Headaches, fatigue, difficulty Concentrating, mood swings—have you ever experienced any of these symptoms? If you have, then you are probably one of the 79% of people in the U.S. who experience excessive stress daily.
According to the NHS, “Stress is the body’s reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure.” Stress is directly a feeling that can impact one’s entire mood, personality, and how they react to others around them.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are three main kinds of stress.
- Acute Stress: “stress that comes and goes quickly.” This stress is hard to get rid of, but it doesn’t have any real consequences on one’s life.
- Episodic Acute Stress: “With this kind of stress, you don’t ever get the time you need to return to a calm, relaxed state.” This stress will harm health as this frequent stress will especially harm one’s mental health and can lead to burnout in one’s endeavors.
- Chronic Stress: “long-term stress that goes on for weeks or months.” This type of stress is the most harmful and it is normally caused by finances or relationships.
While all of these stress types have different effects, they all have a negative impact on a person’s health. Stress truly affects all parts of one’s body, so what impact does limiting it have in our lives?
In the short term: reducing stress can lead to improved concentration and productivity on a day-to-day basis. Whereas, in the long term, it can improve health both mentally and physically.
Especially in high school, many factors including school, sports, family, friends, and extracurriculars can truly add to the stress in one’s life. Senior Mia Marguglio, when asked about her favorite way to limit stress, explained, “I like to drive around a lot and take the long route home when possible. This limits my stress because I can listen to music and have some time away from the busy world.”
It’s truly important to discover the best methods to limit stress in your life.
What can you do to limit stress?
- Exercise: Additional activity can lower cortisol and boost endorphins which can aid in limiting stress.
- Sleep: Additional sleep regulates emotions and calms minds, meaning that it can help with stress
- Mindfulness: Just taking a few minutes out of one’s day can truly help center one’s mind and limit the negative impact of daily stress on a person.
- Plan: Develop a routine, get to know yourself and your goals, and make an established routine to help you get organized which can limit stress
- Reflect: Reflect on aspects of your life and how they make you feel. If something is making you feel bad, try to eliminate it from your life in order to increase endorphins and decrease stress.
Ultimately, stress is a uniting factor that affects millions of people worldwide. While it may be challenging to eradicate completely, working on limiting stress in one’s life can truly change a person’s future.
