Across the states, advances in education and the pressure to succeed is beginning to affect the lives of students. In the competitive society called the “real world”, teenagers and young adults are experiencing abnormally high levels of stress, more today than of previous years.
According to USA today, teens experiencing the high-stress levels of an adult are “setting themselves up for a future of chronic stress and chronic illness.” So how do students manage the school curriculum, their lives, and activities without damaging their health?
Make a Schedule
On average, a high school student spends around seven hours of the day in a classroom, leaving the remainder of the day to take care of their necessities. Fifty-nine percent of teens manage their time by balancing and organizing the time for all the activities they have, relieving the stress from school and/or work. To make sure that time doesn’t pass by to fast when active, making a schedule and dedicating a set amount of time to all that has to be done will relieve the stress from your shoulders.
Run. Just Run.
More teenagers, not only face difficulties and high expectations from school work, spend plenty of time stressing over the next quiz or test without seeing the light of day. Exercising would not only benefit the body but the mind. About thirty-seven percent of teens exercise to manage with their stress when there’s a lot on the mind. It allows for a distraction from what’s on your mind and improves your health at the same time.
Goodnights Sleep
The normal amount of hours a person sleeps is around eight hours a night. Teenagers are pulling all-nighters to finish their homework and barely getting over four to five hours a night. “You have to give your organism the means to cope with stress, and that includes…sleep,” said Susan Stiffelman, author of Parenting Without Power Struggles. If there is plenty of work to be done, try taking naps during the day (which doesn’t mean napping during class) to make up for lost time. Resting the mind can relieve pressure and stress and re-energize the body to take on the task ahead.
Don’t Compete with Your Limits
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, about a third of students experienced a lot of stress from something school-related. It is a positive idea to strive for better, but remember that everyone is human and has a limit. Set goals that are reasonable and satisfying for yourself, both academically and mentally; don’t attempt to compete with your classmates to have the highest GPA if you’re aware of the stress it would cause and the problem that would affect your health.
