Do students at LHS handle stress in a healthy way?
Staff Vote
Yes: 2 No: 18
From tests and assignments to essays and bad days, stress is everywhere. LHS is no exception. The Bell staff doesn’t want to argue whether students at LHS deal with stress. They do. The Bell staff is concerned that students at LHS do not deal with stress in a healthy way.
In particular, because of pressure from parents and the strain of so many classes, the staff understands why it’s difficult for students to manage stress.
There is a common belief that adults start to tell students as young as middle schoolers, ‘if you aren’t stressed in a class, it means you aren’t working hard enough.’ While that can be a motivator for kids, The Bell staff believes it can often be taken too far.
One problem the staff sees at LHS in relation to stress is that some students turn to unhealthy habits, instead of the suggested methods the school provides, in order to cope. Some habits include vaping, recreational drug use and not getting an adequate amount of sleep. These are not healthy options because they can affect your physical and mental health, along with a student’s performance in school.
It was noticed that a lot of students at LHS deal with stress by completely avoiding their issues. While this is a temporary solution, eventually, every student has to face what stresses them out. Avoiding stress is never a good solution. Additionally, students at LHS tend to focus more on what causes them stress instead of how to deal with it.
The staff also points out that many of the ways students at LHS handle stress are by expressing their emotions (reacting to stress). They’ll suggest things like crying, yelling or even punching a pillow. While these actions may be therapeutic, the staff wants students to know that reacting to stress is not the same as handling it. Students need to find a way to de-escalate their stress and emotions, rather than indulge in it.
Lastly, The Bell staff recognizes that some students have yet to realize when they are experiencing unhealthy amounts of stress or have unhealthy coping mechanisms. With the constant strive for academic perfection, it’s easy for a student to sacrifice eight hours of sleep in order to finish their homework or drink two energy drinks a day in order to keep up in class. The important thing is for students to educate themselves on the signs of overwhelming stress and to know what works for them to manage it.
Of course, LHS does what they can to help with stress.
Around the school, many different methods for handling stress can be seen. From the counseling office, social workers, school nurses and posters for helpful tips and resources, LHS has multiple different ways to help students manage their stress, but it’s not often that students take advantage of these resources. For more information, take a look at the in-depth story on solutions for dealing with stress.
