Wake up at 5 a.m. go to school for seven hours, go to a two and a half hour sports practice, come home, eat, do homework until 2 a.m., and hopefully find time to take a shower. This is the life of the American teenager.

Most teenagers report feeling stressed because of everything they are forced to do in a small amount of time. In order to combat this, school Psychologist Anne Brosnan came up with the idea of Stress Less, Smile More Week, which will be taking place this week, Nov. 11-16.

“I decided to do [Stress Less week] because we know the students are under a lot of pressure,” school Psychologist Anne Brosnan said. “Sometimes with getting good grades trying to graduate, wanting to do something after or during high school, like going college, getting a job sometimes it gets so stressful that it makes it more difficult for them.”

Brosnan has been trying to get the word around the school in hopes of more student participation.

“Yearbook took pictures of all throughout the school and leadership students posted posters all around the school and The A-Blast videographers made videos that will be shown on Wednesday during W4 and also the PSTA talked to the parents about what we’re trying to do,” Brosnan said.

Throughout the week there will be activities going on throughout the school to help the kids enjoy their day a little bit more.

There will be laugh buttons handed out, jokes on the morning announcements, music in Clausen Hall during all lunches on specific days, smiley face cookies at lunch, yoga, and a guest speaker to talk to the students on Friday, who will also be at Annandale Thursday night to speak to the parents.

“We wanted to give [students] one week where they could just take a week and sort of relax a little bit, and enjoy themselves a little bit and maybe that way it will kill the stress,” Brosnan said.

According a study from the American Psychological Association, about 35 percent of teenagers considered themselves stressed, and many students agree that they feel stressed during the day.

“I study in the morning before class, during lunch and as soon as I get home I study more. Plus I participate in a lot of organizations and honor societies, so I have a lot of meetings every day. I’m usually pretty stressed out,” junior Soriya de Lopez said.

Many IB Diploma Candidates also feel stressed out, but they try to schedule themselves to help alleviate their stress.

“I’m not usually stressed because I try to organize and schedule everything so I don’t get overwhelmed,” senior Amelie Trieu said.

This week has many events that coincide with Stress Less Week, such as the videos shown during W4 all week to helps students cope with stress.

Art is being displayed in Clausen Hall and there will be yoga at 2:15 p.m. after school in the Dance room today.

There music in Clausen Hall during all lunches today and motivational speaker Jordan Burnham will be hosting a parent presentation in Clausen Hall from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday.

Friday there will be music in Clausen Hall and an extended W4 for Burnham’s presentation.

Laugh More buttons will be distributed during all lunches during the entire week.

Tickets will be handed out during all lunches as passes to get into the events happening in Clausen Hall.

Stress Less week was created to help lower the stress of students, and will become an annual event.

“I would love for this to become an annual event,” Brosnan said.