To Reduce the Stress of School Students Should Take Time for Self Care

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Students are often left overwhelmed by stress and in need of ways to cope.

In high school, students are under pressure to receive good grades, and perform well on tests and exams. This is especially important for students who desire to get into prestigious and competitive universities. With all this stress, students can struggle to cope with such pressures.

Huffington Post recently published an article, “Academic Pressure: 5 Tips From An Expert On Coping With School Stress”, with advice from Susan Stiffelman, a psychotherapist, to help students cope with stress. She says students should take time for self-care, learn to change their thinking, take assignments one baby step at a time, lower goals, and stay balanced by not pushing themselves too hard.

According to an Associated Press/MTV survey, school was the most frequently-mentioned source of stress for 13 to 17-year-olds.  

Elizabeth Wahmhoff, an Arrowhead senior who is in AP classes says, “ When I’m stressed, I don’t do my homework and then I go to bed because I think my health is more important and then do my homework during lunch. I cope unhealthily by eating chocolate usually. My parents don’t have unhealthy food though so I have to go find it. I also will try to destress by watching television shows. I don’t think people should follow my methods of decreasing stress, and I don’t think it will work for other people.”

However, Huffington Post also says, it is important to focus on getting enough sleep. They say that doing creative activities also help ease stress.

Ellie Reinhart, a senior at Arrowhead High School, who is in AP classes and works at a chemistry lab after school says, “I pour myself into making sure I complete my work and get it all done so that I can get all that is stressing me over with and not have anything to worry about; however, this is very hard to do a lot of the time. I also write a lot of lists and organize what I need to complete which always helps.”

Stiffleton also says that dwelling on stress and the work that needs to be done needs to be changed. Real facts should be kept in mind, instead of worst case scenarios. She also says chunking work down into manageable pieces is helpful.

A study at NYU was done and according the nyu.edu, the findings say, “Many subgroups of youth experience high levels of chronic stress, to the extent it impedes their abilities to succeed academically, compromises their mental health functioning, and fosters risk behavior. Furthermore, this chronic stress appears to persist into the college years, and researchers warns it may contribute to academic disengagement and mental health problems among emerging adults.” The study also reported, “Nearly half (49%) of all students reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis and 31 percent reported feeling somewhat stressed. Females reported significantly higher levels of stress than males (60% vs. 41%). Grades, homework, and preparing for college were the greatest sources of stress for both genders. A substantial minority, 26 percent of participants, reported symptoms of depression at a clinically significant level.”

And without proper management, such significant rates can lead to illegal habits. “Over the thirty-day period preceding the survey, 38 percent of students reported getting drunk and 34 percent of students reported getting high on an illegal substance, rates one to two times greater than reported in national normative samples,” says Dr. Charles Cleland, a study investigator for NYU.

Alexa Holland, an Arrowhead seniors says, “Overall, students at Arrowhead and other high schools are under a lot of stress, and I think it’s really important for everyone to have their own healthy ways of coping.”