Don't stress - the real route to happiness nowadays is to have a lazy day for all, as one school discovered, writes Andrew Bell.
WITH ALARM CLOCKS buzzing, mobiles constantly ringing and deadlines to reach, today's world is full of stress. Our Young Social Innovators (YSI) project, "Less Stress More Rest!" hopes to inform people about the harmful effects of stress and to encourage people to take time out of their stressful lives to relax, unwind and recharge.
Although many people don't know it, stress is a major health issue. It can have serious physical and mental effects if it is not dealt with properly.
Some symptoms of chronic stress are infertility, heartburn, diarrhoea, insomnia, weight loss, depression. In the most serious cases, it can lead to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease. I feel there is a huge lack of information out there on the effects of stress.
One of our biggest achievements to date has been our "Anti-Stress Week", which we organised in our school. The aim of the week was to show students different ways of dealing with stress.
To help distinguish them, we gave each day a different theme. Monday was lazy day, Tuesday was exercise day, Wednesday, laughing day and Thursday, meditation day. We chose these themes because relaxing, exercise, laughing and meditation are four of the most effective ways of dealing with nervous tension.
On Monday we encouraged people to relax, with hot chocolate and cookies being served at lunch and DVDs being shown after school for boarders. We played music on the intercom in the study hall during lunch.
Tuesday was a different day altogether. After an easy Monday, this was all about trying to get people involved in sport. We gave all students the option of doing aerobics during a class, and at lunch we filled the gym with table tennis gear, exercise bikes and skipping ropes. Exercise day was well received, with everyone who joined in having a great time.
Laughing day started on a high note, with two of the girls taking assembly in inflatable pumpkin and dinosaur suits. We had a novelty obstacle course which finished with throwing wet sponges at three of our teachers.
Meditation day consisted of yoga classes and herbal teas. Then, on Friday, we gave out hundreds of our leaflets to students. The week was a huge success and we definitely made a difference at our school.
The second phase of our project is to get our message out to the wider public. So far we have been in the local newspaper several times and been interviewed on a local radio station, as well as taking part in trade fairs in two different shopping centres in town.
Next week we are giving presentations on stress for students and teachers in Dundalk town centre. We are also providing the school with two picnic tables. This will provide more areas for students to relax and chill out at school.
At the moment we are preparing ourselves for the national showcase (May 7th/8th), where we will be displaying our project and performing our "Speakout" for the judges, other YSI finalists and the public.
We hope to make a difference in our community, to change people's attitude towards stress and to stop people from letting their lives turn into timetables.
Andrew Bell is a student at Dundalk Grammar School
