As students progress through school and the curriculum becomes more advanced, they sometimes lag behind.  This can cause stress, which in turn leads to impulsive, distracted, or hyperactive behavior.

It’s no wonder that teachers report that students are more difficult to work with at the end of the school year. With finals, state testing, and uncertainty about the summer and upcoming school year or graduation, stress levels are often at their highest for both students and teachers this time of year.

In today’s busy society, there are many issues that students may overlook because they think stress is a normal occurrence and nothing crucial will happen to their health. They often think that they don’t have to deal with, or manage, their stress because it will soon fade away.

However, unaddressed chronic stress can cause one to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or even heart disease.

A study done by a group of psychologists studied how stress can affect one’s health. According to experts, stress can exert various actions on the body ranging from alterations in homeostasis to life-threatening effects and death.

Overall, to decrease levels of stress, people must actively manage their stress or it can lead to lifelong issues.

Here are some ways students can actively manage their stress:

• When placed in a stressful environment, take deep breaths and try to focus on the task at hand.
• Meditation can help deal with stress, anxiety, and PTSD.
• Eat healthy, well-balanced meals. People often underestimate the effect a poor diet has on mental health.
• Exercise regularly.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.
• Another way to reduce stress can include massage to relieve muscle tension.
• If stress is a chronic problem, doctors may also prescribe medications to relieve stress by calming you down and helping you sleep.

Unfortunately, high-stress environments are all around us and sometimes we just ignore them and continue on through the day. Some defining factors of high stress can even permanently damage the brain. Work and school environments are only one of the many key factors that may cause high stress.

Many people may not know stress can kill them, but unmanaged stress can and will reduce not only happiness but also the length of one’s life.