Transcriber: Pedro Magosso Reviewer: Sebastian Betti
Need to think back to a time where you were so busy
with work that you couldn’t even think about how stressed you were.
If you’re in school, you can probably pinpoint
a couple of times each year you felt like this.
When you go to school and you have test after test
and you go home and still have homework and projects to do.
The Mental Health Foundation describes stress as
“the degree to which you feel unable
to cope with pressures that are unmanageable”.
It is no secret that stress can be bad for your health,
let alone your mental health.
When you’re stressed, you’re in a natural state of fight or flight.
When in fight or flight,
you’re in a constant state of being able to react to a dangerous situation.
For example, if you have a fear of public speaking,
you might speak quickly in order to finish your presentation quicker
and be able to escape.
Although stress can be useful,
this is only when it's in small amounts and not often.
However, when you’re in a constant state of stress
or you’re in extreme state of stress often,
your stress begins to wear you down.
The general adaptation syndrome, also known as GAS,
describes the way you react after being introduced to a new stressor.
At first, your body's resistance to stress lowers.
You feel extreme stress in a short amount of time.
However, as time goes by, you’re able to adapt to stress
and use this stress to benefit you.
And that is called the resilience stage.
The last stage is the exhaustion stage.
If you still have the stressor in your life,
and you entered exhaustion stage,
you’re tired, you can’t focus as much
and your work doesn’t end up as amazing as it could have.
As a junior in high school, I can tell you that
majority of my stress comes from school or is due to a school related reason
Meaning that school has a direct impact on my mental health.
And I’m not the only person who thinks this.
In the UK there are 850,000 students with a mental health disorder
and these students say that
a lot of their stress comes from their school exams.
Although school seems to be the main contributor
to students’ mental health issues,
it could also be a main way to fight against this epidemic.
Schools can do things such as letting their students take days off for
a mental health day,
allowing students to do things they enjoy,
such as sleeping and reading a book or baking might benefit the student
in the long run.
They’re less likely to get burnt out
or enter the exhaustion stage in the General Adaptation syndrome.
Students would be able to perform better in school
and would be able to do better things.
Another way schools can prevent students’ mental health from worsening
is by allowing students to speak to people.
Some schools already have counselors, which have been proven to be beneficial,
but some students might not feel comfortable talking to these counselors
as they might not feel comfortable asking for help.
Or there might not be any confidentiality agreement in place.
Schools can counteract this by having people that are not linked to school,
speak to students during school hours
or schools could have
their counselor put in place a confidentiality agreement,
allowing the student to speak about their issues in a private manner,
knowing that no one else will know.
Which might make the student feel more comfortable.
Schools have a direct impact on their students mental health,
but they are also one of the main ways we can fight against it.
So schools don’t begin to step up and recognize
the impact they do have on our mental health.
They’re gonna jeopardize not only our long term mental health,
but our long term health as a whole.
Students matter, and so does your mental health.
So schools should start caring about it.