As December edges closer, 15-16 year olds across the UK are snowed in with Maths papers and English Literature texts, as well as letting the stress of mocks grow with January just around the corner. It is very easy to think that the sole cause of stress for teenagers is school work/exams- however, many people fail to factor in the endless list everything on top of school work.
Adults fail to understand that teenagers struggle to balance three different music lessons and recitals, sport training sessions and matches, as well as activities like the Duke of Edinburgh Award with the work load from school. Teachers and parents reprimand their students and children without regarding their mental and physical state. As four hour nights turn into the new standard working day, many students struggle with the feeling of helplessness, lack of self confidence, and they deem themselves as “worthless”. So far, only the amount of work students plough through has been discussed, but surely one’s environment would affect one’s well-being also? Difficulties at home (whether it be a sick family member, or parents that constantly fight) also have weight on a child. Depending on the severity on the situation, depression may begin to develop at this young age. This may also be the result of social expectations on young children which may also lead to eating disorders.
These high stress levels and sleepless nights make a child vulnerable to almost anything! Many of today’s children have become victim to the vicious cycle of growing stress levels and declining sleep hours. It starts off with staying up until midnight to finish homework and maintain good grades- but then you skip breakfast because you slept through your alarm the next morning, so you tell yourself you will make up for it at lunch- but you have a rehearsal at lunch followed by a music lesson so you have more food at dinner to make up for lunch… but after school you have netball practice then a piano lesson, so you eat as much as you can in the car before finishing the four essays (two of which are already overdue) you have to hand in the next day.
This is not sustainable in the long term, nor is it beneficial to your health in anyway. A few consequential health problems linked with sleep deprivation/ high stress levels are, memory issues, trouble thinking and concentrating, high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, and risk of heart disease. It is clear that these are not the most desirable conditions for a working/ studying young adult, but many suffer from this cycle day in, and day out.
As a result of all this, self harm rates have increased for children under the age of 18. Data from the NHS Digital Show collated in 2016 showed that over 2000 girls were treated as inpatients, because they were cutting themselves.
Now, I’m sure a few readers may think that schools are aware of the issue, and know how to deal with this. However, many schools are under the impression that talking about these things in assemblies, raising awareness and having charity days will resolve the issue- if your lucky, you may have a teacher who tells you they can talk if your struggling. The problem is schools/ teachers do not fully understand the situation, so when you build up the courage to talk about these issues, no progress is made.
In November, a school in Woodford Green entertained students, teachers an adults for an evening to raise money for the YoungMinds charity. Although this comes under “raising awareness”, YoungMinds is a charity with the aim to Foster innovation to meet the needs of vulnerable and excluded children and young people, promote good mental health to more children and young people than ever before, champion the voices of young people and parents to influence mental health policy and practice, and inspire excellence to achieve transformed, integrated services.
