Page 2 - Defuse Your Stress Bomb

Defuse Your Stress Bomb
[A Youth-designed article, originally by Ms. Maria Stahl, from the YOUTH 1986 magazine – the Bible Fund Editors]
What you can do about the problems teens rank most stressful
Upset stomach... headache... tense muscles... even just a nervous, edgy feeling.
Sound familiar? Stress isn’t just for overworked corporate executives. You may be suffering from it – lots of teens do.
Where are your stress points?
Stress comes from many directions. Do any of these situations apply to you: a failing grade in school, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, a heavy after-school schedule, a death in the family? All of these rate high as stress-producers. (The chart on the next page shows what teenagers in a Youth ’86 survey listed as their main sources of stress.)
A major source of stress for adults is their job. Your job right now is school, where you’re expected to perform just as adults are expected to perform at work. And that puts the pressure on. Friendships are important to teens, and losing a close friend - whether because of death, a move to another town or an argument - can bring a lot of stress. And when divorce shatters the special friendship between your parents, it can be quite devastating.
Not all stress is from something negative. Even something wonderful in your life can cause you to feel stress. Getting accepted to the college you’ve been wanting to go to is great, but suddenly you may start worrying whether you’ll be able to stand the pressure. Or maybe you get an after- school job to try to save up some tuition money and it takes up most of your study and leisure time.
In a similar way, being chosen to be on a sports team is a great accomplishment, but to stay on the team, you are pressured to succeed. Once again, there is stress.
Stress can lead to other problems, especially if it gets out of control. Did you know that stress can even lower your IQ?
A related study showed that family stress actually lowered the IQ of children involved by an average of 13 percent.
Defusing your stress bomb
There are many things you can do to help keep the pressure from becoming too great.
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