by Emily Jerez

“Ohh no I have a test tomorrow, I have to study ALL night!!” Sophomore Helen Contereras says this when she starts to panic about school exams. Teenage stress level has become a serious epidemic. A lot of teen stress comes from worrying about school. 8 out of 10 students interviewed at Oakdale High  say that most of their stress is due to school. The students interviewed say that most of the stress comes from being assigned too much homework and taking long 100 question tests that make up 60% of your total class grade.

Students at OHS suggest that stress due to school can be decreased significantly.

“If we only had one, 30 minute homework assignment per class every night, I would be less stressed and only have two hours worth of homework instead of six,” Junior Kymoni Smith suggests.

If teachers were to take this tip, then students may have more time to themselves. Therefore, stress will decrease and in turn create a more hardworking and involved student body.

Stress can also cause sleep deprivation; 6 out of 10 students interviewed claim that they only receive 4-5 hours of sleep per night due to studying and doing homework for a long period of time.

According to the National Sleep Foundation teens should have 8-9 hours of sleep each night in order for them to function properly during the day. With less sleep teens tend to “limit abilities to listen, concentrate, and solve problems.” So now we know that teachers can not blame students for being half asleep during class when they have spent most of the night doing homework due the next day.

School work, extracurricular activities, and employment can all contribute to teen stress. There are ways to cope with this stress. Young adults can practice time management skills, and find other more efficient ways to study.

Stress can sometimes beoverpowering but it is something we all have to handle. Teens may suffer from a lot ofschool relatedstress but it is inevitable.