As school starts to become more demanding, it is easy to become stressed. Stress is a thing most teenagers experience, but there is a way to prevent and even reduce the stress. Throughout Arapahoe, there are a lot of awesome resources students can use to help manage stress and get organized. I talked to Mrs. Brock and Mrs. Gillespie and they both have great advice on stress and ways to prevent it. Together we came up with a list of the five most important things to help students manage stress.  

Be Prepared

Go into a test with the confidence that you know the topic and you studied everything could. Your stress and anxiety levels will go down as you start taking the test and answering questions with confidence.

Sleep

Mrs. Brock highly suggests that on average a teenager needs eight to ten hours of sleep. She also suggests turning your phone off for a couple hours so you can finish homework quicker and without distraction.

Go through notes regularly

Mrs. Brock says that students who go over notes the day they take them remember the concept 70% better than students who review them the night before the exam. While each night going over the notes you took that day might seem like a waste of time, in the long run it will cut down stress the night before a test.  

Do something everyday that makes you happy

In high school it is easy to become stressed out about school work, sports, and social commitments. Mrs. Gillespie suggests making a goal for yourself to do something everyday that makes you smile, as this helps you take your mind off the things that are stressing you out and helps you calm down.  

Organization: Things will sneak up on you

Mrs. Brock believes that not knowing what is coming up creates numerous amounts of stress that is really easy to avoid. Use a calendar, planner or even an app to keep track of your school work, due dates and activities so nothing surprises you.

Balance

It is always great to get involved in your community and school. But only participate in an amount of extracurriculars that is manageable for you. If you do find yourself in a crazy amount of extracurriculars, do not be afraid to eliminate something when you are too stressed stressed.

Find a place to study

Mrs. Gillespie says that re-creating the environment you are in during the school day at home will help you get work done faster and more efficiently, rather than in comfy places like your bed or couch.

Work in 45,15 minute intervals

Take away all distractions (phone, social media, texting, etc.) for 45 minutes and really focus on the task at hand. Once the 45 minutes are up take a 15 minute break where you can go on instagram, snapchat, or do anything you want.  Mrs.Gillespie says that in the 45 minutes without distractions you will get more done than in an hour of work with distractions.

Find a study group

Studying with a group of friends can help you figure things out that you may have questions about and reduce the stress studying alone can create.