Super active.
Super busy.
Super stressed.
Modern teens are over-stimulated and over-burdened, and it's leading to an epidemic of insomnia and stress. The average teen achieves between 3 and 5 hours of sleep per night. With 24 hours in a day, you must be asking yourself what exactly is taking up all their time...
On average it equates to 7 hours at school, 1.5 hours of homework, 20 minutes of housework, 45 minutes of paid work, 9 hours of media time, and a potential 5 hours of sleep. However, academic and social pressure is likely to reduce the number of hours of sleep to just 3 or 4, with common causes of sleep deprivation cited as stress and anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, studying until late at night, and disrupted sleeping and eating patterns.
Read on for more interesting stats and some tips to help you cope with the stresses and strains of teen life...
By the time we reach adulthood we are used to experiencing stress, and many of us have developed ways of coping with it and managing it effectively. From healthy stress management techniques like yoga and meditation, to less healthy methods like alcohol and drugs, we all have our own ways of handling stress when it builds up.
Teenagers, on the other hand, often feel the same amounts of stress as adults, or even more in some cases; however, teens have often not matured enough to be able to cope with large amounts of stress, and it can therefore have a negative impact on their health and wellbeing.
Stress is your body's way of responding to challenges. When faced with a stressful situation, your body produces cortisol, a hormone that helps give you the strength, energy, and focus to act on your fight or flight instincts. In small amounts, stress gives you the motivation to get things done.
However, if problems aren't dealt with and your stress isn't managed properly it can build up and begin to manifest itself in a number of negative ways.
Teenagers aren't responsible for paying the mortgage and bills, doing the weekly food shop, planning meals, and budgeting for the household etc. However, that's not to say that these things don't inadvertently lead to elevated stress levels on top of the main things that cause them stress. Some of the things that might be causing your teen undue stress include:
If your teen is suffering from stress they may begin to exhibit many of the following signs and symptoms:
Don't let stress begin to build up to a level where it has the opposite of its intended effect. Too much stress can impede your quality of life by manifesting itself in sleep problems, comfort eating, skipping meals, and using drugs or alcohol as a crutch. You can manage your stress in a much healthier way by following these tips...