Teen Stress Relief

Does teen stress really exist? Although many people today have the idea that stress only affects adults, you'll actually find that stress does not discriminate by age.

Today more than ever before, teens are dealing with high levels of stress.

It is important that teens learn how to deal with stress in their lives, since this is an important life skill.

If you are a parent, it is relevant that you understand teen stress, the causes of it, signs to out look for, how you can help, and some tips you can teach your teen for stress relief and management.

A Few Causes of Teen Stress

Believe it or not, stress is affecting your teen from all sides. In fact, there are studies that show that many teens today are suffering from one or more stressful situations on a weekly basis.

Of course the things causing stress in your teen's life are different than the causes of stress in your own life.

So, here are just a few of the things that may be causing the stress that you are dealing with today.

• Pressure to succeed in school
• Trying to make decisions about careers
• Changes they go through during puberty
• Dealing with the divorce of their parents
• Stress around the holidays
• Conflicts between peers or family members
• Peer pressure
• The pressure to try sex, alcohol, or even drugs
• Fashion pressure
• Moving to a different area
• Losing a loved one or friend

Signs Your Teen is Too Stressed

Although some stress is definitely going to be a part of your teen's life, at time they can become overloaded with too much stress and it can affect their health.

Learning to cope with stress is definitely going to be important for your teen, but if they are under too much teen stress, it can lead to problems with depression, physical ailments, and anxiety attacks as well.

So, as a parent, it's important that you learn to recognize the signs that your teen is dealing with too much stress. Here are some of the signs that you need to be looking out for.

• Sign #1 - Physical Sickness - If you notice that your child is suddenly starting to be sick on a more regular basis, this could be a sign that they are too stressed and that it is affecting your teen's health. Some of the problems could include being fatigued all the time, headaches, pain in their muscles, and stomach problems.

• Sign #2 - Social Withdrawal - Another sign that your teen has too much stress is that they begin to withdraw from their friends, family members, and even favorite activities.

• Sign #3 - Problems with Sleep Patterns or Eating - Your teen may also have trouble sleeping, sleep too much, or may have problems eating if they are too stressed.

• Sign #4 - Irritability or Anger - Noticing that your teen is angry or irritable all the time? They may be dealing with too much stress.

• Sign #5 - Problems with Lower Grades or Concentration - If your teen is suddenly dealing with problems with low grades or showing a problem with concentration, then this is yet another sign that they may be dealing with too much stress.

How Parents Can Help

Although your teen does need to learn how they can deal with the stress in their life, it is important that you are there to help them along the way.

There are many things that you can do to help them through the stress that they are dealing with and there are many ways that you can help them to cope.

First of all, being there to talk to your teen can be a huge help, so make sure that you make time for talking.

Also, making sure that they get away from the stress and daily routine of school is important. They can go for a walk or do some other type of activity to help.

You can also help out your teen by making sure to offer praise and encouragement, which helps to boost their self confidence in themselves.

Tips for Managing Teen Stress

A variety of things can be done by your teen to deal with teen stress. Here are a few tips for stress relief and stress management that you can teach your teen that will be a huge help.

• Tip #1 - Breath Deeply - Take the time to stop and take in very deep breaths calming yourself.

• Tip #2 - Talk to Someone - One of the best ways to deal with stress is to talk to someone about it.

• Tip #3 - Exercise - Exercise is important for dealing with stress, so running or taking a walk can help.

• Tip #4 - Setting Goals - When dealing with stress, setting smaller goals instead of huge ones can be a huge help that makes the tasks at hand seem easier to complete.

From Teen Stress to the main page about Teenage Stress Strategies