Everyone has or has had stress in their life at some point; it is inevitable. If stress is unavoidable, then it is important to know healthy ways to deal with it.

    Stress can be defined as anything that causes the body tension whether it be emotional or physical. Therefore, stress can derive from a great expanse of factors ranging from a large exam to the death of a loved one.

   Junior Tyler Torgerson explains what he believes to be a large cause of stress in high school.

     “ I believe that high schoolers stress over tests because if they are unprepared for them, they can hurt their grades,” sad Torgerson.

       Sometimes it is hard to handle all the busyness of high school life, so much so that our bodies can experience stress overload. According to TeensHealth.org,  some symptoms of stress overload can include anxiety or panic attacks,a feeling of being constantly pressured, hassled, and hurried, irritability and moodiness and or physical symptoms, such as stomach problems, headaches, or even chest pain.

     Health and physical education teacher Tony Sorice gives advice on how he believes students should and can deal with stress.

     “Students can participate in sports, talk with peers, or talk with teachers that have dealt with stress before,” advised Sorice.

     As with anything there can be both positives and negatives of stress.  A positive aspect of stress could be that it can be a motivator. For example, having a deadline for a project could motivate you to work on it. This situation could easily become negative though if a person stresses too much over it; therefore, it could cause lack of concentration on the material.

     Junior Mollie Flowers describes how she has learned to deal with stress.

       “When I am stressed, it always helps to talk about it with someone,” said  Flowers.

   When overwhelmed with the stresses of life, it is important to remember some ways to just relax and have fun in the midst of everything else that is going on.