So Nicola, what’s the book all about?

I think the whole book is summed up in the phrase ‘you are not alone, talk to someone you trust, and do it early – don’t wait”. The book is in 3 parts – the first explains what stress is. The second aims to go through all the worries that a young person might have –eating disorders, depression, if you feel you sweat or blush a lot, fears about the future, cyber bullying, relationships, conditions like dyslexia or aspergers. Then the third section is all of the strategies that I could find and think of and research that help you reduce stress – from small things like a warm bath before you go to bed or having a scented candle, to bigger things like doing exercise and the sort of things a doctor might suggest like a counsellor or therapy.

Can you help us understand what stress is?

We talk about stress as though it’s always something bad but actually I think it’s really important to understand that stress is a necessary reaction in our bodies. It makes us be alert and perform well when we have got something extra difficult to do, whether it’s a test or running fast or whatever. The problem comes with stress when those responses don’t get a chance to calm down. So when you’ve got lots of little things niggling at you, little worries that keep coming, and you don’t build enough relaxation into each day… then it can become a problem and it can cause things like headaches, stomach aches and difficulty sleeping. Or if it gets worse then maybe panic attacks….it can really interfere with happiness and health.

Why do young people need a book just for them about stress?

Although what our bodies do with stress is more or less the same whatever age you are, there are some different stresses that young people come under – the stress of exams and the daily pressure of school work adults don’t have to deal with largely. For adults, whatever job we do we have usually chosen as the sort of thing we are good at, we have dropped the things that we are bad at – I was very bad at maths and a few other things at school and I don’t have to do those now. But young people every day at school are bombarded by pressure to perform better, including at the things that they aren’t so good at. Also things like the peer pressure, the friendship problems, can be worse and more sudden for young people.

Also we do know that the way the teenage brain reacts to stress is in some ways different and stronger. When scientists look inside brains of different age groups under stress, they often see a stronger reaction inside teenage brains. This indicates (though it doesn’t prove) that teenagers may actually be feeling more stressed than adults or younger children.

What aspects of school life can be particularly stressful for teenagers?

The fact that you are having to do lots and lots of different activities that you may not be good at or like, every day. So for example say maths is one of your difficult subjects, and you’re in a maths lesson and you’re learning something new and you don’t understand it. Well, that’s stressful. And then you’ve got to go into a French lesson and suddenly you’ve got to switch your brain to something completely different, and you may also feel that you’re not good at that….

And the friendship issues – the fact that when you’re a young person you can’t hide away from the nasty things that people at school might say to you. Young people are lovely and kind and generous to each other, but they are also sometimes the opposite of those things. And often if you are stressed yourself then you are less able to be kind to someone else, less able to control the things you say – so if you’ve got a group of young people who are all stressed because they are going through teenage problems and exams then they might not be as sympathetic to each other as they might otherwise be.

What kind of support at school do you think would be helpful for pupils who are feeling stressed?

Schools could really usefully do some quite simple activities and lessons about understanding how our brains work and what stress is, and learning some simple ways of building at least half an hour of relaxation into every day…. giving young people the opportunity to think of lots of things that they love doing that would relax them. And I think that schools need to do those activities each school year because there are different pressures coming along for young people at different times.

Most schools that I have come across have very good practice with issues like cyber bullying and exam stress. I think it’s really important for schools to have very clear mechanisms through which young people can go when they have any worry…one of the things I say often in the Teenage Guide to Stress is the need to find a trusted adult. Schools need to make sure that young people know that talking to someone is such an important thing.

Feeling stressed about school and think you might need some extra support?Enquire can give you advice about your rights.

You can also chat online to a counsellor at Childline about what’s worrying you.

Nicola Morgan is the author of ‘Blame My Brain – The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed’ and ‘The Teenage Guide to Stress’, both from Walker Books, as well as award-winning teenage novels. Nicola writes, speaks and blogs about reading, the brain, teenage brain and mental health and produces a free Brain Sane newsletter. She is the creator of BRAIN STICKS™, multimedia teaching materials for schools and organisations.