Finals. Stress. These two words are almost synonymous with each other in CHS as the semester comes to a close—suddenly, projects, exams and essays pile up, and due dates draw even closer. It is no wonder that teens report an even higher stress level than adults do during the school year, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2014 Stress in America survey.

With five AP classes in her schedule, junior Kamna Gupta is no stranger to stress. She said she does get stressed as finals week comes ever nearer, but she has her own way to relieve stress.

“I recently adopted this new study system, which is working pretty well for me. It’s where I power study for 25 minutes, and then I take a break for about 5 to ten minutes, and in that break time, I usually go dance or exercise or maybe just take a break and read a book or something,” Gupta said. “Then I get back on it for about 25 minutes. And, after three rounds of that, I take a half an hour break where I just kind of relax and watch TV or something.”

Gupta said she first realized dancing helped relieve stress this year. She said she used to listen to music while she did homework, but that stopped working for her.

“I switched into this phase where just listening to the music wasn’t doing anything for me, so I got fed up one day while studying, and I went to the basement to practice dance and I came back and I was so much more energized,” she said.

Laura Welch, licensed mental health counselor, said stress usually comes from people being overwhelmed by events in their lives.

“Stress usually has to do with the person doesn’t know what to do with whatever is going on in their life, so it happens when they have more information coming in that they can’t sort through and they just don’t really know what to do with it all,” Welch said.

Welch said for teens, stress often comes from school—mainly grades and not enough time to get everything done. She said the effects of stress include trouble concentrating, difficulty sleeping and even brain damage if stress continues too long.

Gupta said stress often is overwhelming, to the point where she spends hours thinking about all her work. She said dancing helps keep her from stressing too much by keeping her mind off her schoolwork.

“Dance has always been a way for me to get away from the real world quote unquote. It kind of helps me get my mind off of all the things I have to do because sometimes I just stress out thinking about all the things I have to do,” Gupta said.

While stress sometimes seems impossible to overcome, Welch said there are many ways to relieve it. She said a concrete plan for studying as well as specific study methods like flashcards can help students with finals stress.

“It’s important to know that there are things that will lessen stress. It’s not something that’s hopeless. It’s not something that you just throw your hands up and say ‘oh, forget it; it’s impossible.’ There are real things that can be learned and when people use them, they do help,” Welch said.