Helping teenagers manage stress; the key to ensuring emotional, mental and psychological well-being

BY PAUL JUNOR

Stress in the contemporary lives of teenagers is an ever-present factor that could potentially be helpful or hurtful in their lives. It is often during adolescence when kids leave childhood and enter adulthood that there can be many potential sources of stressors. With their changing bodies and minds, adolescents are exposed to many challenges, transitions, issues and concerns that may have a negative influence on their day-to-day lives. For teenagers who are exposed to negative life circumstances, such as abuse or trauma, scientists have arrived at a conclusion that “ The key channel through which early adversity cause damage to developing bodies and brain is stress.”

According to Paul Tough in his book, “How children Succeed,” in order to understand the role that stress plays it is important to understand how the body regulates stress; this is essential information. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal or HPA is the system that the body uses to regulate stress. In the event of immediate danger chemical signals are released. The hypothalamus releases chemicals to initiate receptors in the master gland, known as the pituitary. As a result of this, there is a release of stress hormones (glucocorticoids) that elicit different types of emotional and physical responses.

Consequently, according to Tough, “Overloading the HPA axis, especially in infancy and childhood produces all kinds of serious and long-lasting effects: physical, psychological and neurological. Furthermore, Bruce McEwen (a neuro-endocrinologist who Tough quotes) states, “The process of managing stress (which he labelled allostasis) is what creates wear and tear on the body. If the body’s stress–management systems are overworked, they eventually break down under the strain.” This has dangerous effects that can lead to cumulative and long-term effects.

It is the prefrontal cortex, which is integral in self-regulatory mechanisms that is affected the most by early stress. This means that, “Children who grew up in stressful environments generally find it: harder to concentrate, harder to sit still, harder to rebound from disappointments, and harder to follow directions. This has a direct effect on their performance in school,” Tough reported. The emotional or psychological effect of stress on the prefrontal cortex may lead to depression and anxiety.

With all the conflicting changes that adolescents go through physiologically and psychologically, it may lead to emotional seesaws. It is the development of executive functions, which is the collection of higher-order mental abilities that researchers are excited about because according to Tough, “These skills are not only predictive of success; they are quite malleable, much more so than other cognitive skills.” This is indeed hopeful.

There are many different strategies that teenagers can employ that can help them cope with stress. These include talking with friends, having a healthy and balanced diet, participating in traditional and cultural activities, as well as practising problem-solving and decision-making skills. Doctors recommend that teens age 13 to 18 get at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity most days of the week. The Physical Activity Guidelines of America issued by the US department of Health and Human Services recommend that children age 6 -17 years do 60 one hour or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.  In addition, teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night to function best according to the National Sleep Foundation.