How to survive high school: Stress and Health

Reducing stress and taking care of your health is crucial for every student. Here is my advice on how students can do this.

Stress:

Relax and do fun activities

Do your best to relax and do activities you enjoy. It’s important to take time out to live your life and do the things you want to do instead of just homework.

Rescue remedy

Although I believe medication is a last resort, I would recommend rescue remedy to older students who really struggle with stress and anxiety. Rescue remedy and its twin emergency essence are natural over the counter anxiety/stress medicines that can help if you you’re getting stressed about having a lot of work or are about to take an exam or even simply get anxiety about going to school.

Tidy desk and clean room

When your desk and room is messy it can be very distracting, most of the time you barely even noticed but it can have a massive impact on your studying. When your desk is covered in stuff you can feel crowded and cluttered and start procrastinating. On your desk everything should have its place and a main area on it should stay clear for doing things. What you keep on your desk depends on you and what you own but don’t be afraid to have some small decorations and motivational things. Make your desk your space and decorate it in a way that will keep you happy. When your room is messy you get the same effect, it can make your life feel chaotic and make you feel like things are out of control. When you keep your room clean you feel freer and your mind is left to feel free and uncluttered.

Take things one step at a time

Trying to focus on one task at a time or even one day at a time instead of stressing about mountains of work or other issues can be very useful, it will help you calm down and concentrate on the tasks you need to complete. Whether you have 6 assignments due and need to focus on 1 at a time or are just struggling to finish one and need to focus on one paragraph, breaking things down into simple steps can easily help with stress, motivation and concentration. Another example is if you are taking a test and can’t think of the answer to one question instead of wasting the entire time for the test on that one question, leave it and come back to it when you finish the rest of the questions.

Health:

We all know our physical health is extremely important but your mental health is much more important than a lot of people realize. Your mental health affects every aspect of your life.

Recognizing depression and anxiety

Depression and anxiety are some of the most difficult things a teenager often has to battle. It’s important not to diagnose yourself but if you think you’re having issues get help or help yourself. Everyone should understand how to recognise mental illness to help themselves and the people they know. Signs and symptoms of anxiety include

• Panic attacks

• racing heart

• hot and cold flushes

• restlessness

• feeling tense

• excessive fear and worrying

• obsessive thinking

• avoiding situations that make you anxious

Signs and symptoms of depression include

• not going out anymore

• losing interest or enjoyment in things you/they used to love

• withdrawing from close friends and family

• finding it hard to concentrate

• finding it hard to get things done

• feeling numb, guilty, overwhelmed, disappointed or miserable often

• lacking confidence or having a very low self esteem

• finding it hard to sleep

• feeling tired all the time

• change of appetite (some people eat more other people lose their appetite)

• Suicidal or dark thoughts

For more information go to beyondblue.

Help your mental health

It’s very important to take care of your mental health. You can do this through things like

• do things you enjoy, things that make you happy

• take care of your physical health

• try to avoid self criticism or try to fight it

• spend time with family and friends

• avoid very negative people

• reduce stress

• try meditation and yoga

• set realistic goals

• do something different, although routines can help us especially with getting ready in the morning, keeping our room clean and things there are times in high school when it feels like you do the same thing ever day school, eat, sleep. When this happens it's important to change it whether it means going out on the weekend or just watching a movie before bed.

• Work on a personal project. A project can help keep you motivated and feel like you've achieved something, this could be anything from starting a blog to creating a piece of art.

Sleep deprivation and insomnia

Sleep deprivation and insomnia can affect your health, lower your grades and make it more difficult to do just about anything. It’s important get between 6-10 hours of sleep each night (Depending on your age). But it can be really hard to get enough sleep when you have so much to do. Simple things you can do to get a better sleep are

• drink Chamomile tea

• make the room as dark as you can

• Reduce your use of electronics right before sleeping, or at least use an app that changes the hue of your screen (twilight for android)

Eating well

Eating well is really important, without eating right you can get sick, develop eating disorders, lack concentration, get acne and put yourself at risk for heart disease. Unfortunately eating well can be really difficult when in you’re in school, you need to be able to take the food and you need to be able to prepare it quickly and grab it quickly in the mornings. My advice would be to:

• Search for recipes and ideas on what you could eat

• Talk to your parents/caregivers about what you food you could buy

• Make sure you always eat enough

• Try not to skip breakfast even if you just eat something small.

I always try to eat a good breakfast, it helps set you up for the whole day, with a full stomach you can think better without feeling hungry. But I know many people don’t feel hungry in the morning, sometimes not feeling hungry doesn’t mean that you don’t need the food, just eating a small portion of food like a muesli bar or something while your rushing off to school can be better than nothing.

Great websites for recipes include:

• http://www.yummly.com/

• www.taste.com.au/

https://au.pinterest.com/ is also a great website to find recipes and meal ideas as well as just about anything else.

Exercise

Exercise is really important for your health and can be very difficult to fit into a busy student’s day. The most important thing is cardio, but this doesn’t mean you have to go for a long run every day you can do things like

• Dancing

• Walking (going for walks and taking the stairs instead of an escalator)

• Jumping Jacks

• Sports

• Yoga

• Surfing

The important thing is increasing your heart rate, so when I do a slow activity like yoga (although there are more intense variations) I like to do a few jumping jacks beforehand.

I hope there was something on this post that could help you.

What advice you would give students?

#highschool #stress #health #survive