“Middle Schoolers are experiencing stress at new levels.” — 2016.9.24

Stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed. When it overloads, it can damage one’s mood and relationship. Nowadays, most kid’s life is based on school. As they get older, academic and social pressure create stress. These affect students daily life, causing them to live in anxiety.

Homeworks are meant for further education, however, “piling on them” won’t help students advance in school. In fact, it could well have the reverse entirely. According to the survey (asking middle schooler’s stress level), about 95 percent of student in Kaohsiung American School have homework stress. This causes them to sleep very late, become depressed, tired, guilty, nervous, jittery, and short tempered. In advance, may even affect grades, since one cannot focus when needed. A girl complained, “Having too much homework literally makes me want to give up life!”

Socialization, can also directly impact stress levels in multiple ways. When realizing friends are gossiping behind one’s back, it’ll make people feel extremely uncomfortable. He or she will start worrying about losing friends or being betrayed and laughed at. Also, one’s peers might misunderstand and start spreading rumors. These “evil” conversations can ruin a person as easily as a human can crush an ant! Furthermore, by sending mean words to others, can result in causing them live in fear, shame, embarrassment, and guilt. What’s worse, when becoming too overwhelmed, one may receive all kinds of illness, and get weakened.

To make life happier and more enjoyable, making stress into benefits will be a major cure for depression. A student explained that stress is actually a motivation for her sometimes. It can remind her to use time wisely, be balanced, as well as becoming more successful. Experts had agreed that low-level stress may impact on brain power boosting. Moreover, there are some efficient ways to manage stress. For example, doing exercise can reduce pressure. Or empower oneself, be confident and take control of your environment. Also, make a good plan and follow through, don’t get off task. But most importantly, is to relax. When feeling too stressful, the best action to take is to forget it and go to sleep, it’ll lower blood pressure and release muscle tension. Try to change stress into positivities of your life.

PPL News–KAS        by: Mimi, Lisa, Claire, and Michelle