7-11 November is International Stress Awareness Week and it is an important time to think about how stress impacts students at school. Stress might be related to an exam or difficult assignment, based in the growing pains of childhood and adolescence, or a result of longer-term situations, such as the effects of Covid-19 and school closures. For students and parents, there are useful ways to identify and reduce school-related stress to make students more focused, productive, and happy at school.
Keep an Eye out for Stress
Often it is easy to tell if you are stressed before an assessment or presentation. Your hands may shake or you might feel nauseous. There are some simple ways to relieve extreme stress, such as deep breathing or exercise. But one way to help with stressful situations is to notice stress before it gets extreme. Stress over a long period of time–an exam season or even a school year–can make stressful situations much worse. Recognising what stress looks like in an individual student can help you fight stress before the exam or presentation.
Just like a cold or flu, stress has symptoms (and an NHS page or this UNICEF page for children). Stress can cause headaches, nausea, and breathing difficulties. Students may eat or sleep more or less than usual and might get sick more often. They might feel angry or sad or have trouble focusing on tasks. All of these are of course common symptoms of many ailments–but if there doesn’t seem to be an underlying cause, stress from school, home, or a students’ social life might be the problem.
Mindfulness and Self-Care
With increased awareness of stress and mental health concerns, mindfulness and self-care have been getting much more attention. It isn’t hard to find articles guiding you through mindfulness techniques (or even mindfulness for kids) and self-care suggestions. At their most basic, these involve getting plenty of sleep, staying present, and making time for things you enjoy.
Everybody’s self-care looks a little bit different. Keep a list of things that make you happy or relaxed: it may be spending time with friends, going outdoors, or having a fun snack. Sometimes it can feel like you don’t have the time or resources to include self-care into a busy school schedule. However, it is important to find ways to squeeze it in–you can only take care of your work if you are taking care of yourself first. If you are working for a long time, set a timer for every 20 minutes to get up, stretch, and look away from screens or books. After a long period of working–30-40 minutes–take a few minutes to do something fun. You’ll find you are better able to focus afterwards.
Stay Organised
If schoolwork is causing you stress, an important way to reduce stress is to manage your work better. It is helpful to stay organised, both in how you schedule time and in terms of physical space–a clean desk, an organised backpack. Cluttered schedules and spaces can make it feel like you have endless things to do, so staying organised will help you save time and stay focused on assignments.
Some students find organising easier than others. Like self-care, organisation looks different for everyone. Some might find a carefully arranged schedule or a bullet journal helpful, while others work best with just one task in front of them at a time. If you are unsure of your organisation style, try different techniques out–to-do lists that break down or simplify tasks, designated blocks of time, or a schedule with the easiest or hardest tasks first. Parents can help, too, both by helping students identify what works best for them, and by lending a hand with organising desks or time when a student feels overwhelmed.
Figure 1: A Bullet Journal can help you keep organised during stressful times.
Prioritise
There are many ways to help with stressful schoolwork, but sometimes the best or only way to manage is to reduce your workload. Whether it is homework assignments for one night or an overcrowded schedule of activities, it can be necessary to prioritise what is most important to avoid stress.
In a short-term stressful situation, such as a busy night of schoolwork or a period before an exam, organise your work around a few questions: what is mandatory and what is optional? what needs to be perfect and what needs only to be done? what needs to be completed first and what can be put off till later? Decide which order you want to complete things and how long you can spend on each. Remember to include time for sleep and self-care.
If you are dealing with stress over the long-term, you might need to make big decisions about your priorities. Think about classes, activities, and projects that you are working on. Which are the most important to you and your goals and which can you eliminate or scale back? Don’t forget to place value on things you enjoy–activities that are fun or fulfilling can help reduce stress and keep you motivated. Lastly, don’t be afraid to prioritise your needs over a busy school schedule. Learning to prioritise is itself a very important skill that will help you throughout life.
Ask for Help
Perhaps the most important lesson for dealing with stress is that you don’t have to deal with it alone. Parents, friends, and siblings can all help with symptom-management, self-care, and motivation. Chances are, they’ve had to deal with their own stressful situations, too. If stress becomes a bigger problem, you can also talk to your GP about dealing with anxiety. Lastly, if you are struggling with schoolwork, talk to your teachers. They might be able to help lessen your workload or given you suggestions for how to complete assignments. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, but a key skill that will help you succeed in school and careers.
Stress is unfortunately a common feature of student life but it doesn’t need to become a major problem. Learning how to identify, manage, and reduce stress helps students thrive in school and teaches them important lessons that will benefit them for a lifetime.
