Stress is a common factor in people of any age and with any lifestyle. No matter what a routine day looks like for an individual, easy or not, stress is normally still evident in everyday life.

According to the American Physiological Association, females and males were surveyed to gather statistics about which gender was more stressed, and how it was affecting their lives. The study concluded that women are more stressed than men. Women report their rising stress level at 28%, while men at 20%. Although women tend to score higher percentages in this particular survey, the men are not far behind them. This proves that stress is present in some form in the lives of many. The gathered 79% to 73% statistics (Women vs Men) show the ratio of stress caused by money.

When surveyed if they felt any physical and emotional taxation on their body or health, again, women scored significantly higher with a 44% to 15% comparison. Stress is affecting people all around the world of any gender, age, financial situation, etc. The factor that now plays into stress affecting people, is how they handle it. What habits have they created to alleviate their stress? What have they altered in their personal lives to cope with the stress at hand? There is not a simple answer to this. It is all about the individual, and how their situation changes their life.

Around the halls of Cape Henry, when asked how stressed students are, responses showed that stress and time management are both significant problems within our community. In support of the reactions that were given by Cape Henry students, the American Physiological Association, gathered that high school teenagers’ stress levels exceed adults’ level of stress. Around Cape Henry, students explain how their level of stress has caused them to greatly change and remove certain personal habits from their routine on a daily basis. Collectively, they feel like they are missing out on meals, not getting the chance to sleep nearly as much as needed, and missing out on time with family.

Connor Spillane shared how at most, he sleeps 6 hours a night. He comes to school tired and less motivated to engage in classes. Katie DiBona agrees by saying, “I’m lucky if I sleep 5 to 6 hours each night, but that’s unrealistic right now. I average about 4 hours.”  DiBona continues, “I’m finding that I have no life of my own and that my weekends are strictly devoted to homework. This results in me becoming angry and triggers me into a bad mood.” Senior Bayla Deel, shared that she is not particularly stressed for college, but there is a lot of stuff to do for it. Deel expressed how she doesn’t have time to fill out the applications necessary for the college process because she is drowning in homework each night.

Junior Morgan Jones has felt overwhelmed with how teachers are reacting to absences at school. Morgan has felt that it hasn’t been easy to get the extensions that she needs sometimes. Seniors Matt Johnson and Kendall Hathaway both shared how they feel that teachers are so focused on their specific class and the heavy assignments that come along with each one, that it seems as if they do not understand how many other responsibilities we have. “I am really not a stressed out person, and I’m going to be happy wherever I go to school, but for now I am just feeling that every teacher thinks they’re the only class we are responsible for,” Matt adds. Kendall agrees with Matt by saying, “They aren’t understanding that they’re giving too much homework on top of everything else that we already have.”

Regardless of the level or form of stress in a student or adult’s life, there are ways to overcome it. Specialists provide so many methods and strategies to work through the burden of stress. It is a matter of how each person is affected by stress to find ways to work through it.