Keeping up with grades, extracurricular activities and jobs while trying to find themselves as a person can be overwhelming for young adults. In a survey of around 310 students 38 percent (about 119 students) at LHS say they are “highly stressed” during the school year and another 37 percent (about 115) said they were “moderately stressed”.

   Students at LHS are beginning to feel the pressure of high school as they approach the middle of first semester. Students have begun to feel the anxiety of reaching an acceptable GPA. Balancing out activities outside of school and getting good grades is a common stress factor for most high school students.

   “From what I have seen personally is that students are stressed because of all the extra activities, the tough courses they are taking, and sometimes the thing they are worried about most is their grade,” AP World History teacher Jeff Wilkins said.    “Some of them handle that extra pressure pretty well, others don’t. Sometimes it becomes an excuse ‘I have my job’ or ‘I have so much work to do for Forensics’ or something like that so depends on the individual student. Sometimes they still get their work done and score well, other times it becomes the reason that their grades slide a little bit.”

   Another stress factor is social acceptance, something perhaps every teen struggles with.

   Teenagers at this stage in their life are trying to fit in and figure out their identity. Peer pressure forces teens to make stressful choices in order to gain approval from their peers. These choices can compromise their personal best interests.

   “Kids our age have started to be more focused on fitting in rather than being focused on getting school work done,” sophomore Peyton Trester said. “School has become more about social status then getting a good education.”

Positive Outlook

   Stress is often considered a danger and a hindrance to teens or adults in our society. Here at LHS, some students believe that stress can actually be a positive thing.

   “Stress affects you every day, whether it be with school, sports, or just friends,” junior Ben Kunkel said. “It can also be good stress as it can push you to achieve things you didn’t think you could do.”

   “I think an appropriate amount of pressure and stress is important to let the student figure out how to manage. Going to college and or working full time can be very stressful so expensing stress in high school can be a good life lesson and how to deal with that stress,” Department Chair Counselor Brenda Wiederholt said.

Student Outlooks

   Some students at LHS feel they are carrying a great deal of stress.

   “With tests and everything it kind of gets to be a lot but it’s kind of easy to manage. Do your homework, you don’t get retakes. Study your best and as much as possible,” sophomore Sarah Parrott said.

   To Parrott, stress is just a part of life and is not a major difficulty, yet teens with AP or advanced placement classes who are also involved in any extracurricular may find very little time for homework and many sleepless nights.

   “I am involved in cross country and track,” sophomore Mason Armstrong said. “Usually I have a lot of reading to do and I am taking two math classes right now so I have that. It’s usually hours worth of work.”

   Students who are a part of athletic teams may have even less time to control anxiety and schoolwork.

   “I play soccer so I have club soccer usually after school,” senior Emma Baldridge said. “I have soccer and then I have homework, then after that I have a test and I don’t have enough time to study efficiently.”

The amount of homework some teachers give, as well as the difficulty of the content, may intimidate students.

“I normally have homework in every single class every day,” freshmen Mari Charlson said. “I normally go to practice then right after I have to go home and do homework, by that time I just go to bed.”

The Effect Of Stress On Student’s Health

The most concerning result of excessive stress is the toll it takes on one’s health.

For students who have little time for themselves or simply put activities over their well-being, they may develop unhealthy eating habits as well.

“I think students can become unhealthy from being overworked because a big thing is a lot of students are not eating. If they are eating, they are grabbing something from Quick Trip or a fast food restaurant so they are not getting the proper nutrition they need.” school nurse Karla Hausman said. “The other big thing we can see from being overworked is lack of sleep. Lack of sleep can lead to other issues.”

Things such as coronary artery disease can be developed by unmanaged stress issues too.

“There are other unhealthy habits in taking caffeine which can lead to cardiac issues and  chronic headaches,” Hausman said.

In some cases these habits, such as heavy caffeine intake, may result in addiction.

“Caffeine can definitely become addictive. Then when students try to slow down the caffeine intake its very hard for them. They don’t feel like they can make it through the day without it,” Hausman said.

The best way to resolve these problems is to stay away from fried and greasy foods along with caffeinated products. Students also need to have a secure sleeping schedule that will allow them enough rest to have energy for many activities. Without a healthy diet and enough rest, students may notice recurring health problems or have a more difficult time fighting off illness.

“A body can’t function for a long time without that [healthy diet and sleep]. We could start to see students be chronically sick over and over from lack of sleep,” Hausman said.

Many health issues could occur from stress itself.

“We could start seeing other problems from all the stress. They may become anxious about school and have avoidance issues.” Hausman said.

Stress in high school may even cause or contribute to mental health issues.

“Sometimes kids get overwhelmed because they have so many things they are trying to balance.” school nurse Michele Kist said, “That can lead to depression; they just can’t figure it all out,”

Adult Help

For some students in advanced classes there is a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time. It is important for these students to communicate with their teachers and seek adult help.

“I believe that sometimes students have too many things going on in their lives, an excessive amount of work hours or being involved in too many things can add to stress,” Wiederholt said.  “If a student has to work to pay bills, then we can talk about ways to handle the amount of work hours and still be a successful student. I think an appropriate amount of pressure and stress is important to let the student figure out how to manage. Going to college and or working full time can be very stressful so taking care of stress in high school can be a good life lesson.”

Solutions

Finding ways to stay organized with ones schedule is crucial to keeping up grades and planning out work, thus reducing stress.  Prioritizing can save a lot of time and worry.

“Practice time management, make changes to make things work a little better,” Wilkins said.

One student suggests simply taking time to unwind.

“Take a break, just don’t think about anything, then after a while get back into it,” freshman Amos Mwaura said.

LHS is home to Be Kind Unwind, led by Wilkins himself. The club promotes acts of kindness and gives a safe place for students to relax and help cope with stress.

“They find it very relaxing to come in here and hang out and discuss things. I believe things have been very therapeutic for them.” Wilkins said.

According to Kist, when it comes to preventing or relieving stress in a healthy way there is one simple solution for everyone.

“Exercise. It makes you produce endorphins which is the natural happy food that our body produces to keep everything on a norm,” Kist said.

Students who have trouble managing stress can be sensitive and find it difficult to be confident in themselves and their schoolwork. Teens who are stressed out from multiple activities need to find a way to unwind and stay healthy in order to do their best and perform well so they can be successful.

The amount of homework some teachers give, as well as the difficulty of the content, may intimidate students.

   “I normally have homework in every single class every day,” freshmen Mari Charlson said. “I normally go to practice then right after I have to go home and do homework, by that time I just go to bed.”

Students Health

   The most concerning result of excessive stress is the toll it takes on one’s health.

For students who have little time for themselves or simply put activities over their well-being, they may develop unhealthy eating habits as well.

   “I think students can become unhealthy from being overworked because a big thing is a lot of students are not eating. If they are eating, they are grabbing something from Quick Trip or a fast food restaurant so they are not getting the proper nutrition they need,” School Nurse Karla Hausman said. “The other big thing we can see from being overworked is lack of sleep. Lack of sleep can lead to other issues.”

   Things such as coronary artery disease can be developed by unmanaged stress issues too.

   “There are other unhealthy habits in taking caffeine which can lead to cardiac issues and  chronic headaches,” Hausman said.

   In some cases these habits, such as heavy caffeine intake, may result in addiction.

   “Caffeine can definitely become addictive. Then when students try to slow down the caffeine intake its very hard for them. They don’t feel like they can make it through the day without it,” Hausman said.

   The best way to resolve these problems is to stay away from fried and greasy foods along with caffeinated products. Students also need to have a secure sleeping schedule that will allow them enough rest to have energy for many activities. Without a healthy diet and enough rest, students may notice recurring health problems or have a more difficult time fighting off illness.

   “A body can’t function for a long time without that [healthy diet and sleep]. We could start to see students be chronically sick over and over from lack of sleep,” Hausman said.

   Many health issues could occur from stress itself.

   “We could start seeing other problems from all the stress. They may become anxious about school and have avoidance issues.” Hausman said.

  Stress in high school may even cause or contribute to mental health issues.

   “Sometimes kids get overwhelmed because they have so many things they are trying to balance,” school nurse Michelle Kist said. “That can lead to depression; they just can’t figure it all out.”

Adult Help

   For some students in advanced classes there is a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time. It is important for these students to communicate with their teachers and seek adult help.

   “I believe that sometimes students have too many things going on in their lives, an excessive amount of work hours or being involved in too many things can add to stress,” Wiederholt said.  “If a student has to work to pay bills, then we can talk about ways to handle the amount of work hours and still be a successful student. I think an appropriate amount of pressure and stress is important to let the student figure out how to manage. Going to college and or working full time can be very stressful so taking care of stress in high school can be a good life lesson.”

Solutions

   Finding ways to stay organized with ones schedule is crucial to keeping up grades and planning out work, thus reducing stress. Prioritizing can save a lot of time and worry.

   “Practice time management, make changes to make things work a little better,” Wilkins said.

   One student suggests simply taking time to unwind.

   “Take a break, just don’t think about anything, then after a while get back into it,” freshman Amos Mwaura said.

   LHS is home to Be Kind Unwind, led by Wilkins himself. The club promotes acts of kindness and gives a safe place for students to relax and help cope with stress.

   “They find it very relaxing to come in here and hang out and discuss things. I believe things have been very therapeutic for them.” Wilkins said.

   According to Kist, when it comes to preventing or relieving stress in a healthy way there is one simple solution for everyone.

   “Exercise. It makes you produce endorphins which is the natural happy food that our body produces to keep everything on a norm,” Kist said.

   Students who have trouble managing stress can be sensitive and find it difficult to be confident in themselves and their schoolwork. Teens who are stressed out from multiple activities need to find a way to unwind and stay healthy in order to do their best and perform well so they can be successful.