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Stress and Staying Positive

Isabel Taskov

 

School, homework, extracurriculars, friends, and family. Everyone has commitments, some more than others, and unless it is evenly balanced every minute of every day, it is inevitable that at one point or another, stress will creep up on you and slowly take over your thoughts. When one has an extended list of things to do in a short period of time, and is not even sure where to start, it can be very stressful. This is especially common amongst teens around exam and summative time.

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any type of threat or demand. When one is stressed, everything is heightened. Your nervous system releases a ton of stress hormones, which include adrenaline and cortisol, and your body springs into emergency action. Although there are many ways a build-up of stress is bad for you, stress can also be a good thing. When in your comfort zone, stress can help you improve your work under pressure, sharpen your concentration, and even motivate you to study for an exam.

It is when you under too much duress and pressure that stress becomes a problem. To avoid this, it is important that you have effective ways to calm yourself down in order to get a sufficient amount of work done without freaking out. Here are some ways to get work done without stressing yourself out.

 

Take a break

You’ve been studying for a major test for the last six hours and still have a ton to cover, but you also have two projects due the next day. Do not just sit there complaining over how much you have to do. Do not study until you can not even remember what you’re studying for. Take a break, go for a walk, make a snack. It can be very helpful for you to go out for some fresh air and come up with an efficient plan to get everything done in time. Do not just jump to your phone or surf the web. The best way to calm down and focus is to distance yourself from everything for a little while, until you are ready to jump back into action.

 

Make a plan

Prioritizing your work is key to being the most productive as possible. When there are many things due and not a lot of time to do it, you should make a list of everything, along with all the due dates and about how much time you think each task would take to complete. Then, using this information, make  a list with the most to least important piece  of work and go from there. Another way to do this, could be to make the list in order of taking most time to least time. Start with the stuff you can get done quickly, and then move on to the longer tasks. This is effective because you finish more tasks in less time. For example, if you started with the longest and hardest assignment first, you may get that done, but it may not give you enough time to finish everything else.

 

Sleep

A lot of teens are not getting an appropriate amount of sleep, which can really affect their performance at school. In order to be well rested, teenagers need about 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep. It is safe to say that most teenagers do not get this much sleep during the week. This affects many things, and the amount of stress you are feeling throughout the day can often be linked to lack of sleep. If you know that you are going to stay up late to study for a test, take a nap just before starting. You may think that the nap will just make you drowsy, however even a fifteen minute nap can quickly boost your energy and get you ready to focus on the task at hand.

 

Diet

The food you eat is very important to staying healthy both physically and mentally. Having a nice balanced diet is another good way to reduce stress. It is quite obvious that a lot of people are more stressed out when hungry, so it is important to always have some good food in your body. It is common for people who lack energy to grab a cup of coffee or some chocolate, but the best foods that provide energy are fruits. They are both sweet and healthy and they provide you with energy to get through the day as well as vitamins your body needs. Another food that is great for snacking on when studying is almonds. So the next time you feel stressed or lack energy, don’t jump for that Tim Hortons coffee or a chocolate bar, grab an apple, or some berries, and you will see that they provide much more energy and taste great.

 

Overall, stress is very common and is almost impossible to escape every time, but with these tips, you should be able to feel less stressed and more productive. Good luck!