Emotional/mental effects:
Based on a survey of 55 high school teens, 90.1% believe stress personally affects them emotionally, whereas 8.9% believe it does not. Stress affects everyone differently, it is normal for teens to feel stress does not affect them mentally.
Anger is an strong emotion that humans feel when frustrated or upset. At this point in their lives teens tend to be very emotional and stressed. Anger is an emotion as an attempt to solve their stress problem. 55% of teens get angry because of stress (based on my survey). If anger is exhibited often due to stress, this can become very dangerous as anger is linked to health problems such as insomnia, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.
A feeling of depression is the most common effect stress has on a teenagers body. When stressed nothing is on a teen's mind but the reason behind the stress. Most teenagers feel alone when dealing with stress, therefore they go into a state of depression, worrying their source of stress will not go away. 36% of teens feel some sort of depressed feeling caused by stress (based on my survey). Several teens stated depression and stress caused them to want to be isolated from others to try and deal with stress themselves.
Physical Effects
Based a survey of 55 high school kids, 80.4% of teens believe stress affects them physically somehow, whereas 19.6% of teens believe it does not affect them physically. This statistic personally shocked me because stress almost always affects people physically more than emotionally.
Loss of concentration is something everyone has dealt with as an effect of stress. Constantly thinking of whatever makes us stressed distracts us from being able to accomplish other tasks we must complete. This can have a very negative effect on teenagers as school is an environment where concentration is vital. Students who have a hard time concentrating in class usually end up with lower grades, which can ultimately lead to additional stress. 31% of teens admit loss of concentration is a result of stress in their life. (Based on my survey).
Sleep deprivation is a serious health concern many teens face. Laying awake at 2 am on a daily basis because of stress is something many teens face today. Sleeping is an essential part of our lives, a time meant to relax and let go of all troubles for a couple of hours, but for stressed teens this is not the case. Sleeping for very little can be very harmful to a teenager's body, considering this is a time in their lives where they are growing and need sleep the most out of all age groups. Sleep deprivation eventually leads into a weak immune system and other health issues. 31% of teens note sleep deprivation is a big effect of stress on them.
A change in appetite was a big effect teens have when dealing with stress. When stressed teens typically either binge eat or eat very little. 29% of teens notice a change in appetite when stressed (based on my survey). Binge eating is a disorder in which someone will eat without stopping until they get full, many teens use binge eating as a way of dealing with their stress. Eating certain foods usually calm people down. Other teens would usually lose their appetite because of too much stress and things on their mind. Eating too much has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Eating too little can cause undernourishment and bigger health problems in the long run.