Stress Management for Teens

Teenagers Are As Stressed As Adults: Stress Management For Teens

Prolonged stress can lead to physical and mental illness. Stress is here to stay, and there are simple and effective ways to build resilience to stress. Teens are as stressed as adults. Not only are they coping with school, being teased or bullied, pressured into destructive behaviors, activities that take up time; they also feel and react to the tension in the home. Frequent moves, breakups, divorce, death, and trauma are other causes of stress for teenagers. Being a teenager has also been a challenge in the United States. Parents are stressed as well, and it is easy to not notice the stress in your teen or to shrug it off. Teens today are faced with what every generation faces, in addition to national security threats, wondering if Earth will be here in ten years, and having more knowledge and perceptiveness about what is happening around them. They learn about adult things much younger, but aren’t emotionally or cognitively mature enough to know how to cope with it. Many people think, oh it’s just hormones, but your teen may be overwhelmed or even clinically depressed. Stress is a fact of life, and some stress is good for us. If you notice your teen experiencing stress or any of these symptoms, consider getting them help with stress management:

Somatic complaints, such as headaches, muscle tension or stomachaches, sweating, concentration-attention problems, memory problems, grades drop, boredom, anger-irritability, easily agitated, aggression, nightmares, depressed mood, fearful, withdrawn, scattered-disorganized, insomnia, over-sleeping, or some other change in their behavior that is out of character for them.

If you are not seeing signs of stress, get them stress management to prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. Prevention is key, as it will make them resilient to stress and much healthier and happier teens through adulthood. Teens can be taught methods adults use to manage stress, such as deep breathing and meditation.

Anxious people need to be doing some form of breathing and or meditation daily. Over time the central nervous system adjusts to help you maintain a sense of calmness. It's cumulative in a good way, much like too much stress weakens the immune system making us sick. In sum, even if your teen isn’t appearing stressed out, consider helping them build resilience to stress with stress management. Learning to meditate can also help teens be less entitled and become more compassionate, something that is desperately needed these days. So pay attention and take your teen to a professional or find other ways to make them resilient to stress.