How to Reduce Stress among Teenagers?

eenagers, like adults, may experience stress every day and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience more stress when they perceive a situation as dangerous, difficult, or painful and they do not have the resources to cope. Some teens become overloaded with stress. When it happens, inadequately managed stress can lead to anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping skills such as drug and/or alcohol use.
When we perceive a situation as difficult or painful, changes occur in our minds and bodies to prepare us to respond to danger. This "fight, flight, or freeze” response includes faster heart and breathing rate, increased blood to muscles of arms and legs, cold or clammy hands and feet, upset stomach and/or a sense of dread. The same mechanism that turns on the stress response can turn it off. As soon as we decide that a situation is no longer dangerous, changes can occur in our minds and bodies to help us relax and calm down. This "relaxation response” includes decreased heart and breathing rate and a sense of wellbeing. Teens that develop a "relaxation response” and other stress management skills feel less helpless and have more choices when responding to stress.

Any adult who doubts that teenage stress is a real problem affecting a large number of teenagers, only needs to cast their mind back to their own teenage years and recall their own experiences to realize how prevalent teenage stress is, and how difficult it can be. In recent years, the amount of stress in young people’s lives seems to be increasing, and stress seems to be present in their lives earlier and earlier. Recent survey results show that one third of all teenagers experience stress at least once per week.
Given the near impossibility of determining what normal teenage behavior is, it can be difficult, to say the least, to recognize the onset of teenage stress.You can find more about how to reduce stress with assignment help .The fact that teenagers are particularly reluctant to ask for help, makes it very important to detect the signs, both physical and emotional, of behavior which indicates some form of stress. These can include obvious physical signs such as headaches and nausea, and less obvious, but equally important emotional ones such as feelings of uneaseiness, or not having fun, or even more obvious symptoms like edginess and even anger.

The causes of teenage stress may appear trivial by comparison to the stresses which we experience as adults, which are associated with our responsibilities. However, to teenagers their suffering is very real, and can be very difficult to deal with. The good news is that, with the right encouragement, teenagers’ ability to cope with the stresses in their lives can be improved enormously. The benefits of being able to do so can be far reaching and long lasting, since the habits learned in adolescence carry through well into adult life.

Steps to manage stress are:

TALK TO PEOPLE: Teens who are eager to assert their independence can bottle things up and try to figure everything out for themselves. This is admirable, but hardly conducive to relieving stress. If your teen approaches each challenge as a personal obstacle, she'll end up totally overwhelmed. The best thing your teen can do when she feels stressed out is to talk to others who've been there before and learn from their experiences. In addition, there are many professional one-on-one and group counseling options available for teens, usually for free and through school or local community centers.
Meditate: If you're thinking meditation means twisting your body into an uncomfortable position and uttering "oohs" and "omms" for an hour, guess again. Any repetitive action can be a source of meditation, says Herbert Benson, MD, author of The Relaxation Response and director emeritus of Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in Chestnut Hill, Mass. This includes walking, swimming, painting, knitting -- any activity that helps keep your attention calmly in the present moment. When you catch yourself thinking about your job, your relationship or your lifelong to-do list, experts say to simply let the thought escape, and bring your mind back the repetition of the activity. Try it for just 5 to 10 minutes a day and watch stress levels drop. Meditation is growing in popularity as people everywhere are beginning to truly appreciate the benefits of turning their thoughts inward and forgetting the world around them. Teach your teen to meditate by simply closing his eyes, or teach him to use ritualistic meditation techniques such as japa meditation or prayer.
REST AND SLEEP: Teens love to stay up late, but doing so actually hinders their performance during the day. Without 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours sleep each night they are making it harder for themselves to focus on their assignments during the day or their homework at night. It may take some convincing, but make sure your teen heads to bed early enough to get a good night's sleep.

INCREASE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: Teenagers are young and should have plenty of energy. One way to burn off that energy is to exercise. Whether it's in physical education class or an extracurricular activity, a teenager should have at least one physical activity incorporated into his schedule. Encourage your teen to play sports such as baseball, football, tennis or track to help relieve stress and forget about other responsibilities for a while. If your teen is more solitary, a solo sport such as swimming, running or yoga can help as well.

REDUCE YOUR WORKLOAD: While a full schedule may look good on a college transcript, it can also cause major burnout and make it tougher for your teen to excel at the things that matter most. Remember, your daughter doesn't have to be prom queen, class treasurer, a softball player, a pet shelter volunteer, a straight A student and everybody's best friend to get the love and respect she deserves. You can relieve some of your teen's stress and make life more manageable by subtracting a few activities from her schedule to improve her performance in others.Reduce your workload get help with your assignments with Assignment help Work with a school counselor and your teen to find out which activities should be shelved.

Laugh: Rediscover your sense of humor by making fun of your situation and allowing others to laugh without anger or disputing. View it from your future self's perspective, telling this story to a bunch of your friends over pizza and soda. Laughter, whether it's yours or someone else's, is the best medicine--and it's contagious!
Be organized: For the most part, stress arises from feeling overwhelmed. Use a planner to keep track of your "TO DO'S". There's just too much to do, and not enough time to do it. Being organized and getting your priorities straight can help you break responsibilities down into manageable pieces and focus on the things that really matter to you, rather than getting caught up in details and creating extra work for yourself--all of which leads to more stress.
Listen to music: Listening to music does wonders and is a great way to relieve stress, if it is not something that will make you feel worse. Listen to good songs that get you in a happy mood; and just forget about your problem. Music is known to be a significant mood-changer and reliever of stress. Ocean sounds tend to simulate calmness and serenity so, listening to a sound machine while lying down could help.

Soothe the senses: Light a scented candle that has a calming fragrance like lavender. Listen to your favorite, most relaxing music or, better yet, go somewhere that you can listen to wind rustle through trees or waves crash on the beach. Enjoy the scenery, whether you're outdoors or viewing an art exhibit. Drink some warm tea or taste--really taste--some dark chocolate