By Mohammad Raja, contributing writer

Stress has become a major part of every student’s life. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 7.8% of men and 12.3% of women ages 18-24 report frequent mental distress. Student life has become hard, due to the demands of study combined with their busy lives, making stress a part of their live.

Definition of Stress
Stress is simply the body’s specific response to any demand made on it. Stress provides the means to express exhaustion and illness. The results of continuing stress may cause disruption in your health physically, emotionally, and socially. Some indicators that recognize stress are elevated heart rate, increased blood pressures, insomnia, headaches etc.

Stress Relating to Student Life
Many students in today’s societies can relate their life to stress. One of those students is senior student Andleeb Khushnood from WJPS who discussed about her stress life and says that she barely gets any sleep due to the work she needs to do and prepare for college.

“I think that college is going to be much harder and more stressful than high school because in college, you’re on your own. No one will help you,” said Khushnood. She’s right on one thing; college does get harder than high school and adds to your stress meter. In fact, in a recent national college health survey, 10% of college students had been diagnosed with depression. Student Amir Shallit can relate to the story of Andleeb because his high school experience so far has also affected his stress levels.

“When I am stressed, I feel like I am really tired and that I don’t feel like doing any school work or homework anymore. But knowing that my grade is going to go down makes me do it, even though I am really tired. Also, I get headaches sometimes and feel like my head is spinning,” Shallit said.

Stress Management Strategies
– Eat well balanced meals, more whole grain, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Substitute fruits for desserts.
– Maintain communication with friends
– Take part in activities that you like from example sports, or exercising
– Get to know your professors( for college students)
– Get at least 7 hours of sleep
– Make sure to have physical contact like hugging someone. Physical contact is a great way to relieve stress.
– Keep your mind relaxed and organized and not panicked and stressed.

Believe it or not, middle school students can also have the same stress levels as the students in high school. In fact, a host of statistics showed that only 36% of 7th graders agreed with the statement “I am happy with my life.”

“When I am stressed, I do what I like the best- which is play basketball. It helps me relieve my stress because I have fun while I am playing it,” student Haseeb Raja from Bleeker 185 said. As Raja stated, sports can help you ease your mind because you are physically active.

    Students around the world need to realize that schoolwork is going to be hard with many challenges, but they need to learn how to control it by making time for it and not to let stress into their brains.