Stick to your daily routine, don’t listen too much to the news, and use commonsense methods to protect yourself from getting sick.

Too much information? Constant swine flu coverage can leave you worried sick.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The United States has swine flu “fever.” Everywhere we turn, there seems to be a report chronicling the latest state or foreign country the virus has infiltrated, or tallying the number of people infected or killed by the new flu strain. All this information is alarming, and there’s no doubt that the situation is serious and must be monitored. But it’s also raising Americans’ anxiety to unhealthy (and unnecessary) levels, which in turn can produce stress-related symptoms in us or trick us into thinking we have swine flu when we really don’t.

THE DETAILS: The shift from reasonable concern to unneeded anxiety can be a slippery slope. “When this flu starts to show up in different places, it’s becoming reality. Where you draw the line between normal anxiety about it and unreasonable or unusual anxiety is a tough call,” says anxiety expert Frank Dattilio, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “It’s a realistic anxiety to have, but when people start to blow it out of proportion, they can misinterpret symptoms that are a result of their anxiety for those of an infection.” For instance, anxiety can make you feel warm, so if you’re in worry mode, you may instantly think you have a fever.

Wednesday’s news of the first confirmed swine flu death in the United States may have stirred up even more fear, by showing that our country is not immune to the swine flu’s most dreaded outcome. (The victim, a 23-month-old Mexican baby, was brought to Texas seeking medical care.) But while U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to add more confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu infection to the tally, it’s important to note that most cases have been mild.

WHAT IT MEANS: True, no one knows exactly how this virus is going to behave, and reports of deaths remind us all that we’re vulnerable. But going into anxiety overload isn’t the answer; it could actually produce stress-related symptoms that could trick you into thinking you have the flu and thus weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to disease.

Here’s how to eliminate unnecessary anxiety while protecting your health: