Stress on Teenagers

It's a hard pill to swallow when an adult comes out of the doctor's office with papers and articles on why stress causes them to acquire medical problems and how to reduce it. According to a 2004 survey given by The American Psychological Association, 54 percent of adults have health problems due to stress and 45 percent of adults have reported that this stress comes from their working environments. If stress can affect an older person with a higher level of maturity so badly, then how badly can it affect high school students?

Stress comes from many places and in many forms for teenagers. The balance of school, sports, family, jobs, and preparation for college are often seen as the most common stress points for this age group. In 2009, 45 percent of teenagers, ages 13 to 17, have said that they have felt high amounts of stress at numerous times throughout the year, when only 17 percent of their parents reported that they saw stress increases in their children.

The events in life that cause the body to experience stress are called stressors. If stressors that a teenager is dealing with are given the chance to pile up and not taken care of in the right manner, then the teenager will experience high amounts of stress. Too much stress can cause the teenager to go into a physical state of distress. As the stress destroys their brain, by destroying important chemicals needed to regulate emotion in a healthy way, they will start to feel physical and mental symptoms that can and will interrupt the natural enjoyment of life.

Being overly stressed can have many negative side effects. It can make teenagers more prone to illness. It can also make them feel very tired and not equipped to deal with life's advantages and disadvantages. If left alone stress can cause depression, constant sense of boredom, severe emotional upsets, ulcers, and irritated bowel syndrome along with many other things. 43 percent of teenagers report that due to stress they feel fatigued, and 27 report upset stomach or indigestion, according to Jill Rheaume, creator of over 5 how to help stress websites. Rheaume also reports that 34 report they have frequent headaches and 43 percent claim to have constant feelings of boredom and suicidal thoughts. If a teenager does not learn proper coping techniques early, it can lead to a lifetime of constant overstress.

It is important for teenagers and their parents to recognize stress in its early stages. Some indicators of stress are increased physical illness, withdrawal from people and activities, increasing anger or irritability, increasing feelings of hopelessness, chronic feelings of worry, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and rapidly gaining or losing weight. "Stress on teenagers can really be a life changing experience. And the sad part is not many teenagers deal with it correctly, most just brush it off and keep moving. Another thing is that there are no real "cures" to