Stress Essay, Research Paper

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Andrea Kellerman

Teens and Stress: How do they Deal?

Beth has had practice for a play four nights a week for the last month. She also has three projects due by Friday, including an English paper. Besides this, Beth has been fighting off a cold and has continued to work at her part time job of twenty hours a week. One night at home Beth s mother asked her to do the dinner dishes, it was the last straw. Why do I always have to do the dishes? Beth shouts. It s not fair, I am tired of doing everything! Before her mother can answer, Beth turns and stomps upstairs to her room. The mother just doesn t understand why Beth could be so upset.

Beth s blowup is a reaction to stress. Many teenagers around the world know how Beth feels. Teenagers deal with stress everyday. Stress is the physical and mental pressure you feel from certain circumstances (Kowalski 2). Stress also affects your entire body. When there is a stressful event your body automatically causes the adrenal

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glands to release adrenaline. The brain of the body also signals the pituitary gland to release another hormone called ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). With all the hormones releasing at once it causes the heart rate and blood pressure to rise in the body. Which causes the blood to move away from the digestive system toward the brain and muscles, and leaves the stomach feeling upset (Kowalski 7).

One of the many steps in dealing with stress is to first identify the problem and the causes. Everyone experiences some stress but teenagers have the most

(Johnson 14). According to Donald Freedheim from Case Western Reserve University, that the teenage years present challenges and that teens go through many biological changes (Kowalski 7). Many other causes of teenage stress comes from school work, grades, college, and jobs. Many teens are dealing with identity and independence problems at the same time. All of these experiences add up until finally the teen blows up.

Now that the causes of stress have been explained, it is time to understand the effects. One of the most common side effects in teenagers are mood swings (Johnson 14). One moment you can be talking to a calm teenager and the

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next minute they could be all upset about something you had said. Another effect is a loss of interest in something. Maybe your teen loved to read but now they just don t feel like it, that may also be caused by stress. Other experiences may also be linked to stress. Many teens believe if they use drugs it will help make them feel better. Drug use makes things much more confusing then they really could be. If the teens use drugs they could possibly become addicted and then the problem would become worse than just stress (Lord 3). Stress can also lead to teenage suicide. Many teenagers believe that there is no way out of the stress and other problems that they have so they believe that suicide is their only choice. Don t let stress lead you that far, get help before that happens to you or your friends.

The most affected with stress are teenagers in their junior and senior years of high school (Marlantes 14). Teenagers with jobs also are affected more then those without (Marshall 10). Millions of students spend their afternoons, evenings, and weekends working a job. But some teens maybe working to exhaustion. Working may cause the student s grades to decrease, create stress and fatigue, and finally increase cigarette and alcohol abuse

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(Marshall 14). According to Professor Kathryn Borman teens should no exceed more than twenty working hours a week (Marshall 14). If so the teen will start to have problems in school and in other places.

Besides grades dropping teenagers may also have many other signs of stress. If your teen starts to withdraw from friends, family, or other close ones your teen may be undergoing stress (Schleifer 30). Withdrawal is not the only other sign of stress. Another is change in your teen s eating habits. At first it may not be noticeable, but if your teen starts changing pay attention. Besides those changes there is one more noticeable change. It is weight gain or loss. If your teenager starts to look different talk to them, find out what is going on and try to help them.

When teenagers have stress they need to know how to relieve it. There are many different kind of stress relievers. One way is to talk about your problem with someone and get it off you chest. Another one is to not over-dramatize life because there are good day and bad ones but never perfect. A second way to relieve stress is to not contaminate the good times that you have. Enjoy the good moments you have and relish the time. One other way

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is to engage yourself in good and creative activities.

At one time or another, life will bring you pain and suffering but just remember that life will get better.

Another way is to make sure that there is quiet time for yourself. Do something constructive during quiet time. For example: exercise or take a long peaceful walk in the park or woods. Both relieve stress and make you feel better about yourself. One other really good way to let stress out is to write the problem on paper. Maybe a family member or close friend could read it and help you solve the problem that is going on. Also make sure that you plan time for yourself. Take a hot bubble bath or go somewhere by yourself and unwind and relax, or do whatever gives you the inner sense of calmness. If you don t know how to relax, or you won t ever get to a de-stressed state.

The final way to de-stress your life is to just say No.

Don t get caught up in pleasing and helping everyone. There are sometimes that you just can t make everyone happy (Parachin 38).