Many different things stress out teens:

Tests, pimples, sport try-outs, girlfriends, boyfriends, peer pressure, bad hair days, strange texts, gaming, bad breath days, tough coaches, strict teachers, lack of money, lack of time, weight…

The list is large.  In fact, it’s pretty “normal” to feel stressed at times as a teen. So just how do you know when your stress level is “normal” and when it really is too much? Stress can take a real toll on you – cognitively, physically, emotionally and behaviorally.  Here are some of the signs that stress might be close to causing a system overload:

Cognitively: poor concentration, memory problems, constant worry, viewing everything negatively, poor decision making skills

Emotionally: moody, irritable, can’t relax, feeling overwhelmed, sad, lonely

Physically: poor sleep, stomach aches/upset, dizziness, aches and pains, poor immune system

Behaviorally: loss of appetite, procrastination, social withdrawal, drug use, nervous habits such as nail biting, scratching, snacking

You may feel all of these things on some days because of a bad test, a fight with a friend, a scoliosis diagnosis, the death of a pet. But if you could put a check mark next to more than half of the list above on a daily basis, then, yes, we are suggesting to you that (bingo) you are stressed and you would be super smart to do something about it.

Meanwhile, remember that a little bit of stress can help you to focus; it’s when stress gets to be too much to handle and causes you to feel awful more times than not, then it has become a problem. So, assess your stress and then move on to the next sub-post where you can learn about some of the factors that help keep stress from overwhelming our systems.  After that, you can hit the Stress Reduction main post.