“So if a teenager is at school for roughly 8 hours, and they are doing homework for 6+ hours, and they need at least 9 hours of sleep for their developing brains, then they may have 0-1 hours for other activities like eating, bathing, exercise, socializing (which is incredibly important for emotional, mental, and physical health as well as the development of skills vital to their future career), religious activities, hobbies, extra-cirriculars, medical care of any kind, chores (also a skill/habit development and required by many parents), relaxation, and even family time. Not to mention that your parents may or may not pressure you to get a job, or you might need to get one for economic reasons.” – Pinterest 

It is without a doubt that high schoolers all over the world deal with stress due to school. Even if you aren’t at school like on the weekend, the thought of school stays in the back of your mind. From the very first day, you are already counting down the days until summer and while you sit at home under piles of homework the thought of academic sucess and college waver in the back of your mind. Countless nights you stay up trying to finish homework or study for tests that you are taking the next day only to figure out the due date or the test has been pushed back. School causes stress, it’s just a plain and simple fact. 

A survey done by the American Psychological Association states that 45% of all teens say that they were stressed by school pressures. While looking for these statistics, Google gave me a list of similar searches which included “depression caused by school stress”, “coping with school stress”, and a devastating “I’m so stressed about school I want to cry”. Kids deal with pressures from parents, teachers, and other students that it takes a toll on their attitude towards others and other concepts that they become stuck in a loop of panic for getting school work done.

Some students may not be comfortable with admitting that they are struggling until they reach a breaking point. My objective here is to bring light to a situation that most students at school are struggling with internally and to point out to those that believe that school stress isn’t a “real” stressful cause that it truly is one. To those who are searching on Google on how to deal with stress and those that keep it to themselves – there are others that feel the way you do. To those who are teachers, parents, and peers – being more open to hearing about students who feel stressed out goes a long way and words of encouragement doesn’t hurt.