Mental Health and the many disorders that come with it are something that many students at West High struggle from. As a student-athlete myself, there are many times when I start to lose grip on my positive mental health. Over time, you eventually learn to deal with the stress and anxiety that comes with it.

Even students who aren’t involved in extracurricular activities or sports struggle with maintaining a positive mental health status. This can be for many reasons. It could be from school, from feeling like they don’t have a strong support system, from external factors such as other people hating on them or bullying them, and many more reasons.

A survey was sent out to the student body at West High regarding students and their mental health. Out of 76 responses, 61.8% of the students were involved in sports or extracurricular activities, and 38.2% were not involved in any sports or extracurricular activities. Of the 61.8% that are involved in extracurricular activities, many of these responses included mentioning that if they are stressed because of the day they had or if something has happened to them, then they tend to overexert themselves in their sports. This can also affect their productivity in these sports or activities.

Although mental health does affect teenagers negatively, it also affects adults. Not all adults struggle with maintaining positive mental health, there are many different things that can affect a person’s mental health. In a survey that was filled out by staff members at West High, one of the main triggers for deteriorating mental health was stress and work.

A survey was sent out to all of the teachers at West High, asking them if they struggle with maintaining positive mental health and why or why not. Out of 22 responses, whether they said yes, sometimes, or no, the majority of the responses mentioned that the main reason for deteriorating mental health is work stress and personal life.

I personally feel that mental health is a serious problem in our everyday lives, no matter what our age is. Although some people have an easier time dealing with it, mental health is not something we should just take with a grain of salt. Mental health is a much more serious problem than a lot of people claim it should be.

If you or anyone you know is in need of help, dial 988.