From stress awareness to stress prevention
Institutions are bettering students by encouraging stress-management techniques whilst teachers struggle to cope with the workload.
International Stress Awareness Week, a yearly campaign between Monday 7th November and Friday 11th November focuses on the importance of work-life balance and raises awareness on managing stress induced by work demands.
The Reporter and Detective spoke with Miss Eden, a Birmingham-based teaching assistant, and A&E doctor, Dr Fernandez, about the importance of stress management.
A recent Ofsted report found that teaching staff and education professionals report the highest rates of work-related stress. It was also found that teachers often have a poor work-life balance.
Miss Eden, 24, talks about the importance of stress awareness in schools and having worked with different age groups of kids, she highlights the importance of stress awareness week.
“I have previously worked with young kids and older kids. I also studied psychology so I really value stress awareness week as days like these shine a light on the importance of knowing how to manage stress,” she said.
The teaching assistant admitted, compared to teachers, students have more resources available to them for tackling stress.
Talking about stress management within her role, she said, “ From a staff’s point of view I do feel like there should be more help and support due to such a large workload.”
As a learning support assistant and psychology graduate, she advises getting physical exercise to reduce stress and according to a nation-wide government report, there is a 20%-30% lower risk of depression and distress for adults that are physically active daily.
Dr Christian Fernandez, a physician from Colombia, is also committed to stress management in his daily work in the emergency room.
“Unfortunately, stress management is not commonly taught in school, but it should be due to the reason that every 1/3 of students suffer from stress which most of the time comes from our school. This involves parents' daily problems including divorces, and in-home fights, which cause stress to students,” said Dr Fernandez.
The ER doctor explained that educational institutions sometimes fail to educate students on managing social lives with daily responsibilities.
“Something that's more unknown or commonly misunderstood about stress management is they might think there is something “wrong” with them that they still feel stressed and become discouraged—and even more stressed.
He explained that students and those working within institutions often recognise too late the effects of the stress they are under and emphasised the importance of stress prevention and management.
“There are ways to prevent stress (tips) which include - Eating healthy, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, and giving yourself a break if you feel stressed out. Taking deep breaths, stretching, or meditating are some of the ways to reduce stress levels.”