Stress, How do You Handle it?

By Lyta Ringo and Kayla Pagan –

High school can be a very stressful time for teenagers. Between handling school work, holding jobs and just having a life, stress can become a teenager’s best friend. There are many forms of stress, and not all of them have negative affects. According to About.com there are four main types of stress.

Eustress: A type of stress that is fun and exciting.

Acute Stress: Day-to-day short term stresses.

Episodic Acute Stress: Acute stress runs rampant creating a life of chaos.

Chronic Stress: Stress that seems never-ending.

After interviewing a couple high school students, it was found how teenagers deal with their day-to-day stress.

“I either exercise or listen to music,” said Caitlyn Whirt, “I like running, it relieves a lot of stress.”

Taylor Hager  admitted to being stressed constantly, over many things.

“I listen to meditation, bite my nails, and listen to music,” said Hager.

As stated by holisticonline.com, Many experts suggest that it is the rhythm of the music or the beat that has a calming effect on us, although we may not be very conscious about it.

Shayna Sanchez said, “Music is my remedy.”

When dealing with stress not all teenagers take a positive way out. It is very common in young adults that things such as drugs, alcohol, or even self harm take a place in “stress relief”.

“I smoke marijuana,” said one student, “drugs are an easy way out of stress.”

However this isn’t the case, based upon abovetheinfluence.com, some people think that drug use will result in a decreased amount of stress. They think it helps them cope with stress, but in reality they don’t resolve stress issues, they create more.

And on top of that some students just avoid stress at all costs.

“I don’t really deal with stress, I don’t have a lot of it,” said Kyle Black, “I kick people out that cause me stress.”

Black explained how when people around him cause him stress he removes them from his surroundings.

Stress is an everyday thing, it happens to all of us. The way you cope with stress is your own decision. For some people a more positive solution may be needed. For more easy tips on stress relief check out: http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/stress/7stresstips.html.