I finally finished my website! Now that that is complete, I will begin to start presenting my topic more. I learned a lot about this topic and I wish I had more time to go into further detail about how the brain functions under stress and how psychopathy or sociopathy can result from stress. There is enough information that those could be their own topics. Maybe I'll go into more depth if I find enough time later on in the class.
Now that more research has been conducted and posted on my website, I have to present to my class about my topic and the main questions and answers I've come up with. It is 7 slides in 5 minutes just as an overview of what I'm talking about. Below I am going to add a link to my weebly website. This website is a more finished product of the research I am conducting on stress in high school students. I am going to transfer the information I have been putting in my tabs here, there. It will contain the information I used to have here and will be more clear and organized. http://trillercapstonestress.weebly.com/
In the first tab "Stressors" is where you can identify what is causing you stress and how. Only until you discover what those aspects in your life are can you then focus on dealing with them. I am still researching how the seven stressors I have chosen impact teens in my own school and on a larger scale. It would be immensely helpful if kids in my own school could continue to take my survey to provide me with more data :) https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69SSF58
Two days ago we conducted a "speed dating" exercise where everyone part of the STEM or Global Studies Projects talked to each other about the topic they were thinking of researching. It was very helpful to explain to others what I was doing and just saying it out loud made me have to think about if it made sense and was easily understandable. After listening to others ideas I would try to give helpful feedback like how could they organize it better, make it more appealing to their audience, or refine their subject to be more specific and easier for themselves by not researching everything under the sun. The feedback I received I found to be very helpful. Gabriella suggested that I compare the stress at Rutland to other high schools in Vermont to see if they have the same levels of stress. Shannon commented on how I'm going to try to solve the severity of stress whether the solution will be in school or out of school. Lauren also had the same idea as Gabriella thinking it would be interesting to compare stress levels to maybe three other schools and see how the results would affect or contribute to my research. Eric thought surveying other schools would help contribute to finding solutions that would be helpful for any high schooler under stress. Maria posed an interesting point of going into more specificity or the stress points I introduced. If there were ranges for each one then I could give more specific solutions for different people experiencing different stressors or levels of stress. (Ex. teachers- male/ females, parents- uncaring/ understanding/ controlling/ abusive, friends- small/ med./ large friend group etc). Jillian introduced whether people with more long term goals experienced more stress. Like if people with a higher grade average expecting to go to more prestigious schools were more stressed than kids who had a lower grade point average and would go anywhere to college. Evan agreed with that and thought internal pressure was a large part of stress in todays teens and suggested I look more into that. Hannah was interested in seeing how the different range of stress points affected mental and physical symptoms. Jamie agreed that a bigger spectrum of the stress points would nail down the severity of the symptoms and help find more specific solutions for each level so that the advice I gave to deal with stress would be more personal. I found all of these points to be very helpful and I plan on looking into all of them.
Please take this survey! I would like to compare the information I collect from this survey to the information I have previously researched. And by helping me I might just be able to help you. Give it a shot. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69SSF58
Thank You! :) Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. Stress isn't always necessarily bad. The purpose of stress is to prepare your body to take on a potentially dangerous situation that you need to react quickly to, to survive. Your hypothalamus alerts your body to the danger. A combination of nerve and hormonal signals prompts adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline increases heart rate, elevates blood pressure, pumping blood to major muscles, and boosts energy supplies quickly. While that is happening cortisol eliminates functions nonessential and that aren't assisting fight or flight. Some of those functions include peripheral vision and hearing. It also alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, reproductive system, and growth processes. Unfortunately sometimes we perceive events that aren't actually dangerous in a threatened way and become unnecessarily stressed. If this constantly happens over a long period of time then these hormones will always be present and continue to stunt those other processes causing health problems in the future. A little stress can save your life while a lot of stress can cause major problems.
I've chosen to focus my research on the Psychology of High School Students under Stress. I think athletes performing under stress and how high school students potentially become psychopaths because of stress fall under that category. I'm going to focus on five aspects of Students under Stress. First I'm going to determine what causes them the most stress and those will be classified as Stress Points. Next I'm going to research the Short Term Effects of those stress points. Then I'm going to figure out the Levels of Stress based on year in highschool and how many stress points the average of each year seems to experience. After that I'm going to research the Long Term Consequences of stress if not managed. And lastly I'm going to figure out How to Relieve/ Build Resiliency to stress and how to manage it before it becomes an even larger problem.
This video about Dr. Farrell, a psychiatrist and author of How To Be Your Own Therapist. In this video she discusses how to manage stress. When you ask people what causes them stress, they could list a whole bunch of problems but those problems are just a part of life. Money, kids, work, friends, relationships and family are always going to be around so instead of trying to avoid stress, learn to manage it. Her five tips are to 1. take control of how you respond, 2.remember fun and laughter, 3. learn to breath, 4.take mini vacations, and 5.learn its okay to say no. Stress makes you feel like you're out of control and it's discouraging. Focus on what you can control and what you can control is your attitude. Stress also sucks the fun out of your life. Don't let it. Make an effort to be happy, have fun, and laugh. It's the best medicine ;). You also need to make a point of "breaking the cycle" of stress. Take a vacation, get away for a while and focus on yourself rather than all the things you always need to accomplish. And lastly learn to say no. You don't have to do everything people ask of you. That's why they ask. You have the option to say no. When you take on more than you can handle, you're just asking to be stressed. Take control of your stress. Don't let it get the best of you.
Oh and ignore the "remember when you were a kid and didn't seem to have a care in the world" part. We all know thats not true. Being a teenager surrounded by other teenagers I thought it would be best to explore Teenage Psychology. High School is teeming with people experiencing different emotions, hormones, stresses, pressures, expectations, and so many more obstacles affecting their psyche that they are trying to overcome. Now the only question that remains is whether to focus on High School Students under Stress, High School Athletes Performance Influenced by Stress, or the High School Experiences that lead to Psychopathy.
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