Tag: mental health

  • How Covid-19 Affects Youth’s Mental Health

    How Covid-19 Affects Youth’s Mental Health

    Mental health, though often stigmatized, has been an issue since before Covid 19 shifted our everyday lives. Now, as stay at home orders displace us from our work and school environments and our everyday routine, mental health continues to be a top issue, especially among young people. 

     

    According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10–20% of adolescents globally experience mental health conditions, yet these remain undiagnosed and untreated. 

     

    At least one in five youth aged 9–17 years currently has a diagnosable mental health disorder that causes some degree of impairment; one in 10 has a disorder that causes significant impairment. 

     

    Regardless of whether youth have a diagnosed or undiagnosed disorder, factors such as isolation, fear, and a lack of engagement with friends and peers can negatively affect a young person’s mental health and lead to stress and anxiety.

     

    As social distancing, isolation, and online learning become the norm, how has this taken a toll on students’ mental well-being?  Four Poly students were asked how the Covid 19 pandemic has affected their mental health personally. Here’s what they said:

     

    Lizette Karina Ramon, Pace Senior

    “It’s been so hard because I’ve had a lack of motivation for doing things. This whole situation is depressing, and the way our country is handling this pandemic is frustrating. My mental health has not been the best because I try my best to be optimistic but the way things are going, I don’t think they are going to get better soon. I’m just very tired mentally.”

     

     

     

     

    Luis Cuahtli Sanchez, Justice Junior

    “You lose a lot of motivation for doing school work just for passing, it’s like they’re simply giving us things to do and not giving things for us to learn. 

     

    But I’ve forced myself to get used to this because this pandemic will last a long while so it’s better to make it easier for me rather than harder. 

     

    But still….just knowing this virus is out there and there’s no vaccine just scares me, it can infect anyone, my friends, my family and even me. But there’s no point in being scared all day, there are still things that have to be done and we can only hope for the best outcome for everyone in the future and hope this ends soon. This has affected me quite a lot and it takes time to get used to it.”

     

    Maya Morales, CIC Freshman

    “The first few weeks were easy mentally. I was being lazy but I was happy. After about a month or so, I started to feel depressed. It went on for a few days and the whole time I didn’t leave my house at all. I didn’t want to go anywhere and for some reason, I would just listen to sad music and make myself even more sad and cry. So dramatic!

     I think just being inside all the time and feeling a little lonely because my sister, my mom and my dad would work for so long, it messed with me a little. But I learned you just need to be a little more active and not simply do homework and stay in the house all day. Working-out or any physical exercise like a walk helps boost your mental health and makes you a little more productive.”

     

    Lance Manago, Meds Senior

     

    “I’m doing pretty good honestly. Online school is okay, but I just miss everything about waking up early and driving to school and seeing all my friends and teachers.

    I would say it didn’t affect my mental health but rather affected my physical health. I’m an outside person, I love being outside and try to be active every day. 

    I was also looking forward to graduation and prom and grad night, it truly sucks what class of 2020 has to go through”

     

  • Wellness? Check.

    Wellness Week took place between the dates of March 4-8. The purpose behind it is to promote a full week of teen health and wellness, alongside with celebrating Women’s Day.

    Throughout the week there were daily lunch activities, arts, and games, as advertised on the flyer passed out to students.
    Majority of the workshops took place at the library around 3:00-4:30 PM in the Poly Library, with the exception of Thursday and Friday.
    Thursday, March 7, being about Loving Our Partners and Community Healthy Relationships at the Teachers Lounge at 3:00-4:30 PM.
    Other workshops were surrounded around the subject of taking care of ourselves, unity amongst women, and dealing with stress/anxiety.
    Friday March 8, the 6th Annual Health and Wellness Resource Fair, presented by Khmer Girls in Action, took place in the Quad from 10:00-11:30 AM.

    Some teachers took their students earlier out of class, to get an opportunity to check out the different tables and what they had to offer.
    There were about 65 organizations present.

    There was a table explaining about stress and providing interactive activities such as asking in what ways does one cope with stress and a paper given with what kind of emotion your feeling and where you feel it.

    Afterwards students would then throw that paper into the trash and if you made it in, you would get a prize.
    And if not, students were still given a bubble wrap to pop attached with coping skills, good and bad, in order to see the difference and develop better ones.

  • A Social Virus

    I personally think social media is a virus to our mental health. It is a magnet for us to compare our lives to others instead of focusing on our own. We idolize celebrities and influencers for living extravagantly, literally wasting money because they can. I am tired of the constant hype for new fashion trends and sales plastered on my feed. It’s like we never get a break to enjoy the current season before the next is shoved down our throats by ads for new makeup palettes, shoes, and clothing.

    Majority of us look at our phones as soon as we get up to see what happened while we were sleeping. A lot of the time using social media for an excessive amount of time can cause us to have a lower self esteem, decrease the amount of time for self improvement, disrupt our sleeping patterns, and cut us off from socializing in person.

    Instead of living in a materialistic society, always worried about the next big thing, we should just use social media as a way to connect with people and send a positive message. Lets bring eachother up and use platforms to educate ourselves on what is going on in the world around us.