Teen Stress Is Real: How to Handle School, Life, and Everything in Between

The Mental Health Foundation defines stress as “our body’s response to pressure. Many different situations or life events can cause stress. It is often triggered when we experience something new or unexpected that threatens our sense of self or when we feel we have little control over a situation.”

There are many different ways students can cope with stress.

The endorphins released into the body when exercising can be incredibly helpful when feeling stressed. According to the Center for Parent and Teen Communication, “exercise literally is running away from, or working out, the source of stress.”

While running away from your problems may not always be the best solution, exercising your body can be considered more as a break than a total avoidance of what’s causing you stress.

“Managing stress is good for your health. Being active creates lifelong physical and emotional health benefits. Exercising regularly protects the brain well into adulthood.”

Learning coping skills to deal with stress and even depression can be a life saver for teens who are trying their best to make it through these formative years of their lives. Some ways they can do this include:

• Mindfulness and meditation
• Journaling
• Creative outlets
• Open communication
• Peer support groups
• Professional help

Read more: 10 Study Tips from Real Students (Study Guide)

We often can be our own worst enemy. Negative thoughts, often targeted inward, can increase stress in sensitive teens especially. Replacing negative self-talk with positive self-talk can make a world of difference to a high schooler dealing with bullying, academic struggles, or other stressors life can bring.

Here are some ways the Mayo Clinic identifies for teens to incorporate positive self-talk into their lives:

• Identify areas to change.
• Check yourself.
• Be open to humor.
• Follow a healthy lifestyle.
• Surround yourself with positive people.
• Practice positive self-talking.

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Something that seems like a universal truth is how much teens love their sleep. The good news is that sleep can help them manage stress. There’s a reason why the saying “sleep on it” exists.

The National Sleep Foundation finds that “Healthy sleep is linked to improved emotional functioning in teens, which can help manage anxiety, depression, and reported stress among those who get sufficient sleep.”

High Schoolers have a lot on their plates. Sometimes too much for any one teenager to handle. Asking for help may feel like a sign of weakness to a lot of people, but it can actually be one of the bravest things you can do.

We all need help as we navigate through life and knowing when to ask for it can make a big difference when you’re feeling overwhelmed. It even turns out that most people enjoy helping others, putting to rest concerns of being a burden.

According to the Stanford Report, “Work by Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki has shown that empathizing with and helping others in need seems to be an intuitive response, and dozens of studies... have found that people often feel happier after conducting acts of kindness.”

Read more: Q&A With a Penn Foster High School Parent

1. Practice box breathing

2. Take a walk

3. Listen to a soothing playlist

4. Call a friend

5. Journal your feelings

6. Cuddle a pet

7. Dance to your favorite song

8. Eat a snack

9. Listen to a meditation

10. Visualize a calm space

11. Squeeze a stress ball

12. Text a friend a funny emoji, gif, or meme

13. Doodle or sketch a small picture

14. Stand up and stretch

15. Splash cold water on your face

You may have a lot of questions surrounding stress and if your feelings are normal and valid. Here are some common questions surrounding stress in high school to help put your mind at ease.

Stress can impact everyone differently, and for different lengths of time. For adolescent brains, there isn’t much conclusive data on how long stress and anxiety can last. The National Library of Medicine reveals that “even a month after recovery from chronic adolescent stress, some of these structural and functional changes persist (Isgor et al., 2004; Leussis & Andersen, 2008). It would therefore appear that the effects of stress on the adolescent brain may be longer lasting when compared to the adult.”

Read more: How Wyatt Used Penn Foster High School Online to Graduate Early

Yes! It is both normal and expected to feel stressed in high school. There are often new pressures put on students as they enter and move through high school. These include academic pressures, social pressures, and even career planning pressures. Penn Foster high school graduate Ian Moore switched to online school to help avoid some of these issues that can be more prominent in traditional school. His mother, Nancy, shares, “The online program was relaxed, [had] maturity, [was] goal-oriented, as opposed to nonsense at traditional school [where there was] a lot of drama. He grew a lot grew a lot as an individual with all the support that he had with Penn Foster and his parents at home.”

The workload can be enough to stress any person out. Many students also struggle from test anxiety, making this essential and frequent part of high school often agonizing for any teen who deals with it.

When students enter the second half of high school, pressure about what their future will look like begins to seep in whether they are planning to attend college or not. It can be an incredibly stressful time in your life.

Read more: How to Prepare for College in High School (A Checklist for Online Students)

While very similar, stress and anxiety are actually not the same thing. According to the American Psychological Association, “Both are emotional responses, but stress is typically caused by an external trigger... Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor.” Their symptoms are almost identical, which is why they are commonly mistaken for each other.

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Absolutely. Evidence suggests social media can have a harmful effect on teens, impacting their social connection to others, their sleep, and their involvement in healthy activities.

While experts have found too much social media use may indicate poor mental health in teens, too little may also indicate the same.

In addition to depression, social media may also foster unrealistic comparisons between teens and the people they follow. With social media and the increase of ‘influencers’ popping up on every platform’s feed, impressionable teenagers have an unrealistic idea of what their lives should look like.

Another unfortunate part of social media is the ease with which cyberbullying can happen. Bullies can remain anonymous on social media while tormenting their targets, making it incredibly difficult to avoid or put an end to.

While there are pros to social media use, it may be best to limit time spent on these platforms to avoid negative effects on your mental health during such a sensitive time of life.

The pressure and stress school can cause is often underestimated. Sometimes the workload is enough to make you want to cry. So how can you handle it?

Time management, while sometimes hard, can be instrumental in keeping your sanity when you feel like you’re drowning under assignments.

Study breaks are crucial, and not just because they’re more fun than actually studying. In order to absorb all the information you need to, studying in small increments has been found to be more effective than studying for hours on end. CornellHealth explains “taking purposeful breaks (anywhere from 5–60 minutes) from studying to refresh your brain and body increases your energy, productivity, and ability to focus.”

Part of time management also includes prioritization. Try prioritizing work in the order that it’s due. Getting ahead of the game is always good, but not necessary if you’re already feeling overwhelmed. Get done what needs to be done and worry about the rest when the time comes.

Other ways to manage stress from school include getting enough sleep, balancing school work with enjoyable activities, and exercising.

Read more: Penn Foster Exams and Grading Explained

If you’re completing high school online through a program like Penn Foster High School, you may find the self-paced setup of the program and lack of due dates a less stressful experience than the traditional 8-hour a day classroom structure.

That does not mean it’s without its struggles, though. You may find it difficult to stay motivated as an online student when there are no designated times to study, especially if you’re already stressed or feeling particularly wiped out.

Creating a daily study schedule, setting up a private study space (or taking regular trips to the library if you aren’t able to isolate a space in your home), and asking for help when stuck are great ways to stay motivated and on track. The great thing about a school like Penn Foster is you have the ability to hold off on schoolwork if you are too tired or stressed out to focus. You can take a night or even a week off if you need it. The program is structured to fit into your life, not the other way around.

That said, you don’t want to skip too much time. Gabriella Scott, Penn Foster High School graduate, shares, “Some challenges that I faced... were probably making sure that I didn't get complacent and be like, ‘uh, maybe I can just skip like five days.’ Just because it was at your own pace—I was like, ‘I'm waking up, I have to do it.’”

Read more: You Can't Get into College with an Online High School Diploma (and Other Myths about Online High School)

It is always okay to ask for help. Whether you need help from a parent, peer, teacher, or more professional help from a counselor or therapist, there is never any shame in seeking it. No one is a superhuman and we all sometimes have too many things on our plate. No one can handle everything by themselves.

Some students may find everything from the course load to the social intricacies of traditional high school too stressful. The good news is there’s an alternative! Penn Foster’s online high school program allows students to complete high school in the environment of their choosing since it’s all virtual. The program is self-paced and the exams are open book, making it a great option for those who suffer from test anxiety. Gabriella found this particularly helpful, saying, “I felt like I was retaining a lot of the things that I was learning because I didn’t feel the pressure of tests, deadlines... I had time to process everything.” If this sounds like a structure you’re interested in switching to, request more information to see if this is the right fit for you!