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Is Your Teen Experiencing Burn Out?

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Why does burn out happen?

Once teens reach High School they often feel an invisible pressure called burn out. We’ve all experienced getting burned out at work, or even in our home life when the sink is full of dishes over and over again. But what does burn out look like for a teenager and how can we help them get out of it?

If you’re not familiar with the signs, then a burned out teen is very likely to happen before you even realize it. One day our teen is communicating with us about his/her/their feelings and the next they won’t leave their room. Late nights spent catching up on studying invade on quality family time. While we may feel proud of our teen for taking on the extracurricular and advanced courses that are necessary for getting into a good college, we also have to realize that there can be repercussions for too much activity and not enough rest.

Our Upper School Academic Director Kaye Jacob’s understands this better than most, “This is a high-stakes time for many kids, but we do need to try to reason with them that they need to find a balance, that “more” is not always “better.”

3 signs your teen is heading towards burn out

1. Heightened anxiety and/or overwhelm. Anxiety can look different in everyone, especially teenagers. It can manifest as moodiness or unusual behavior when before there was a calm demeanor. Anxiety can also look like immune system fatigue, causing the teen to get sick more often or even start to have migraine headaches.

teen2. Not sleeping at night. Burned out teens can get so wired from all of their “to do” lists, extra courses, or/and after school activities throughout the week that when it’s finally time to rest, they can’t. Lack of sleep can spiral into a dependency on coffee or energy drinks so that they can be alert enough to make it through the school day.

3. Saying “no” to socializing with family and friends. Teens who experience burn out can’t relax enough to have downtime. They stop participating in family events or socializing with friends because they simply have nothing extra to give, or are trying to preserve their energy.

Burn out isn’t black and white

Burn out can manifest in our teens in so many ways. Maybe you see your teen taking on more honors courses than he/she/they can handle, or perhaps your teen feels overwhelmed with social stresses and wants to hide. There’s another even more subtle aspects of burn out, such as having a lack of support at home, and poor self care. Here are three teen meditationways you can help your teen normalize again.

3 ways you can help

  1. Teach stress management tools. According to the American Physiological Association’s survey showed that teens report their stress level during the school year far exceeds that of an average adult. At Maharishi School we have a tool for our students to manage stress built into their schedules every day, twice a day. It’s called Transcendental Meditation.
  2. Adopt new self care practices. Talk to your teen about what you do for self care. Self care practices can be a conscious time-out away from their daily life that helps them maharishi school student doing yogago inward and tune into their bodily needs. Some popular self care practices include; journaling, yoga, creative expression, exercising, spending time in nature, cooking/baking, reading, swimming, camping, watching a funny movie, etc. While it’s nice for them to have some alone time you can also come up with a list of self care practices that you and your teen can do together.
  3. Talk about mental health. Establish regular check ins with your teen so you can track to see if they’re moving in the direction of burn out. Don’t be afraid to tell them, “why don’t you take some time off school work tonight, I want you to be primed for a long life and I would like to see you pace yourself now.” Make them aware of therapy services that can be a private outlet just for them.

 

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The CBE Angle

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consciousness meditationWhat is Consciousness-Based Education (CBE)?

At Maharishi School, we believe reducing stress and improving brain function is absolutely imperative. Kids have so much on their plate, so many external pressures, and so much to balance. We believe it is essential to provide our students with the tools to address these stresses. As adults, it is understood that stress does not disappear, but we rise to function properly under that stress. Consciousness-based education revolves around that belief. We don’t just fill students heads with information, we systematically expand the container of knowledge, the student’s own consciousness. With this expansion, absorbing new ideas becomes simpler, friendships deepen, and you start to understand how you are connected to and interconnected with the world.

Why we use CBE

Imagine your day starting with time to clear your mind, focus, and calm your body. Imagine you get to start every day finding strength, peace, and understanding within. Imagine being given this tool as a child so that you are able to use it throughout life to manage stress, persevere, and succeed regardless of the situation.

Doesn’t that sound fantastic and useful?

This is the opportunity we provide our students through Transcendental Meditation, which is at the center of our Consciousness-based education.consciousness education Every single day, students and teachers at Maharishi School close their eyes for a few minutes to practice the Transcendental Meditation® technique and experience a state of rest that is deeper than sleep.

When your body is rested, powerful chain reactions are set forth. Blood pressure normalizes. Heart rates slow down. The brain gets more oxygen. Big problems become small problems and stress becomes manageable.

We call this Consciousness-Based education. Because expanding consciousness is a game changer.

 

To read more about our system of learning, click here.

To see how the Transcendental Meditation technique and our system of education helped prepare our alumni for success, check out our alumni profiles here.

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Top 10 Tips for Creating a Balanced Teenager

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What is a balanced teenager?

When we think about what we want for our children, it’s nothing less than the best, whether that’s in school or quality of life outside of school. But when those teenage years come around it healthy teensalmost seems like our kids want the opposite of whatever we want for them, even when it’s for their benefit. This can be an extremely frustrating period for both the parents and the children. I believe it’s important to empathize with what teens are going through and this blog will give include helpful tips from Ayurvedic Health Coach Sankari Wegman. Ultimately you can’t protect your children from everything, and you shouldn’t try to! During the teenage years the best thing you can do is hold space for your teenager and be there when they need you.

 

The individuation process

Some may call it ‘teen angst’, but the scientific term is the individuation process. Carl Jung (a Swiss psychologist who founded analytic psychology) describes this process as;

 “Individuation is a process of psychological differentiation, having for its goal the development of the individual personality. In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology.”

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, then it’s very likely your child is going through the individuation process.

individuation process in teens

  • Has your teen been spending more time isolated in his/her room?
  • Has your teen dyed their hair or drastically changed their outward appearance/style?
  • Is your teen not opening up like they used to?

What’s going on in their brain?

As adults we think with our prefrontal cortex, the rational part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgement. Our prefrontal cortex also provides us with an awareness of teenagers brainconsequences in the long-term. However teens process information with the amygdala, the emotional part of the brain. As you can only imagine, when you’re acting purely out of raw emotion, there can be less “thinking” and more “feeling” types of behaviors. This is very normal because the connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision-making center are still developing and not always at the same rate! That rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so.

Top 10 tips for creating a balanced teenager

  1. Sleep: Create a regular sleep routine. As hard it might be to establish, going to bed before 10pm is ideal.
  2. Screens: Monitor use of computer/device screen time. Studies are showing screen time increases anxiety and focus.
  3. Volunteer: Encourage your teen to serve others. This will cultivate empathy and inspire your teen.
  4. Eating: Regular meals – no skipping allowed. Healthy, nutritious breakfast and a hot lunch.
  5. Yoga: Start the mind-body connection early on. Experience feeling good and connecting back to yourself. Once you see the progress, confidence increases. Yoga is great for cardiovascular health, click here to find out all the health benefits of yoga.
  6. Meditate: We recommend the Transcendental Meditation technique. It works like a charm!
  7. Avoid Caffeinated Beverages: Have your teen monitor their water intake (50ml per 100 pounds of body weight).
  8. Abhyanga: Encourage your teen to give themselves a daily massage before their shower. It’s a great way to purify any stresses out of their physiology. Click here to watch how to do this.
  9. Create a Vision Board: Get to know your child’s vision and passions by making a vision board. Parents can help their teen connect their actions with reaching their goals. If the parents make their own board, it can also help the teens make connections that help them relate to their parents.
  10. Consequences: Establish a set of rules or consequences that your teen needs to follow. This way if there is a misbehavior, your teen will know exactly what to expect in terms of disciplining from you and there won’t be any surprises.

maharishi school student doing yogateen exercising teens happy and being silly at winter formal

To apply to Maharishi School, click here.

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