There are two types of stress: the good, short-term stress our body uses as a motivator to get work done and be productive, and the bad, long-term stress that practically does the opposite.
It’s like an ever-shrinking room; the walls are closing in and the ceiling is crushing. Homework is piling up, after-school activities become too much and time ticks away.
There is just too much pressure put on students today. We are no longer able to cope with it and we are falling apart because of it.
Students are going home with too much homework at such a young age and feeling like they have to complete it all.
As mentioned in my previous article about homework, this can lead to sleepless nights and stressful mornings. We see it all around us; children see their parents coming home stressed out and upset, leading to tension in the household.
It is unhealthy to live in such a state. We have been told that stress takes years off of our lives. Stress can come with feelings of depression, anxiety, guilt and moodiness, but not only do we feel stress emotionally and mentally, but physically with symptoms such as body aches, headaches and fatigue, just to name a few.
At a young age, we worry about homework, perhaps the latest drama at school, or how other people see us, then we graduate to worrying about things such as money, rent and a job.
We suffer from too much stress, not just as students, but as a society. We need to go back to the good stress, and we need to be able to talk about it when we start to feel negative pressure creeping in. Maybe that is when we can live a more balanced lifestyle.
Macy How is a grade nine student at École Côte-du-Soleil.
