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The Official Student Paper of Riverside Poly High School

Academic pressure raises stress levels in teens

Oct 23, 2012

STUDENT LIFE: Pressure to receive high grades and attend college is raising stress levels in teens.

By John Burke, Staff Writer

Many teens today are stressed out for academic reasons. Increasing amounts of homework, studying, college applications and challenging extracurricular activities all combine to turn the life of a teen into a day-to-day battle.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers need an average of nine hours and 15 minutes of sleep every night; however, according to a study done by Journal of Adolescent Health, about two thirds of teenagers get less than seven hours of sleep every night. Lack of sleep, along with anxiety and depression, makes some teens wonder whether all this work is worth risking their health.

According to a study done by Clinical Psychology Review, teenagers are more stressed today than they were during the Great Depression. This is due to increasing external pressure from things like school and extracurriculars. A live poll on newsvine.com states that 55 percent of voters think that teens cannot learn as well in a stressed environment. “I want to take classes where I actually learn,” Sam O’Neill (10) said. However, many colleges require that students take classes that may not interest them.

Steps are being taken to reduce stress in teenagers. The film, Race to Nowhere, produced by Reel Link Films, highlights “the dark side of America’s achieving culture.” This film has been shown in over 1,400 schools and community centers to raise awareness about teen stress and anxiety, and some school districts are listening. Trustees in Danville, California banned homework on weekends and vacations. School officials in Palo Alto have prohibited teachers from assigning homework over winter break.  More and more school boards are advising teachers to limit the amount of homework they assign.

Sleep deprivation has a large amount of negative effects on a teenager’s health, but many students feel the need to cram for those few extra hours, or stay up until that paper is perfect. But students who wake up earlier were found to have higher GPAs then students who went to sleep later and slept in, according to a study done by researchers at the University of North Texas. It is more beneficial to go to sleep earlier, and set that alarm clock earlier, than it is stay up all night cramming.

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