Ben Knostman

Ms. Cassell

English Comp. 1

March 27, 2020

How Stress Affects High School students

            What are the most common factors leading to stress in high school students and how can

they be resolved? Stress is defined as environmental events or chronic conditions that objectively

threaten the physical and/or psychological health and well-being of individuals of a particular

age in a particular society according to David Barney. High school is an extremely stressful time

for all teenagers, and it can sometimes feel like you are overwhelmed with the workload given to

you. Right after the first week of freshman year, the stress begins, and it only grows for most

people. Anxiety and stress can be excellent motivators as long as it is controlled, but stress can

also be the downfall of students if we don’t get rid of it or find ways to cope with its effects.

Most people underestimate stress or believe that it can’t actually hurt people, but it is proven that

stress can and has led to the death of people. At its worst stress can lead to a lack of sleep,

depression, anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts, and countless other negative things. Stress is

something that all high school students feel and have to fight through but there are multiple

strategies to help you get rid of it. Stress can be resolved through physical activity, expanding

your social horizons, taking classes based on your learning ability, and managing your time

successfully.

            Many scientists have studied stress and how to get rid of it, one very successful way that

they found was physical activity. This can be an organized sport like basketball, something
unorganized like playing tag with your friends or just going for a walk. Any way to get your

blood flowing has been proven to decrease your stress levels, which in turn increases your

productivity and focus. David Barney writes about an investigation done on Norwegian

teenagers. It is said that low physical activity has been seen to lead to lowered levels of stress,

but moderate to high levels of physical activity has led to a significant decrease in stress. This

proves that for high schoolers moderate to high levels of physical activity, which in most cases

comes from organized sports, can help them diminish their stress and become more successful

students in the process. Another take away from this study is that low physical activity is better

than none. Even with low physical activity the teenagers still felt less stressed. David goes on to

say that during projects and homework a great way to increase productivity is by taking breaks

and being active during those breaks. Going outside to throw the football around or going for a

walk can relax you, making you think more creatively and concentrate better on the task at hand.

This might seem counterproductive if you are stressed, but by taking these short breaks you

increase the amount of work you can get done in a shorter time and also improve the quality of

work you are doing. David Barny and his associates have done multiple experiments on the

effects of stress on the body and how to eliminate or reduce stress. They believe that in the right

conditions physical activity is perfect for stress relief and has helped a multitude of people.

He also has seen scenarios where physical activity has caused stress because of peer

pressure. In one study they tested the stress of students before and after a physical education

class. For most students, they had decreased stress levels, but for a few of the more unathletic

students, he noticed that their stress had gone up instead of down. He was confused at first

because that was the opposite reaction that he had hypothesized about but then he realized why.

The students were more stressed because instead of enjoying the activities they instead were
worried about looking bad. To let physical movements, decrease your stress you have to stop

trying to be perfect, this may be harder for some people, but by striving for perfection you

increase your stress because it is an unrealistic goal. The main piece of reducing stress is setting

realistic goals and timelines so you don’t push yourself too hard. This is the only way that

physical activities can hurt your stress instead of helping. As long as you don’t set unrealistic

goals or strive for perfection you can reduce or even get rid of your stress through various

physical activities.

            The social aspect of high school can be a great thing: you can meet lifelong friends, enjoy

hanging out with new people, find out where you fit in and build strong connections that could

help your career down the road. This aspect can also be a negative thing: students may be

bullied, feel lonely, and peer pressured into changing their core values. All of these are negative

things that can cause stress. In a lot of television shows and movies high school is portrayed as a

feeding ground, where the popular and athletic kids are the predators and the unexceptional and

rejected kids are the prey, this is not true. There are multiple ways that teenagers can expand

their social horizons through sports, clubs, or other organizations and make friends without

feeling left out. By expanding your social horizons, it is shown that you will be less stressed

because you do not feel lonely and have peers that you can truly trust and relate to. Having

friends that you can be honest with and talk to it is enabling people to relive their stress.

According to Jamil A. Malik, peer pressure can lead to multiple things that cause stress, but the

main bad habit was is procrastination. Procrastination is the act of putting things off till the last

moment and then hurriedly finish your work. It is easy to see how this can cause stress in

students because by the time they begin to work on a project it is already too late. Making friends

that don’t pressure you into bad habits is very important. Jamil Malik talks about how people
imitate the friends that they hang out with and may even change their core values just to fit in

with a group. This means that picking friends is one of the most important jobs as a high school

student because your peers are a reflection of you. If you hang around a lot of people that

promote bad habits like procrastinating, you will be more tempted to do the exact same things.

This is why making friends that will push you to be better and are their when you need a helping

hand can reduce stress.

            Some people may argue that not having friends is better than expanding your social

horizons because then you don’t have to deal with any drama and can stay away from stress, but

this isn’t true because then you don’t have an outlet. When you take away friends who you can

relate to and talk to you become more stressed. According to Jamil Malik resistance to

interaction with your peers leads to more stress and can cause depression. She studied multiple

kids and noticed that the kids that were classified as lonely usually had higher stress levels

because they did not have a way to get rid of any stress. Overall, the social aspect of high school

can be difficult and confusing at times but distancing yourself from it all does not help. It

actually does the exact opposite, distancing just makes you feel lonelier and give you a me

against the world aspect, which can be good motivation but will have negative effects on your

future career because you will not have made any connections. Instead, you need to meet new

people and try to find good quality friends that will help you relieve stress and walk with you

down the right path in life.

            Another big piece of high school is academics. There is a multitude of classes and paths

that you can take to graduate, choosing the right path is crucial. The job of school counselors is

to choose the right path for each child or at the very least direct students in the right direction

based on their specific behaviors. Each teenager will have a different path based on their learning
abilities, determination, and intelligence. The path that a lot of people want their child to take is

accelerated or AP, advanced placement, classes but this is not good for everyone. One reason it

isn’t a wise choice is these classes have a much heavier workload during school and in the

summer; by taking these harder classes you might cause yourself unnecessary stress. According

to Wilaiwan Srisongkhram students who take AP classes that they are unprepared for can lead to

overwhelming stress. This happens because the student is not ready for the material or does not

work hard enough, so he doesn’t master or even fully learn the material given to him. This starts

a downward spiral because the workload continues to pile up and before they realize what has

happened it is too late When this happens, they sometimes try to deter their stress by using

coping mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms are cheating or pretending like they don’t care.

Cheating might work for some time but eventually, it all catches up to you and then the

punishment is even worse than failing a class. Pretending that they don’t care can be even worse,

if they continue down this path, they will begin to build bad habits like procrastination, which is

another major cause of stress. Instead, all these behaviors may be avoided if they had been put in

the right path, to begin with.

            One common misconception about accelerated classes and courses is that they are more

stressful for everyone in them, so many people want to get rid of these classes to reduce stress.

This is not the right answer because according to Shannon Suldo, while accelerate classes might

cause more stress for some students, it can actually reduce stress for students that are prepared

for these classes because these classes are goal orientated. By taking these classes and reaching

the goals successfully, they prove to the world and to themselves that they are ready for this

workload, which builds self-confidence in the student. The classes may start out as stressful but

by the end of the class the students that were prepared leave with a sense of confidence and pride
in their work. By overcoming the stress this also means that next time they take the course they

will be confident that they can successfully complete the course. In conclusion, it is not

accelerated or advanced courses that are the problem it is the people that put teenagers in classes

they are not ready for. As long as we make sure to put people in the path, they should be in we

will be able to reduce the stress of all students and still have opportunities for the advanced

students who grow from these classes.

            A major part of reducing the stress in your life is managing your time wisely. This can be

especially hard for high school students who have things like work, sports, or other activities.

One major thing that can get in the way of being proactive with your schoolwork is a job. It

would seem like students with jobs would be more inclined to be stressed due to the lack of time

they have, but according to Karl Peltzer that is not true. Based on studies he has done he finds no

connection between stress levels and the need to have a job. He has done multiple studies on the

issue by separating the students based on their family’s financial situations. The overwhelming

majority of students from financially unstable families had jobs, but they were no more stressed

than the students that were allowed to do as they please and not worry about the money they

spent. This did not make sense to him, so he began to dig in a little deeper and found that stress

is not always based on how much time you have to do something but how you use your time.

Most of the people without jobs did not spend their time as wisely and therefore felt stress, while

the students that worked knew they had to complete the assignment by a certain time so they got

their work done early and could then relax once everything was done. This shows that time

management is a huge part of reducing stress, by being proactive and getting the major things

done first you now have more time to relax afterward and therefore don’t stress as much. To

show this visually to students he created an experiment. For the experiment he had one softball,
some big rocks, a multitude of tiny rocks, and sand. The point of the experiment was to put all of

the objects in a jar. The first time he did the experiment he put the sand in first, which

represented video games, watching tv, and other time-wasting activities. Next, he put in the tiny

rocks, which represent hanging out with friends or going to other social events. Afterwards, he

put in the larger rocks, which represents schoolwork and jobs. Finally, he attempted to put in the

soft ball, which represents sleep, but was unable to put in the jar because all the space was gone.

After proving that it did not fit that way, he changed the order; this time he put the big stuff in

first and then worked his way done the chain to the smaller and less necessary things. By

changing the order and putting the big or necessary things in first, all of the objects fit. The point

of this experiment is to show that if you prioritize the necessary things first you will still have

enough time to do everything you want to do, proving that time management actually does work.

            Time management goes beyond just getting the big things done first, it also means that

you choose what is most important to you. For student-athletes, they might want to put more

time into their specific sport instead of playing with friends, or for students that participate in a

band, they might have to not spend as much time with their friends so they can instead practice

playing their instrument. It all depends on the person you are, but one thing you can’t do is try to

do everything. If you overload your schedule you will not be able to put full effort into the things

that matter most to you and you will stress over things that do not need to be stressed over. Time

management is the most successful way to deal with stress and it goes beyond just managing

your time. If you can cut the unnecessary things out of your life you will live a more stress-free

and happy life because you will only do the things you love or need to do.

            In conclusion, stress is a big part of a high schooler’s life. With work, sports and

academics it can get hectic, but stress can be resolved through physical activity, expanding your
social horizons, taking classes based on your learning ability, and managing your time

successfully. Physical activity is a great way to take your mind off of your stress as long as you

avoid peer pressure and don’t try to be perfect; it is a useful outlet for a lot of people.  By

expanding your social horizons, you open yourself up to new people that you can relate to and

talk to. This gives you a way to share your stress and get rid of it. Taking classes based on your

learning abilities sets you up for success when it comes to reducing stress. Accelerated and

advanced classes are very stressful environments that are not meant for everyone, but for the

people that are prepared for them, they can be a great way to build character and become

accustomed to stress. Lastly, to reduce the stress you have to learn how to manage your time

successfully. This means getting the important stuff done first and also means not overloading

your time with things that are not necessary. Stress is a part of everyone’s lives, but with some

commonsense measures and some proactiveness, you can get rid of it or at least reduce it.
 

Works Cited Page

Barney, David C.; Pleban, Francis T.; Lewis, Terrance. Physical Educator. Summer2019,

Vol. 76 Issue 3, p777-799. 23p. DOI: 10.18666/TPE-2019-V76-I3-8966.

 Malik, Jamil A.; Ashraf, Madeha. Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health

Sciences. Jan-Mar2019, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p65-70. 6p. DOI: 10.22442/jlumhs.191810603.

 Peltzer, Karl; Pengpid, Supa. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical

Practice. Oct2015, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p259-265. 7p. DOI: 10.3109/13651501.2015.1082598.

Srisongkhram, Wilaiwan; Srisongkhram, Worawan. Human Behavior Development &

Society. Dec2019, Vol. 20 Issue 4, p18-28. 11p.

Suldo, Shannon M.; Shaunessy‐Dedrick, Elizabeth. Psychology in the Schools.  Sep2013,

Vol. 50 Issue 8, p823-843. 21p. 3 Charts. DOI: 10.1002/pits.21708.