For most students, stressing out over school and trying to get assignments done on time is a commonality between all of us, but yet as the year goes by, classes get harder and college comes creeping up. This leads to stress going through the roof.

Unfortunately, throughout the process of school stress and life, the stress tends to get in the way of keeping up with self-care and some people just don’t know what to do.

We as students are living in a highly competitive world and many of us get blindsided by the long-lasting effects of which this may lead to.

Something to look out for throughout is knowing when enough is enough. This is important because overworking yourself could lead to serious issues such as becoming a workaholic and not putting your own health before school.

“School has impacted my self-care pretty badly. Most of my friends know that I barely get sleep anymore and that I can barely focus in class a lot”, said junior Feven Lebamu.

Although school and getting an education should be a priority in life, maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle should be the goal, and not only in regards to eating and exercise.

Something as small as taking short breaks between study periods could do the trick in trying to find a balance.

“It took time but what usually works for me is breaks and rewarding myself every now and then, but it still gets tricky”, said senior Betel Eyob.

For juniors, senior, and as of last year, sophomores, taking IB courses and pursuing the IB diploma can be quite a handful for some students.

What’s common from most IB students is on top of taking rigorous classes, they also partake in after-school clubs and sports, which adds into the load they already have.

“ IB has made it slightly worse which is expected. There are times where I literally don’t sleep and go to school running purely on caffeine. But to be fair, it’s also partly my fault as well”, said Lebamu.

Taking IB classes was never intended to be easy, it requires students who’re up for the challenge and can handle the workload. In the long run, there are positive effects of taking these courses such as better preparing students for college courses.

“Honestly my experiences when it comes to juggling those things really takes practice of getting it on a steady schedule. For example, if I know I’m going to stay after the next day, I get my homework done early so I won’t stay up late the next day”, said Eyob.  

Getting into habits like these can lead to positive outcomes later to arrive.

From personal experience, there have been days where I’ve attempted to juggle homework assignments and studying for tests, which has lead to full on all-nighters, and the result from the all-nighters on the next day is not something I’d want to remember.

It messes with my ability to stay focused in class and then starts the vicious cycle of taking naps when I get home and staying up late. This is probably one of the worst things that can affect my ability to perform well in school and once it starts, it’s hard to quit.

On top of extreme fatigue while in school, pulling your first all-nighter is the gateway to much more all-nighters to come.

A way to attempt to combat this and stay healthy in regards to rest is working on what needs to get done and sleeping early.

Avoiding cell phone use before going to bed has been said to make falling asleep easier so it’s worth giving a shot.

Almost every high school student goes through the same high school experience, but what makes a difference is how you handle the situation.