Manage your time and you’ll be fine! Stress affects everyone, with college applications, Advanced Placement classes, and the pressure of just being a teenager.
Stress can start out as just having a heavy workload. Junior Annica Penn said, “I just stress about the endless amounts of homework.”
Homework is one of the biggest stressers for students in AP and Honors classes, but there are many other things teenagers stress about as well.
Teenagers stress about clothing and hairstyles(girls in particular), academic pressure, peer pressure, “fitting in,” and also taking on too many activities at one time.
Senior Gina Arfi said, “I have dance 2-5 hours every day, I’m applying to colleges, and I have school work. It’s a lot.”
Seniors are a more stressed lately with their college applications because as Gina said, “You have to get complete strangers to know who you are and sound intelligent at the same time.”
Some seniors already know where they are going to college, which minimizes some stress, but for others the race is on to be the best.
Many teenagers also play a sport, are involved in clubs, are taking many APs, work on the weekends, and also have a social life.
WHB school nurse Mrs. Andarakis said, “Teenagers sometimes get too involved, but most tend to limit themselves because they are the type of kids to work hard.”
Sometimes the stress can be so overwhelming that students go into “stress overload,” which is when a teen is taking on too many activities at one time and can’t handle it all, most of the time it ends in a breakdown.
Stress overload is not just about having a lot of work, it also has physical and emotional symptoms. Mrs. Andarakis said, “I see students come in with headaches when they are stressed.”
Other symptoms besides headaches can include withdrawal from other people, difficulty sleeping, eating, and concentrating, irritability, and tearfulness.
Gina Arfi said, “Last year I took three AP classes with hours of dance every day; I couldn’t handle it all.”
There are ways to handle what seems like and endless amount of stress. A student needs to find his or her own schedule to manage the massive amount of homework.
“If homework was given to you over a long period of time, spread it out, doing a little each day,” Annica Penn suggested.
Helpful tips to avoid stressing is to set small goals, breaking tasks into manageable chunks, and accepting that you can’t do everything. Limit to yourself to one club and one sport.
Mrs. Andarakis said, “Get more sleep, eat breakfast, exercise, and do your homework so that you can limit yourself.”
Even though you may be completely overwhelmed, always find time for yourself. “Even if you think you don’t have enough time, you need to chill out. You don’t want to have an ‘explosion,’” Gina suggested.
Some study habits and organizational skills to limit stress is to clean out your backpack because unorganized folders and notebooks cause an unorganized mind.Also, restock school supplies, create a calendar, and know that it’s ok to ask for help when you feel too overwhelmed.
Teenagers cope with stress in many different ways, but it is important for them to be able to handle it. You can manage it, even if you think that you can’t.
