Having anxiety daily can cause the sensation of nervousness, restlessness, or being tense. Anxiety is most experienced in teens nowadays because of school.

“Anxiety is the inability to control your thoughts, with things like worrying about things that not that, you know, intellectually, you should not have to worry about, but you are unable to stop worrying about them,” Registered nurse and Biomedical Science teacher Mrs. Kristen Fendone stated.

Anxiety is one of the ways your body expresses fear and worry. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 1 out of 3 of all teens from ages 13-18 have been diagnosed or experiencing anxiety. These numbers have been rising by 20% since 2012.

“I feel like people would judge anything that I do like the way I talk, dress, or think and that is why my social anxiety kicks in so often, I just fear their judgement and overall, the feeling of rejection,” Freshman Victoria Fernandes said.

Most teens that suffer with anxiety have a lot of problems that have to do with rejection issues. Having the fear of rejection can cause them to overthink everything. Most feelings of rejections come from childhood trauma, for example, being bullied or teased as a child. The feeling of rejection does not last forever, it can be managed.

“Depending on the type of anxiety that you have is going to depend on whether or not your doctor is going to prescribe something. Always talk about therapy as a first step. And when things like you know breathing techniques, relaxation, yoga, meditation, exercise, do not work. Medicine is just an additional tool. Anxiety can be either worse or the same as any other medical condition, anxiety is difficult to have but it can be manageable with various options,” Fendone stated.

Anxiety can be manageable, there are multiple tools that can help with it. One specific tool may not work for all but there are multiple tools available to research. Using tools like these reduce the effects of anxiety; they can help manage panic attacks – another more extreme anxiety symptom.

“Depending on how severe the anxiety attack would depend on how you are going to stop it if it is something minor. Sometimes breathing techniques can help you breathe in through your nose out through your mouth, and just concentrating on that cadence can help relieve a smaller anxiety attack,” Fendone said.

Having anxiety can cause you to go through or experience panic or anxiety attacks. Anxiety attacks can make you feel like you are out of breath and give the feeling that you are going to pass out. They are one of the biggest struggles that someone with anxiety could go through, anxiety attacks can come in a variety of sizes.

“If it is a larger anxiety attack more severe, then you can actually hyperventilate. So, if a student is hyperventilating, you can do things like have them breathe into a paper bag, because when you hyperventilate, you decrease your CO2 so much that it can cause you to pass out. So, breathing into a paper bag allows you to rebreathe your CO2, which can raise your levels and cause you not to pass out,” Fendone stated.

When having a severe anxiety attack you can get the feeling you cannot control your own body and the feeling that you are dying, if you start freaking out too much it can cause your body to hyperventilate. Having anxiety can be the same or even worse than having medical disease.

“If the student in the mine is diagnosed with anxiety, I do not see that any differently than, say, being diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes, or any other medical condition. Mental health conditions are not different from your body’s health conditions. Living with any disease or any condition can be harder on a regular basis,” Fendone stated.