Stress and me

Stress is the way your body responds to challenges and demands, preparing you to face challenges and opportunities with attention, energy and strength. For adolescents and young people, stress may be uncomfortable, but by itself it is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we need a little stress as these forces you to take action and motivate yourself to perform well or get a job done.

A problem happens when we have too many challenges or demands but do not have the right or enough resources to deal with them. When this happens, we often talk about being ‘under stress’ ‘stressed’ or ‘stressed out’.

Signs of stress can be reflected in your emotions, body, thinking and behaviours.

Signs of Stress

Emotional signs

You may notice changes in your feeling and emotions. For example, it might be you feel nervous or anxious much of the time: Being in a bad mood, crying, or feeling sad, depressed, or desperate, feeling like nothing is right. Oy you may find that you have having emotional ups and downs for no apparent reason or suddenly becoming very angry at the smallest of things.

Physical signs

You may notice physical signs of stress. For example, feeling sick: headaches, shoulder pain, stomach or jaw pain, frequent colds or infections, weight loss or gain, dizziness, rapid breathing.

Thinking signs

Stress can affect your thinking. You may find: Having trouble concentrating. Problems remembering, organizing, planning, or making decisions. You may also notice that you spend time and worrying for example that you don't know what your friends are doing or dwelling on problems. You may also find it difficult to slow down your thinking or switch off, especially on social media.

Behavioural signs

When you are under stress, you may notice changes in your behavior. For example, it might be: you don’t want to participate in the activities you usually like, refuse to go to school or stop studying well. You may find you can’t settle well and are constantly on the move or the opposite, have difficulty getting out of bed. Sleep may be affected either sleeping too little or too much. You may turn to using over-the-counter pain relievers or use alcohol or other drugs. You may act aggressively towards other or property.

Causes of stress

Many things bring pressure to young people and something that cause stress in some people don’t bother others. Some of the main contributors to adolescent stress are:

- school, especially homework, tests and the pressure of getting along with friends,

- life changes (such as graduation, university or work),

- having many things to do (especially balancing home and school demands)

- feeling unprepared or overwhelmed by tasks or frustrated due to lack of knowledge on how to do things or a lack of support from others.

Other things that can contribute to stress include poor sleep and diet. Having recently gone through a major trauma or change in circumstance including the loss of someone you love.

For advice on how to deal with stress using self-care, use this LINK.