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Fight with a friend, stress. Midterm, stress. All-nighter, stress. Early practice, stress. Classes, stress. Boy troubles, stress. In 2003, Mediamark Research Inc. conducted a study where 59% of teenage girls admitted to being stressed either “all of the time” or sometimes compared to 42% of male teens.
Each person stresses different, girls different than guys, and each girl different from one another, regardless, stress still causes negative effects on one’s mental and physical state. You can experience stress at any time and it can be caused by anything.
When experiencing stress, remember this: everyone becomes stressed at some point in their life, week even. You are not alone and there are simple ways to avoid stress and to relax yourself.
Stress in inevitable, but to lessen your stressful days, plan ahead. Give yourself time to relax each day and be sure to give yourself plenty of time for everything. Try not to pile all your work on one day or right after one another; you need a breather once in a while. Also, do not take on too much. You will know when is too much, and even though you want to believe you can do it all, no one can.
If all fails and you end up stressed, there are easy solutions to bring you heart rate back to normal. First thing is first, step away from the cause of all your stress. Get far enough so you won’t give it any attention that would cause more stress. Once you are at a safe distance, close your eyes and find a happy, relaxing place, cliché I know, but it actually works. Take a few deep breaths and let your mind wander. Once your heart is at a normal pace, find a relaxing, non-strenuous activity to do. I put in headphones and blast music, which takes my attention away from all my work. If music isn’t for you, you could watch a show, read a book, call up a friend or find something else to occupy your time. Anything that relaxes you and takes you away from the situation would work. Also, have comfort food handy. You do not exactly have to fulfill the needs of stress eating, but having something nearby to shift your focus. Again, I am not saying to eat your feelings. These are simple techniques to releasing the built up tension in your body.
My last piece of advice for handling stress is this, do not overthink things and do not take on too much. Stress is stress, and it will always occur. Just because you are stressed one day does not mean you should allow it to take over your life. Like all things, it will pass and you will be able to move on. Take a breather and remember that things will get better and the stress is only temporary.Â