Many adults look back on their high school days with fond memories and fun anecdotes, but they don’t remember how much stress is involved. As children, students are taught the 95210 rule: nine hours of sleep, five servings of fruits and vegetables, two hours or less of screen time, etc. For younger students, that’s easy. They have a set bedtime and an hour of homework at most, but as they get older and start high school, the school work piles on.

At least an hour of exercise is recommended, and student athletes reach that during practice, scrimmages, and games. However, they don’t always have enough time to finish their homework. Most teachers tell their students to expect about an hour of homework from them a day. The harder classes usually have more homework and studying added on. An anonymous student athlete said, “It’s hard to balance the workload, and there is a lot of stress, but I do my homework before practice and study at night. Sometimes, I’ll have to stay up late or study while I eat or while I’m on the bus.”

As for the nine hours of sleep, the school day is about seven hours. Students take an average of around half an hour to get ready in the morning. Most bus rides take about half an hour, so overall there’s around an hour of travel each day. A survey says most American students spend an average of three and a half hours. An hour of socializing and two hours of screen time bring downtime to three hours. As stated previously, there should be at least an hour of exercise a day, so if you factor that in, there will be a total of twenty five minutes. This also leaves out important daily routines such as eating, showering, and brushing teeth.

Stress never goes away, but it can be less overwhelming. There are of course coping methods, such as yoga, music, meditation, breathing exercises, and aromatherapy. However, school adds extra stress. If teachers were to give less homework, then students would be less stressed.