S.A.T (Student Awareness
Tools)
®
is designed to
give students a voice on
important issues facing
them today. By explaining
how their world looks
and feels, they can show
how students have dealt
with, overcome or been
empowered by their
experience. To have
your school considered
for an upcoming issue,
contact Michelle Jacoby at
.
S.A.T
What it’s
all about
educate
J
S.A.T. (Student Awareness Tools
®
)
SPRING 2018
maskmatters.org
55
Sleep (per night)
D
5.23 percent reported 4 or fewer
hours of sleep
D
39.03 percent reported 5 to 6 hours
of sleep
D
38.4 percent reported 7 to 8 hours
of sleep
Exercise (per week)
D
16.1 percent reported 1 or fewer
hours of exercise
D
24.96 percent reported 2 to 3 hours
of exercise
D
20.68 percent reported 4 to 5 hours
of exercise
D
16.2 percent reported 6 to 7 hours
of exercise
Reasons for stress*
D
96.16 percent reported stress due
to school
D
29.86 percent reported stress due
to a job
D
29.39 percent reported stress due
to extracurricular activities
D
47.81 percent reported stress due
to family and friends
D
35.04 percent reported stress due
to college readiness
* Respondents were asked to choose
all that apply
From these statistics, a correlation
was found between high stress levels
and not getting enough sleep. According
to the National Sleep
Foundation, teens between
the ages of 14 and 17 should
sleep for 8 to 10 hours per
night in order to maintain
overall health and well-
being.Thus, a whopping
73 percent of Desert Mountain students
surveyed are obtaining less than the
recommended hours of sleep. No wonder
students develop larger amounts of stress
as an outcome.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY
KidsHealth.org states that teens between
the ages of 13 and 18 should exercise for
an hour a day, leading to approximately
seven hours per week. Exercise doesn’t
necessarily mean arduous training every
single day. Leisurely forms of physical
activity such as swimming, riding a bicycle,
or yoga also count. Furthermore, DMHS
students surveyed are exercising less than
the recommended amount, at a staggering
62 percent total.
According to
Psychology Today
,
“diagnosable mental illnesses linked to
stress are prevalent at some point for about
25 percent of students.” Parikh says she
isn’t surprised by the Desert Mountain
statistics. In fact, the stress levels reported
“seem kind of low.”
“I also think it’s due to students not
reporting it, and even staff not reporting
it,” she says. “That’s obviously from a group
of people which did report it; I think
it would be higher.”
Communication is key when
addressing stress. Reporting stress to
parents, school counselors, and trustworthy
adults is the easiest way to remove stressors
from everyday life.
JUST BREATHE
“Take a deep breath in, and exhale out
slowly.”
This familiar mantra recited in yoga
classes is as applicable in managing
daily stress as it is in the yoga studio.
Controlling your breath is important when
keeping your body in a tranquil state.
Joshi says “deliberate breathing” is a
major research trend in stress management.
“It’s essentially rhythmic breathing,”
he explains. “So you’re
exercising your diaphragm,
which intakes more oxygen
than if you were to breathe
through your chest. Why
we want that is because we
are playing off the fight or
flight response—the parasympathetic and
sympathetic nervous system.”
When one acts up, Joshi says, calming
it down is critical.
“Being able to control our breath is
one of those things where it only takes five
seconds in, five seconds out,” he continues.
“Or three seconds in, three seconds out—
as long as it’s the same number in as it
is out. What that tells us is that we can
control our heart rate and our ability to
control stress.”
k
S.A.T (Student Awareness Tools)
®
was developed and produced by students at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
MINDFULNESS IN SCHOOL
When obvious, skyrocketing levels of
stress are observed in schools, more efforts
must be exhausted in order to prevent it
from occurring, especially when a student’s
health is on the line. Parikh suggests
“social-emotional programs built into the
curriculum” to help mitigate the stress.
“So just like you’d go to a math class,
you’d go to a class where you practice
coping skills. And it doesn’t have to be an
hour long, it could be 10 to 15 minutes of
learning how to problem solve through
coping techniques,” she says, adding
that DMHS principal Dr. Lisa
Hirsch promotes mindfulness
among teachers and staff.
“And having places in
the school to help—rooms
or offices to help promote those
mental health pieces,” says Parikh.
Often, the biggest clichés—
sufficient amounts of rest and exercise,
friendships, and enjoyable activities—
make the greatest difference in alleviating
pressure. In the long run, sacrificing grades
for an extra couple of hours of sleep will
promote balanced physical and mental
health, which might just prevent some
early graying hairs.
“I’m stressed
even when I’m
not stressed.”
– Aira Sadiasa
