Too Much Pressure Can Make You Snap! by: John Krupa

Less than one week ago one 13 year old grade 8 boy stayed at home for over a week and even went to the hospital at one point, but not because of a sickness or illness, but because of stress. Kids nowadays are going through more and more stress than ever from, school, homework, and even parents. This stress can have long term effects unless it is managed or stopped.

Stress has always been known to cause problems in kids and even adults. One grade 8 student Fayyaz Amed said “I think a lot of my stress comes from myself and not as much from my parents. My parents are always supportive but never really put stress on me” he also commented “Videogames and technology in general don't really affect my workload or my stress. I think I have a good amount of self control and that is a factor to my stress.” Another grade 8 student named Vaibhav bakhshi said “I think that my parents and teachers put a lot of stress on me. Especially with grades and tests I get a lot of stress. Also a lot of my stress comes from technology. When I'm using social media or playing video games I lose a lot of that stress but as soon as I finish playing more stress piles on, because I could have been doing homework or studying during that time.” This goes to show that there are two side to the topic and it also goes to show stress varies between people and sometimes that stress is not only caused by others but also by yourself. In a grade 8 class 6 out of 7 kid said that the majority of their stress comes from themselves adding pressure to do the best possible

Most of the student I’ve interviewed have said that procrastination is one of the main factors of stress. We all know one episode of your favorite TV show can quickly become 4, 5, even 6. Procrastination is a big problem nowadays with social media and online tv shows and streaming services becoming more popular students have a hard time concentrating on the work that matters. It causes stress by diverting you from the task you’re meant to be doing leaving you less time after you finish. Procrastination can be because of little distractions too such as a ticking clock or a pet making noise. They can distract you and push you off task and leave less time to accomplish your goals. Things like procrastination don’t seem to but can heavily impact your stress and how you control and manage it.

An online survey recorded over 1000 teens say how much stress they go through on a scale from one to ten. Over 25% of the teens said that they went through extreme (8-10) stress in the last year and 13% said they had gone through it in the past month. Over 50% of the teens said that they went through moderate stress in the last month and in the last year. This is really bad. Extreme or even moderate stress can have several negative effects. such as, skin conditions like eczema, weight problems, sleep problems, digestive problems, increase chances of heart diseases, pains, and even depression. Stress in teenagers can be caused by a variety of things, some of the most common ones are, lack of sleep, over studying, taking tests, report cards, major life changes, a loss of someone close, or even other people going through around you such as siblings or parents.

Luckily there are signs that you might be heading down a path toward extreme stress such as, having an inability to concentrate and a feeling of constantly being anxious. Sometimes there can be physical signs like aches or pains and even frequent colds. All of these are basic symptoms of have a lot of stress. Along with the previous statement, this says that stress is a major problem and not only does it affect your focus and anxiety it can also have physical and mental effects. Some of these effects can even be long term causing serious health problems and concerns.

There are many ways to relieve people of stress but not many people know them. One of the simplest strategies to prevent high stress is talking to people about it. You can talk to a friend, a family member, a counselor, anyone that you're comfortable with express your anger and explain why you're stressed. Many times even something this simple can relieve you of a lot of stress. Another recommended strategy is to write about your stress for 5-15 minutes a day. Think of your own ways to cope and write them down. Finally a more different but trustworthy approach to relaxing and relieving stress is to meditate, meditation is one of the most beneficial and proven means to stopping stress. It helps calm down the mind. By clearing your mind for 10 to 20 minutes a day you help relieve and manage your stress.

Even if you aren't going through too much stress it's likely that someone close to you is. You should try to talk to them and ask why their stressed and try to help them through it. Try to get them to use some of the techniques above and if they don't want to then just talk to them. Just like I said above talking to someone is one of the best ways to stop stress. If nothing is working suggest to them talking to a counselor or adult. Things like this can become very serious and adults can always help and provide advice.

Some good ways to stop procrastination are, creating a schedule. Creating a schedule can help you keep organised and on task. A schedule will help cut out distractions and other things. Another useful skill to stop procrastination is applications that can remind you what your meant to be doing and why you should be doing it. Things like iProcrastinate and Reminders always come in handy when you get side tracked.

If all else fails you can always watch another 12 episodes of Friends on Netflix.

Sources:

Jayson, Sharon. "Teens Feeling Stressed, and Many Not Managing It Well." USA Today. USA Today, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2015.

Segal, Jeanne. "Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes." Helpguide.Org. Helpguide.Org, Sept. 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.