyberchondria? What might be some other reasons why more people are using the internet to search for health information?

A health anxiety story that was emailed in: "As a Cyberchondria-stricken individual, one of things that I find most comforting is living in close proximity to medical professionals that I know and trust. That hasn't been the case for me lately: I have been spending this summer in a foreign country, often spending time in places in which there is no quality medical care for many miles. You'd think that under these conditions, my health fears might be elevated. "What if something bad happens and nobody is here to help?" Amazingly, although I'd be lying if I said such fears haven't briefly crossed my mind a few times, I've found my health anxiety to be less of a problem here than it is back at home. Although I’d be lying if I claimed that health fears don’t cross my mind here and there, there has been no point in these past few months in which these have consumed my thinking. Why might be the reason for this decrease in anxiety? Each day, my mind is processing a seemingly endless amount of new sights and ideas. I genuinely believe that the decrease in health anxiety is a result of me experiencing all these new things: my mind simply doesn't have the time to dwell on health fears. Although distracting your mind from health fears like so isn’t a long-term solution for Cyberchondria, it may be helpful during anxious episodes; in times in which your health fears run particularly high, it may be a good idea to find something other than “Dr. Google” to engage your mind. Obviously this doesn't have to mean traveling to a different part of the world: this could mean meeting up with friends, playing music, or participating in some other activity that keeps your mind busy."