Being a student is a one-of-a-kind experience. Whether you’re in grade school, high school, or attending a university, pursuing an education is a necessary and essential part of working toward one’s future.

An education is a privilege, as easy as it is to forget sometimes.

With an education comes classes, work, studying, and unfortunately, stress. Many students, particularly high school and college students, struggle frequently with mental health issues, ranging from stress to anxiety or depression.

Statistics taken from students ranging from kindergarten through twelfth grade, as well as university students from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America state that:

80% of students within the United States feel stressed either sometimes or often, and thirty-four percent reported suffering from depression (1).  

It’s saddening to think that the young minds of the world view learning as more of a stressful experience than an exciting, positive one.

So what can students attempt to do to mitigate the stress, depression and anxiety that comes from the pressure of their workload? 

Time management is a crucial element of being a successful student.

This can become a challenge in high school, since that is primarily when school work starts to pick up in volume and intensity.

In modern times, many high schools have given students more information and advice in regards to healthy time management.

Particularly, when I was in high school, in my health class, we discussed many different time management techniques. 

Time management can be challenging since it feels almost impossible at first to control one’s time, since it flies by so fast. An easy way to get around this is to track one’s productive and relaxed time.

For example, a common strategy for many is to study or work for let’s say, thirty minutes, and then relax for five. This kind of time management system is easy to use, track, and it has a built-in reward system.

This is also easy to experiment with, since you can adjust the time spent working and relaxing. I’ve been using a time management system like this since sophomore year of high school, and it has helped me immensely in getting work done.

Another strategy that helps the time go by fast is studying with peers and friends.

Some people enjoy studying by themselves, but I know many people who enjoy studying in a group environment. Studying with other people is a great way to test your knowledge of the subject, since you can quiz each other. If you study with friends, it can make the time go by even quicker.

This is an easier thing to do for high school students, since many high school students are taking the same class. 

College students are a little different. Many college students take vastly different classes, so this might be more challenging. Even if you and your friends don’t take the same classes, you can still test and quiz each other. It might not be as easy as if you guys had the same class, but it still helps. You can make an entire day of it.

Invite some friends out to a local coffee shop, grab something to drink, a bite to eat, and study for a couple hours. 

Finally, another great way to minimize stress as a student is to regularly reach out to professors and teachers.

School is difficult, especially if one is taking AP, honors, or higher level courses. Ever since high school, what helped me succeed was my ability to reach out for help. When I would struggle with a given class, I would tell the teacher.

I would go to their office hours and review extra material with them, see if I can do any extra credit, and put in as much effort as I could.

This does two important things:

•  It shows the teacher that you care. When one takes the initiative, it shows their teacher that they want to do well.
• All the extra time put into studying and working with the teacher will help your brain absorb the information you’re having trouble with. This strategy worked for me in high school, and it is currently working for me now in my college career.

All it takes is that first step, to reach out. Which is hard to do, since many students battle many mental health issues, unfortunately deriving from school work.

I firmly believe if one takes this daunting yet necessary first step, there’s nothing they won’t be able to overcome.

Written by Nicolas Scagnelli, Content Director, Ohana Homefront Foundation 

*For more posts from Ohana Homefront, click HERE.