Do you ever find yourself stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted due to the overload of homework and assignments? Grade school students have shown that they are excessively stressed and sleep deprived due to the fact that they are not able to handle school work, sports, and extracurriculars with the limited hours in a given day. Waking up every day bright and early at 6 or 7am is exhausting; the growing teenage body is not wired to wake up early, rather it is wired to stay up late and wake up late. The feeling of stress and anxiety due to school is one of the worst feelings, however with tips and tricks on how to balance your homework and well-being, your mood can instantly be turned around. 

Managing stress and homework can be as easy as taking a couple of tips into consideration and incorporating them into your daily life. Start off by taking a 20 minute break every one hour of studying or doing assignments. Do all school related work at a desk or table; you want your bed to resonate with your brain as a place for resting, not school work. If you find yourself bored with taking notes, use colorful pencils and pens to keep yourself engaged. Oftentimes there are many distractions while doing homework. To minimize distractions, tell your family members that you are doing homework so that they don’t interrupt you. Turn your phone off and put it in another room. Using these tips to finish homework quickly and effectively will help to reduce stress. 

Now, there are times when the amount of homework you have is unmanageable for any human to do, no matter how well you know the information. One way to tell if you have an unmanageable amount of work is if you are staying up later than your parents to complete school work. Another way to tell if you are overworking yourself is if you are sacrificing valuable time such as dinner with family, weekends with friends, or practices. If you find yourself being overworked, the best thing to do is communicate with your teacher and explain to them your schedule. This way, you can work out a plan with your teacher that will help you manage your work.

A plan for your school work can be very effective; planning out your homework and assignments at the beginning of the week will give you motivation to stay on track as well as help you visualize what you need to do. Below is an example of a completed plan that allows for breaks, free time, and plans with family or friends. In addition, click here for a blank copy of this plan for your own use! Hopefully it can be a helpful tool in your work towards a more balanced lifestyle that is not dominated by school work.