Guest Author - Melissa Weise
Teenagers have so many reasons to be stressed these days because so many people are expecting so much. Your parents want you to get good grades and behave well and work on growing into a great adult, your teachers want you to do well on the latest test, your advisors want you to write your college essays, your coach wants you to run every day, your boss wants you to mop the floor, your little sister wants you to play with her, your boyfriend wants you to go to the movies, and your friends want to hang out. And those are just the people that you can think of in the next five minutes. You are pretty sure there are more.
All in all. It can be overwhelming to be you.
What people very rarely expect from you is that you relax and take care of you. And because it isn’t something that someone else tells us to do when we have so many other things that we have to do, we don’t get into the habit of doing it. But we really should.. So, because no one else is going to tell you to relax, you need to tell yourself.
Just chill.
This is something that many adults don’t even know how to do well and so here are some things that can start you on a lifetime of healthy habits that even you parents probably don’t have.
1) Get enough sleep. Teens need more sleep than almost any other age group. Make sure you are getting it. For more information, see the article on teens and sleep below.
2) Know when to say NO. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that you want to do. You need to prioritize and figure out just what you CAN do and say no to the rest.
3) Schedule relaxation time. That isn’t to say that you need to become a couch potato, but make sure that you have at least a bit of rest scheduled into each day (and, no, sleep at night isn’t enough).
4) Learn relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing or progressive relaxation. One such technique is to lie on a flat surface and tighten your toes, then release, then tighten your calves, then release, then tighten your abdominal muscles, then release and so on all the way up to your neck and head. When you tighten the muscles, give it all you got and put all your stress into them and then really relax them, letting them fall into gooey mushy nothing.
Relaxation is extremely important for your health. Learn one better than mom and dad and get into this healthy habit young.
