Balancing school, friends, and activities can feel like an endless race, with no clear finish line in sight. A day in the life of a typical student in the US may look something like this: They wake up, attend classes for seven hours, socialize with friends, attend a sports practice, go home, take care of themselves, chug an energy drink to stay awake at their desk in order to prepare for their math test and sleep for maybe five hours. They wake up the next morning and do it all over again. Drawing the line between personal, social and school life for teens can be a constant challenge, especially when friendships, extracurriculars and academic excellence are at stake. Whether a student is racing to meet a deadline, spending time with friends, or even taking a moment to breathe, the issue of finding the perfect in between still stands.
In an article published by the American Psychological Association, a survey conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. found that among the 1,018 teens and adults polled, 31% reported that their stress levels increased in recent years while only 16% reported that their stress levels were on the decline. However, the physical impacts of stress can lead to headaches, fatigue and chest pain. Mentally, the impacts can include changes in eating habits, feelings of depression and unfocused thinking.
“When I get stressed, I kind of shut down. I don’t really do anything,” sophomore Soren Zuehlke said. “I’ll just sit inside and watch TV.”
On top of it all, high school is infamous for increasing students’ workloads as they advance. According to Kj Dell’Antonia, writer for the New York Times, 4,317 students from high performing schools in the upper middle class communities in California reported that their nightly homework load to be about 3.1 hours. For US students, this doesn’t stray too far from the norm of the daily block schedule; 45 minutes multiplied by three or four classes a day equates to 2.25 to 3 hours of extra work every day.
In addition to an extensive number of assignments, students partake in a multitude of extracurriculars including sports, with 77% of the US student body participating in at least sport. This then leads to a further increase in workload that is often overlooked. In order to stay on top of it all, many students utilize a variety of different strategies to plan for the future or maintain their wellbeing without feeling overwhelmed.
“Try to keep a schedule of things so you don’t procrastinate on things too much and it doesn’t build up, especially with the way we have homework assigned on a two day schedule,” senior Talia Cairns said. “When you have a lot of work and sports stuff going on, just try to figure out your priorities and organize it so you can handle things well.”
For ninth-grader Kate Tuttle, she integrates parts of her social life into her daily homework routine, enjoying the best of both worlds. Studying together with friends allows her to work efficiently with a support system to lean on while maintaining her social life.
“Since my friends are very quiet people who like to get their work done, I find it really helpful for me to be around them while doing work at quiet study,” she said.
Although the task of enforcing boundaries between school, social and personal life may seem daunting, with the right set of strategies, finding balance in multiple aspects of life might not be as challenging as it seems. It’s all about experimentation and finding the best combination of study habits, organization tools, and time management.
