Teenage Stress - Part 1

Remember the good ol’ days when you were little?  Back when spelling things wrong and singing off-key was cute?  Literature usually consisted of one species blowing down the house of another species; math was taught on brightly-colored flashcards; and your day was broken up by recesses on the playground.

Now you carry a scientific calculator with so many functions that it could pass for alien technology.  The teacher in Civil Studies expects you to memorize all twenty-seven constitutional amendments—including all the repealed ones.  And then when you walk into Biology class, you got a dead frog on your desk.

Sometimes you can’t tell if you’re suffering from tinnitus or if it’s the class bell ringing.  It’s enough to drive you nuts.

Well, you’re not alone!  Look at what the American Psychological Association found out in 2009:

Sources of Stress Among Kids (8- to 17-years old)

• 44% of kids are stressed out by school
• 30% are stressed about how much money their family has
• 22% are stressed about the way they look
  
  (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2009/11/stress.aspx)

Stress is actually unavoidable and sometimes even good.  When you’re stressed, you’re flooded with adrenaline that can help you accomplish challenging tasks.  Without the stress, that adrenaline wouldn’t kick in.

But if you’re stressed all the time, it will eventually take a toll on your mind and body.  Here’s a list of the horrors that can develop if you don’t handle your stress:

• anxiety
• inability to sleep
• high blood pressure
• a weakened immune system (which means you can get sick more often)
• depression
• weight problems
• even heart problems!

You don’t want any of those problems, right?  (To be continued…)

Read our upcoming article on How Stress Impacts You, How to Manage Stress, and How to Avoid Stress.  In the meantime---try to relax!