COVER STORY
Standing Up To STRESS High stress levels in teens are having detrimental effects on their health and well being.
A
STORY AND DESIGN BY BREAKING NEWS EDITOR MADDIE YOUNG, A&E EDITOR LUCY STOFER AND REPORTER MCKENNA HEEGN
s finals and college deadlines approach, the topic of stress becomes a common discussion thread. A good way to prepare for stress is to be informed about its causes, effects and resolutions. So when stress occurs, it can be identified and handled properly before it leads to other serious health problems. Psychotherapist Dr. Kelly Jameson came to speak to the high school on Nov. 30 about stress in teens and the effects that it can have. “Dr. Jameson spoke at the grade school two years ago and her and Mrs. Broderick used to work together and are good friends,” High School Division Head Natalie McDonough said. “She did a great job, so I knew I wanted her to come speak at the high school.” Though stress is magnified around deadlines and big tests, the feeling always exists. In high school students having to navigate the balancing act of juggling school and extracurriculars, it is always present. When asked to rate their stress on any given day on a scale from one to 10, one representing little to no stress and 10 representing a significant amount of stress, students responded with an average stress level of 7.3, according to a school-wide survey with 205 student responses.
CAUSES
Stress is inevitable. It provides motivation and allows tasks to be completed in a timely manner. For example, having deadlines and multiple responsibilities to attend to at once provokes a healthy stress level by allowing the skills of time management and balance to be developed. However, not all stress is healthy. Stress can transform from this positive arena into a problem when extreme levels are experienced continuously. This daily stress is a big issue in top private high schools where students experience many factors contributing to their stress level, according to an article from New York University about a survey conducted on the stress of students who attend highly selective private high schools. For instance, 49 percent of top high school students who attend private high schools and have an average GPA of 3.46 reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis and 31 percent reported feeling somewhat stressed, according to an exploratory study conducted by the New York University College of Nursing in July of 2015. “I think it goes back to the kind of student that wants to come to Sion,” College Counselor Erin Stein said. “They’re
academically motivated, they are looking to their future and they are wanting to position themselves to be as successful as possible when they are going to college. I think it’s part of the culture here.” The distinction between inevitable stress and toxic stress can be defined in three different levels based on the severity of stress that one is feeling, according to Jameson. The first layer can simply be identified as stress, which encompasses the general stress that students operate under on a daily basis and the stress that helps to get things done. For example, this layer emcompasses general to-do lists and deadlines that act as motivators for staying organized and on top of assignments. The second layer is distress; in this layer one starts to lose control of her emotions and symptoms such as irritability and withdrawal begin to appear. In this layer discouraging thoughts and negative self-talk can begin, leaving one in a frenzied state with no clear plan of action. This state can be the result of having too many commitments pile up at all at once, or not having enough time to complete the aforementioned tasks. The third and final layer can be identified as overload in which one is at her breaking point and the littlest thing can cause a meltdown, according to Jameson. “Overload is when we get to the point of having meltdowns and crying aimlessly for hours,” Jameson said. “In some cases we can’t get out of bed or we are so irritable that something small will set us off. Usually whatever sets us off is not what we are actually upset about but our emotions have been building for so long that that little thing is enough to send us over the edge.” meltdown. Jameson’s distinctions of stress into three layers show that serious problems and consequences arise when stress reaches the levels of “distress” and “overload.” These two layers demonstrate what comes to mind when the word stress is mentioned and are the two levels where common Story continued on Page 16...
LE JOURNAL December 2016
15
