More and more young people suffer from psychological disorders. Examples are burnout, CVS, depression, ... Stress, too, is an often occurring factor among youths. Whether you are at highschool, a university, college, or in extreme cases even in primary school, youths can definitely suffer from negative stress. When we talk about negative stress, we mean the type of stress which negatively influences our functioning. You will start to sweat, get blackouts, ... Often such stress accumulates in exam periods, because these are often the busiest times of the year.

Exam stress: what is it?

As the term implies, this is stress which you experience before the exams or during the exams. If you experience stress, your thoughts will often speed up, you will start to sweat, and worrying thoughts enter your mind. Many students suffer from this. I believe that most of you experience stress right before the exam. Together with many students you wait until you are allowed to get started. Someone asks: "Do you know the answer to this question?" after which you start to doubt your knowledge of the topic. But it can also be so that stress develops earlier than so. You might have issues sleeping, think you will never be able to understand all of the material, constantly forget what the previous page said, ...

Exam stress: what can cause it?

Stress has an influence on both your body and your mind. Mentally it can cause blackouts, memory issues, concentration issues, or worrying thoughts. Also, stress has an influence on your body. In extreme cases, stress can even cause stomach ulcers to appear. In children this appears more often than in adults because children are more vulnerable. In puberty, stress can also easily affect your body because your hormones are constantly changing. Furthermore, stress can cause issues falling asleep, fatigue, hopelessness, and even some depression.

Exam stress: how can I treat it?

Stress is often not harmful if it only occurs during a short period of time. However, if you are under long-term stress or even have extreme stress under a short period of time, it is best to treat it as early as possible. Psychological issues or complaints namely often get worse when left untreated. When it comes to exam stress, it is good to know your limits and to not cross these. Make sure that you relax enough, and make the most out of your breaks. It can be very useful to do something physical, because you are using your brain all day long. Watching TV, for example, is not something that would help you relax properly.

Exam stress: what can 15Minutes4Me do for me?

15Minutes4Me is an online self-help program which was developed to help you treat stress, depression, and anxiety. It gives you practise and exercises which you can preventively do against stress and anxiety, and there are questions and videos which give you advice regarding the treating of your personal complaints. Furthermore, the program will help you discover which your sources of power are, which you can then use in order to do auto-therapy after a while. That way, you know how to look for solutions on your own in the future!

Exam stress: take the test!

On the site of 15Minutes4Me.com you can find a free stress test, so that you can test yourself and how your stress levels are doing.