An average high schooler’s day consists of two things. School and sports. This, everyday, for all four years of high school. For most of us, as soon as the learning is over, you’re out on a field or in a pool working your hardest to please your coaches. Rather if it’s living up to the expectations of your parents, coaches, or teachers, you can always be better.

A year consists of 6000 hours. Being an American high schooler, 1000 of those hours are spent in school. Despite if your grades are straight A’s or D’s, you will be stressed throughout your high school years unless you’re okay with failing. Since the new schedule, we spend about 6 hours per day learning in class. After that, you’re sweating and practicing sports for another few hours.

Finally, after a long day’s work, you’re home.

Can you finally get rest and prepare for the next day?

No, you cannot, unless you’re prepared to sacrifice your grades.

After school and practice, another average of 2.7 hours is spent doing homework per day. As you can see, American high school students have an extreme amount of stress put on them and are expected to do all tasks with a strict due date.

But, yes there are solutions to your stress.

There is an unlimited amount of solutions to a student’s stress. In my freshman year, my health teacher showed the video above to all his students. As he explained that stress is okay, we all created a document explaining how school stressed us out. Along with that, a list of solutions was created. For some, their escape is sports. While you work out, endorphins are released and cause your mind to slowly become at ease. Working the tension of your anger and stress out using your busy is an extremely healthy option to destress. Though this is a highly beneficial solution, for others, this is the whole source of their stress. Let’s think of some different options.

Sometimes, it is difficult to find a moment of peace. Laying in your bed, eyes closed, with music playing can also take stress off a person. According to research by phycologists, your heart rate slows when listening to music that makes you calm. Getting into specifics, the electrical signals and vibrations are able to reach the cerebral cortex of your brain. Doing so, your music can influence your bodily systems and emotions. It is so amazing that simple sound waves can benefit your health like music does. Not only does music calm people down, but others actually use it to get “pumped” up before sports games or working out. Whether you’re using it as a de-stressing agent or an energizer, music is a world wide solution to people’s problems.

The YouTube link above is my favorite movie of all time. One last idea to destress is to watch TV. Watching TV is another way to take a break from the world and calm down. Your favorite shows and movies require no physical activity and can help a person forget about their own lives and focus more on the plot of what they’re watching. A stressed student is able to get comfortable in a a bed, grab some snacks, and take a 2 hour break to watch a movie. Along with being a way to calm yourself, movies can also signal friend and family bonding time. Who said it was a single person activity? When going to sit down for a show, grab your friends and family to accompany you on a comfy couch. Who knows? Maybe they were even more stressed than you and now have an outlet to relax.

What has been listed above are some personal ways I use to relief stress. Other options include unique things like doing makeup, performing self-care, having fun with friends, creating art, shopping, etc. Find what makes you happy and go with that.

If you ever have too much anxiety and you feel as if you have no where to turn to, you can always get help. Texting “CONNECT” to 741741 will connect you with trained professionals to help you talk through your stress and anxiety. After all, it is completely normal for a high school student to be overly stressed out. I, for one, know I am.