While stress in the short-term can be useful – making a child practice for his/her music performance or pushing a teen in a high school in Kuala Lumpur to study, despite their desire to have fun with friends can be stressful for them as well as for you.

Continued stress, if left unresolved, could bring a long array of health issues, both mental and physical. Long-standing stress has been known to cause high blood pressure, destroy the immune system, and bring diseases like heart disease and obesity. It can also cause mental health issues like anxiety and depression, increasingly seen in teens and youth. 

Most of the stress in adolescents happens due to the unrealistic expectations of achieving perfect grades and test scores, which are important to help get into the perfect colleges. The pressure to achieve those goals is unrelenting and comes from parents, peers, schools, and often from themselves. 

How to help reduce the level of stress experienced by students of high schools in Kuala Lumpur.

1 – Learn to differentiate between stress and real anxiety.

It is vital to distinguish between two terms—stress and anxiety—that are often used interchangeably but are very different from each other. Clinical anxiety is very much different from stress in its quality. 

Students generally grapple with stressors of varying levels, but they are not all stricken by anxiety. Stress is normal and part of student life for many adolescents at international schools in Kuala Lumpur without slipping down into anxiety. 

2 – Encourage regular physical exercise in your kid studying at international schools in Kuala Lumpur

Almost everybody advises you to get more exercise, but it is indeed very wise advice. Regular physical exercise has been shown to reduce the symptoms of depression in those suffering from mild to moderate levels of the disease. 

If your child is unable to motivate themselves, finding an exercise buddy to help them get away from the computer and chemistry lab to work out some activities outside would be helpful. 

If they cannot take up running, yoga would be another healthy alternative. Yoga is effective in keeping depression and anxiety at bay. 

Whatever activity you take up, staying active will make you feel better, so make it a habit to get up and about as much as you can. 

2 – Ensure that your kids eat well, exercise, and get enough sleep.

Though this seems like simple, no-brainer advice, most teenagers are very poor at taking care of themselves. Adolescents are required to get nine hours of sleep every night. Any fewer hours could generate stress and make them more reactive and morose. 

Lack of adequate sleep has been shown to put teenagers at increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. 

3 – Help fight negative thinking 

Children and teenagers are susceptible to slipping into the chasm of negative thinking. When you find your child using negative self-talk, do more than disagree. It is necessary to challenge those thoughts. 

So, ask them to think deeply about whether what they said is true and truly believe in it. Remind them of times when they worked hard on their problems and improved. Learning to look at things positively can help them become resilient to stress. 

4 – Catch the warning signs of serious mental health problems—and intervene.

Some warning signs include your child becoming reclusive or anti-social, reducing grades, panic episodes or recurrent stomach problems, or giving up something they once enjoyed. You may also notice your kid becoming overly unhappy or lethargic or resorting to self-destructive coping mechanisms such as overeating or undereating, using drugs or alcohol, or cutting.

A difficult week now and again is a typical part of growing up. However, continuous high school stress and anxiety—several weeks of not sleeping, crying, or overreacting—is cause for alarm. There are several ways to seek help – from talk therapy to medication. 

5 – Appreciate even the smallest wins of your kid studying at a high school in Kuala Lumpur

When confronted with a social gathering or any difficult scenario, most teenagers experience anxiety. However, they eventually jump in due to their previous successes. Teens studying in international schools in Kuala Lumpur who think and learn differently also require drive, but the victories can be more difficult.

Look for opportunities to compliment a teen’s achievements. It might be for something as basic as getting a haircut or lingering late to discuss a paper with an instructor. Recognizing these small victories will help your youngster feel less overwhelmed and anxious when faced with larger problems.

6 – Enrol them on some after school activities at a high school in Kuala Lumpur

Being good at volleyball or piano at a high school in Kuala Lumpur might increase self-esteem in an adolescent struggling with academics. Volunteering and assisting others can help them forget about their problems. Extracurricular activities can provide structure and a stress-relieving outlet in the afternoons.

However, having too many activities might lead to stress. Assist your child in determining which activities bring them the greatest delight.

Concluding note

Stress is part of growing up. While moderate stress can encourage people to complete tasks too much stress. Can be overpowering and lead to healthy sleep, and cognitive difficulties. Finding triggers to stress  monitoring your child’s health and behavior. And timely treatment can help them beat chronic stress and anxiety.

GIIS is one of the finest international schools in Kuala Lumpur, which provides a healthy and stress-free environment to its students to help them grow. 

Aaronwatson