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"Fact: Teenagers today face more pressures than ever before. College admissions are increasingly competitive, which means students are constantly striving to earn top grades and participate in a well-rounded variety of extracurricular activities. They're also navigating the social landscape that is high school, dipping their toes into the relationship pool, and dealing with all sorts of other pressures. Actually, a recent study by the American Psychological Association found that teens may even experience higher levels of stress than adults\u2014yikes!\n\nWe spoke with seven readers about the stressors in their lives and how they've learned to deal. Read on for their stories, and leave your own in the comments!\n\nSophie L., 17, from New York\n\n \"During these last few months of my senior year, I've been more stressed than ever before. I find the idea of choosing a school to spend the next four years\u2014and choosing a major that could potentially determine my entire career\u2014to be almost unbearably daunting. These decisions are constantly on mind, despite the fact that I do actually know what I'd like to do with my life!\"\n\nHannah T., 18, from Illinois\n\n \"I had a really difficult time with stress last year.\u00A0I was in the middle of switching friend groups and college applications were just around the corner. During my first round of finals, I noticed my right wrist going numb, but I didn't think much of it. Within a couple of months, it was numb practically all the time; on two occasions, I couldn't feel my entire left arm or part of my face.\u00A0I didn't even have enough control over my hand to text my dad that this was happening! I went to my doctor who explained that I was carrying my stress in my shoulders. They had become so tight that my vertebrae were pushed forward, cutting off the nerve endings and causing me to lose feeling. That was a wakeup call\u2014I couldn't keep doing this to myself.\"\n\nPoiema L., 15, from New Mexico\n\n \"One of the biggest stressors in my life right now is relationships\u2014well, one in particular. I invested so much of my time, my energy, and myself into something I thought was going to work, but then my boyfriend broke up with me. Heartbreak is literally the worst feeling in the world, and it's turned my entire existence upside down. Right after it happened, I had no idea who I was or what made me happy anymore. As I was losing myself in all these emotions, it was easy for me to get stressed out by school and other things in my life. My favorite way of coping is writing. I just let the words pour onto the page, and then I try to let them go.\"\n\nSophie Z., 16, from New York\n\n \"I think all teenagers are stressed in some way, but as a junior in high school, the SATs and ACTs really freak me out. It feels like they can determine so much of your future! The thought of doing poorly on a class test so that my overall grade gets lowered is also stressful to me. It's so frustrating that one bad score can ruin something you worked really hard for. I relax by hanging out with friends\u2014I love going to Starbucks with them during lunch and leaving all my studying behind for a few minutes.\"\n\nMadison O., 16, from Kansas\n\n \"There are lots of things that stress me out: keeping up with my homework and making sure my grades don't fall below an A, trying to stay healthy and active, having enough energy to hang out with my friends. I normally decompress by taking little breaks to do things that make me happy, like reading or watching videos on YouTube. I've let stress overwhelm me before\u2014even to the point where it left me crying in the middle of our homecoming football game. I've learned that it's OK to feel that way, but you need to make sure you don't keep your stress bottled up for too long.\"\n\nElizabeth G., 20, from Texas\n\n \"My mom recently got a new job, so one big thing that's stressing me out is how I have to do even more chores at home now. I like to help my parents because they're paying for my college tuition, but sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day to wash dishes, do laundry, help my little brother with homework, do my own homework, and study. Another thing that's causing me stress at the moment is internships. I haven't been able to find one for the summer yet, and I'm worried I might not be able to do so in time.\u00A0I cope by listening to music. I love discovering new artists, and I love that I can listen to music and do homework at the same time!\"\n\nHannah A., 17, from Massachusetts\n\n \"When I'm stressed, it's either because of my school workload or social things, like feeling like I don't fit in. To help with the pressure, I plan out each night of the week, writing down all my activities and deadlines so I can figure what to do when. Instead of freaking out about everything I have going on, I look at what I need to accomplish that particular night. I've realized that stressing out will just make it take longer!\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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