Relieving Stress

Some get sick and lose a whole day of school. Some cram late at night prior to exams. Others have a hard enough time merely juggling all of their homework assignments. One way or another, all Samo students have experienced stress. Many find that stress is something that comes hand-in-hand with the whole high school experience. Luckily, they have developed some techniques along the way to relieve the tension from their everyday lives.Zoe D’Andrea (’18) wakes up long before school starts to finish her homework. However, she uses part of that time to unwind with some TV as well. “School stresses me out,” D’Andrea said. “I wake up at about 4:00 a.m. and just watch Netflix.” Additionally, individual classes can lead to stress. D’Andrea believes that when a teacher doesn’t put in an effort to make class fun, the overall enjoyment of school declines. “When a teacher gives up on trying to entertain students, the class becomes boring and tedious. You lose interest in the subject which then makes you stressed out because you have homework on stuff that you don’t want to do.”Jade Ipina (’18) also observes that teachers can play both a positive and a negative role in stress levels. “School stresses me out so much because I get way too much homework and have to wake up early,” Ipina said. “Some teachers do try to help me, but I feel like some are actually against me which makes me mad.”There is no doubt that stress is a huge factor in the life of a high schooler. History teacher Adrienne Karyadi has noticed a significant rise in students’ stress. “I would say that kids are not very good at managing their time,” Karyadi said. “Over the last few years, I’ve seen more kids stress out. They almost don’t read the directions on the homework sheets because they want to be told in person. I think that’s a function of anxiety and it shouldn’t be like that.”Karyadi gives students two days to complete her assignments rather than one. She has realized that kids are involved in various extracurricular activities and wants to allow them the time they may need. “I’m making more of an effort this year to figure out how much time it takes to do my homework because then I can decide whether or not it’s manageable.”According to Sam Levenson (’17), a little time to lounge around in the house works as a great relaxation method. “I get home from school and eat a snack,” Levenson said. “Then I lay on the couch and think about what homework I have to do. I end up procrastinating, but I get it done.”Though procrastination is commonly perceived as a negative, child psychiatrist V. Rachel Phillips said that following a limited routine without any down time is ineffective. “Waking up, going to school, going home, doing homework, eating dinner, going to bed and then doing it all over again isn’t a healthy lifestyle,” Phillips said. “A girl once said to me, ‘I don’t have time for an hour of fun’, and I told her that just doesn’t work. You need to pull away from schoolwork briefly and make the time for fun in your life.”She recommends that students lose the habit of creating negative situations in their head because they often can be very stressful. If one has a negative expectation of how something will go, it’s likely to go that way. Whereas if one practices forming positive expectations, the probability of a positive outcome becomes much greater. Counter to the usual habits of Samo students, Phillips emphasizes the importance of sleep, something that is often pushed aside by the students’ busy schedules.“Our mind and our bodies are connected. If your body isn’t healthy, your mind isn’t healthy. You need to have a time to relax of your own choosing and there needs to be at least an hour a day that’s fun for you.”