SOVA Blog

by Moderator ★

Sports and Their Effects on Mental Health

September 14, 2021 in Educate Yourself

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You’ve probably heard it before: exercise and moving around can do a lot for your mental health. It’s a great form of stress relief, helps get your mind off of things, and of course, has benefits for your physical health too.

One way of getting physically active are through school and club sports. Organized teams like football, soccer, volleyball (the list can go on and on and on) are an easy way to do this. There’s a social aspect as well, because it gives you the opportunity to interact with peers who share an interest in that sport too.

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There is a lot of evidence supporting just how great playing sports can be for adolescent mental health. This is particularly true in boys, specifically finding that depression rates are lower for those who play sports. Studies have also shown that those who play sports find their coaches and/or their parents to be key supportive individuals in their lives and that they have a strong desire to help those who may be struggling with their mental health. Bonds are strong with those who play sports together and general team participation in sports have been found to have antidepressant effects.

Even with all this information, however, the rates of of anxiety and depression among scholastic athletes have increased in the past decade. Organizations and colleges have started to take note, and are trying to spread awareness on the issue.

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The reasons for the spike supports the theories that younger generations have been experiencing more intensive and increased pressures to meet nearly impossible standards. That is, adolescents and young adults today are told that in order to succeed, they have to be “perfect” at something, and the best way to do that is to start it early and engage in activities related to it as much as possible. In the case of sports, adolescents may be training for tons of hours during the week, having a monitored and strict diet, and losing sleep to train as much as possible.

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The treatment of student athletes as “professionals” can very easily lead to exhaustion, not physically, but mentally as well. Student athletes’ lives aren’t all about the sports – as the name suggests, they’re students as well. Spending tons of time training means that they have less time do to do homework and travelling for games can take away valuable studying time.

This is especially difficult for the adolescent brain. We talked last week about how the adolescent brain has a lot of plasticity, and because it is still developing, can be affected by extreme situations and stress. Adolescents can be severely affected by the pressures that their coaches, parents, and even their own brain places on them, which can then in turn affect their mental health to a more extreme level.

Playing sports has an outstanding effect on physical health and well-being, but going too far can actually cause a lot of damage. The same thing can happen to your mental health too, so it’s important to be careful and check-in as much as possible to see how you’re feeling both mentally and physically.

Do or did you play sports? What was your experience like? Did you find support in your teammates or coaches? Was mental health discussed? Share your experiences below!

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by Moderator ★

Curling Up with a Good Book

September 13, 2021 in Be Positive

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There are so many ways to get comfortable with a book and get lost in the words and stories that it contains. You can read in the car during a long journey, in between classes, at the dining table, your bed, the couch, the bath, and so on. There’s the classic physical books that can be compact and slim and easily carried in one hand, or so heavy that you can use it as a weight. E-books like Kindles or Nooks can hold hundreds upon thousands of stories in one small device, providing an endless selection in the palm of your hands. These e-book services are also available as apps, so if you already have a tablet, you can read them on there, or even on your phone.

Nowadays, many wonder if kids and adolescents even read for fun anymore, often citing social media and technology as the major factor. The question about youth reading habits is not new, however. For example, when the Harry Potter phenomenon was at its peak, many noticed that kids had an increased interest in reading, despite being more consumed with TVs at the time. Despite this, young adult novels are still being published (and often adapted into TV shows and movies).

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Studies have shown that leisurely reading can have a positive effect on anxiety and stress. There are several ways that this happens; some psychologists believe that because reading is such an intensive activity that requires concentration, it can drown out distractions while also indulging you in a good story. These good stories can ease muscle tension and lower heart rates in as little as six minutes! In fact, reading can reduce stress up to 68%, having a greater effect than going for a walk or listening to music.

It’d be impossible to list the kinds of books that you can read, but there are so many genres and so many new releases that it can get pretty overwhelming to decide where to start. There’s always the New York Times bestseller list – and they even have a specific list for young adult hardcovers as well. You don’t need to stick to the most popular books though: ironically, social media websites like Goodreads and tumblr are great outlets to find books that match up with your interests. They usually have forums or blogs specifically for more diverse literature in both characters and authors too.

So when you find yourself having some free time, or simply want an escape when things begin to get too stressful, reading just the first chapter of a book, whether old or new, can have a tremendous effect.

Do you like to read? What kind of books are you drawn to? Do you have any recommendations? Let us know in the comments!

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Why do we hate-watch and hate-follow?

September 9, 2021 in Social Media Guide

Realistically, we aren’t best friends, nor are completely enamored with everyone we follow on all our platforms. You might have that one account that you can’t bring yourself to unfollow because there’s something so satisfying about rolling your eyes whenever they post, or sharing it with others you know who follow the same person. You might hate-follow a politician so you can see how people make fun and respond to them, or you enjoy watching stitched TikToks where someone is making fun of cringey content posted by a popular influencer you don’t like.

While hate-watching started with, and is usually associated, with TV shows, you’ve probably also hate-watched TikToks, YouTube videos, or vlogs of people you no longer care about or are even annoyed by. Those who have looked into our hate-watching culture often root it in elitism; all of us, on some level, have some sort of superiority complex, and it makes us feel better by seeing something we hate and react by going, “Oh, at least I’m smarter than them.” Similarly, hate-following people gives us a point of comparison: for example, you might still be following an ex because you know you’re doing better than them and want to remind yourself of that. Other reasons we hate-follow people include giving yourself a “bad” reference, so if you ever feel bad about yourself, you can remind yourself that at least you’re not this person you dislike and you don’t share their personality traits. 

As humans, we can’t help but dislike things, be a little spiteful, and frankly, a little hateful. There has been evidence suggesting that people are more likely to build connections based off of the things – and people – they mutually dislike, as well. Sometimes, we just need that little pick-me-up when we’re down by looking at the content of someone we can’t stand. However, it’s important to remember that whoever you hate-watch and follow are still people. It’s one thing to share cringe viral videos, but it’s another to constantly make fun of someone you actually know and interact with and share their content with others who also know who they are. Things like that, and leaving comments making fun of people, no matter who they are, quickly can lead to cyberbullying. Additionally, if all you want to consume is content that makes you feel negative, such as hateful, it can affect your mood and how you interact with others as well. Take the clip from Mean Girls above for example; talking about someone who dislike constantly can negatively affect the others around you.

So long as you can find the balance between hate-following and cyberbullying in check and make it a point to keep hate-watching to a minimum and to yourself, it’s understandable if you want to follow someone who annoys you slightly. After all, we’re all only human.

Do you hate-follow or hate-watch anything? Why do you consume their content? Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Please do not be specific about who you watch and follow.

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by Moderator ★

“I can handle this on my own”

September 7, 2021 in Educate Yourself

Adolescence is a time where we want to and feel like we can do everything on our own. This desire to be an individual without asking others for help happens with pretty much everyone once they start puberty. As we get older, we realize we have the option to make our own choices and don’t always have to rely on what those who are older than us.

This crave for independence and learning how to do things on our own can make us feel like we have to do everything without any help. To ask for help may make adolescents feel that they’re doing a bad job during this transition and that they’re still kids and therefore falling behind their peers. Asking for help may seem like a sign of weakness, which can make adolescents feel like they’re not good enough for their peers and others that they’re trying to impress. At a time when others’ approval and acceptance can mean everything, just the idea of rejection and judgment from others can prevent adolescents from seeking help at all.

Thinking like this can have detrimental effects though. This is particularly true when it comes to mental health. Signs and symptoms of mental illnesses increase during adolescence, but because of the stigma, the fear of what others might think, and the thought that they can and should handle these feelings on their own, adolescents aren’t likely to confide or talk about what they’re going through. 

If adolescents keep this to themselves, even if they recognize what they’re going through is intense and negative, these symptoms can get worse. For example, a mental health nonprofit in the UK called YoungMinds surveyed 7,000 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 25 about how they looked for information and support about mental health. Nearly 80% of respondents said they managed it and researched on their own at first, but only 17% felt confident in their abilities to handle it on their own. 

There’s a lot of choice and power when it comes to how adolescents can manage their mental health, however. Making the decision to go on medication, maintaining a schedule to go for therapy, even making the choice to decide who to confide in are courageous and ways to take control of a situation. Being independent doesn’t have to mean handling everything on your own, especially when things get tough, but it can mean taking action and making the decision to get support. 

How did you look for information when you first wanted to start learning more about mental health and mental illness? Were you afraid of asking anyone? Why?

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by Moderator ★

Who do You Interact with on Social Media?

September 2, 2021 in Social Media Guide

Obviously, social media is a form of communication. However, compared to our offline lives, where we’re likely not talking to more than a few people at a time, being on social media can feel like yelling out to the whole entire world, where your words can be seen by anyone, everyone, and with many of whom have the ability to respond.

Of course, this isn’t the case for everyone, depending on which platform you’re using, whether you’re public or private, or if you have selected lists of friends who can view your content. These tactics are all ideal ways to have as much of a positive social media experience as possible, but we want to take a step back for those accounts and times that you want to speak on a more public platform.

For those with more public accounts, it’s easy to engage with, well, everyone. You may find yourself in the comment section of TikToks or YouTube, or in the replies of Twitter threads or popular Instagram posts. You may even be initiating the public discussion by tweeting on your public account or putting up a discussion question on an Instagram story.

Social media can be a great outlet for those with social anxiety, giving those with it a space to talk more candidly and without worry about things like interpreting people’s reactions in real time. However, while public accounts can be beneficial to meet others without the pressure of having to respond right away or worrying that they’re judging you in that moment, it can also be harmful, because it can make you vulnerable to hate and troll comments, as well as tempting you to respond to hate comments on other people’s posts. The more you engage with negative interactions online, the more likely you are to feel anxious about how these interactions go, and you may end up internalizing some of the hurtful things that are said towards you, even by complete strangers.

Regardless if you have private or public accounts, you should have the intent of interacting with those that you feel like would give you a more positive experience. While it may be tempting to bite back against a rude comment on a YouTube video, consider leaving a message of support instead for the person who originally posted the video. If someone you know is leaving hateful content on your FaceBook feed, but you don’t know them too well, instead of responding, you can mute or block them. 

Social media interactions aren’t always going to be perfect, happy, or positive, but if you can take control over what you can to avoid the negative people instead of engaging with them, you’re likely to feel less anxiety about logging on and the content you’re putting up and interacting with.

Do you prefer to have public social media accounts, or do you have more locked/private ones? Who do you usually talk to on social media? If you’ve interacted with people who aren’t a part of your offline life, what have those interactions been like?

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by Moderator ★

Reducing Test Anxiety

September 1, 2021 in Educate Yourself

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One of the greatest causes of stress in adolescents is feeling like that they have to do well in school. A significant contributor to this, and what determines a good portion of grades, are tests. This also includes larger tests like AP exams and standardized tests like the ACTs and SATs.

If you find yourself having anxiety attacks or feel that anxiety symptoms heighten as exams approach, you’re not alone. Test anxiety is a real thing, described by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America as a subset of performance anxiety, or stage fright. It’s the feeling that comes when you feel like you have to do your very best at something because this is the only opportunity you have to show it, and you don’t get another chance. It’s knowing that this is the only activity you’ll be doing for an extended period of time, with little to no opportunities for a break or to take a moment to relax. It’s the fear of what other people may think of you if you don’t meet their expectations when you get your results back.

In short, test anxiety is not fun.

However, it’s something that people are starting to recognize. The ETS, the company behind all those frustrating standardized tests, has a publicly accessible guide explaining what test anxiety is and offers advice on how to healthily prepare for exams. The Princeton Review, one of the publishers of endless exam preparation books, also offers tips to help reduce test anxiety. It can feel like these sorts of tips can feel like they’re preaching to the choir, and are easier said than done. Positive thinking and deep breathing almost feel obvious, but sometimes, it’s difficult to do when you’re overwhelmed with not just learning the material, but the action of taking the exam too.

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A study in England researched whether schools could do something to help reduce test anxiety while preparing for exams a few years ago. Here, they gave hundreds of students an electronically-based program through a CD they could use on their computers called Strategies to Tackle Exam Pressure and Stress (STEPS). STEPS was divided into six 30 to 40 minute sessions that the student could complete whenever they wanted. Each session focused on different ways of coping with test anxiety, with one session focusing on self-reflective exercises, to another showing videos of other students candidly talking about their own experiences with exams and how they manage their anxiety with it. Some teachers had the students work on the sessions during classes, while others could work on them at home.

The study didn’t specifically choose students who expressed that they experience test anxiety and delivered it to all sorts of students. This was done in order to see if the program could benefit anyone, regardless of stress level, as well as making sure that those who do experience test anxiety did not feel self-conscious for being the only ones using it. After they collected the results after the time period was over, the study found that those with a lower level of stress when it came to exams were less likely to finish the STEPS sessions, while those who experienced test anxiety were more likely to finish the entire thing. The latter group also showed a significant reduction in their worry and tension when it came to exams after completing the program.

These sorts of findings are important because it lets schools know that there is some sort of benefit in delivering methods for students to reduce their test anxiety, and it’s something that they can do on their own accord and don’t have to lose class time for. It’s also important to recognize that test anxiety does in fact exist, and reducing it can reassure students that doing well on exams is more than likely.

Do you experience test anxiety? Do you think that it’s common in a lot of students? How do you think schools and teachers can address test anxiety and reduce it?

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by Moderator ★

When Coping Mechanisms No Longer Work

August 31, 2021 in Educate Yourself

We all have things that we turn to when we need to improve our mood. Many also have things to turn to when depressive and anxiety symptoms start to surface. 

Coping mechanisms can be, well, anything. If it’s something you seek out to make yourself feel better, then that’s a coping mechanism. However, not all coping mechanisms are created equal, and while what makes one feel better already naturally differs from person to person, the effect they have can also drastically be different too.

There are a number of reasons why coping mechanisms may stop being so effective for you, especially if they’re ones that you’ve had for a long time. For example, it might have just become such a natural part of your daily routine that the drastic, immediate effects on your mood are no longer happening. You may find yourself getting bored of your go-to coping mechanisms, such as listening to the same playlist of songs or doing a specific kind of workout. At first, you might feel guilty that your mood isn’t increasing and your mental illness symptoms aren’t decreasing, but having a change in routine and having certain habits run their course and be less effective is a natural thing that happens with a lot of different things.

Coping mechanisms aren’t always good for you, either. This includes things like substance abuse, scrolling endlessly on social media, and withdrawing from others. If you find yourself turning to coping mechanisms that are negatively affecting not just you, but causing worry and negatively affecting those around you, it may also be worth considering if these coping mechanisms are actually helping you feel better or not.

There’s nothing wrong with abandoning a coping mechanisms (and for those that are more harmful, it can be a good thing to abandon it!). If anything, it signifies that it’s time for a change, and an opportunity to find other healthier, beneficial ways to increase your mood and try something new!

What are your current coping mechanisms if you feel depressive and/or anxiety symptoms start to surface? Have you had any old ones that you ended up abandoning? What were they and why did you stop using them?

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by Moderator ★

Using Upbeat Music to Feel Better

August 30, 2021 in Be Positive

It can be easy to put on music that matches your mood when you’re not feeling your best. The best way to describe it is by thinking of the phrase “misery loves company,” or that having something (or someone) that feels just as bad as you are makes you feel slightly less alone. Every now and then, we just want songs to wallow in that we can relate to, whether it be about heartbreak, loneliness, sadness, or a combination of all three, or anything else on top of that. 

And although this is a completely valid way of coping, studies have found that listening to more upbeat, happier music can have a literal positive effect on your mood, especially when you’re listening to it with the intent of wanting to feel better. By listening to more positive sounding music and doing so because you want to improve your mood, you can actually find yourself feeling better, especially when doing so over a long period of time (the study found significant mood increases in two weeks, for example).

Of course, not all songs are created equal. Your tastes and what you consider to be good, positive mood music can be significantly different from someone else. Maybe your go-to happy songs are of the Disney variety, ones that induce nostalgia, ones that quite literally are celebrating happiness, or even ones that transcend language. Maybe you just like songs that have a good beat or are by artists you admire, or you can always refer to the many, many, curated playlists on the music platform of your choice.

We hope you try out or at least consider listening to more happy music, especially during times like these when the weather can feel extra dreary and the winter months can seem like they’re dragging. 

What do you consider to be songs that put you in a good mood? Do you feel different depending on the types of music that you listen to?

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Why Do We Use Retail Therapy as a Coping Mechanism?

August 26, 2021 in Social Media Guide

You’ve probably seen memes, tiktoks, and other kinds of posts on social media about how the best part of the day is when a package with something you ordered has finally arrived. There’s something incredibly satisfying about placing an order and tracking every single step of the delivery process before it arrives at your front door. Recently, these memes are often associated with something about mental health, whether it be placing an order “just to feel something,” or using that wait for your package to arrive as a reason to look forward to the future.

The concept of using shopping as a coping mechanism isn’t new. In the past, retail therapy was often associated with going to the mall or some store and grabbing something frivolous or outside someone’s budget that they buy on impulse. Phones and social media has made retail therapy even easier however, with things available with just a tap on the phone (and even easier, a double click on the side button that has your Apple Pay linked up). When the pandemic started last year, there was a huge spike in people shopping online, with many making their purchases impulsively.

There are several reasons why we turn to shopping – and especially online shopping – when we’re feeling down. One of the biggest reasons is a sense of control: when things like pandemics, mental illness, overwhelming schedules, and negative life and news events are surrounding people constantly, making purchases that they want and that they believe will make them happy is way to restore any lost control. Online shopping is also like a lottery machine; you never know what you’re going to find if you keep scrolling on commerce websites, and your brain is telling you to keep going just in case you find the thing that’s perfect for you to buy. One study has even found that retail therapy can help reduce sadness.

Retail therapy can be helpful and we don’t always need to try and justify purchases that make us happy, but when done excessively, it can quickly become an unhealthy coping mechanism. Companies are also aware that people turn to retail therapy, and can take others’ poor mental health as an opportunity to constantly push their products – especially self-care and wellness ones – on vulnerable consumers. Now that many social media platforms include many personalized ads automatically integrated on their feeds (think of how Instagram has been criticized lately for wanting to be more of a shop than a photo platform), the temptation to shop can be even harder to fight off. 

So if you want to reduce the number of times you online shop, but spend a lot of time on social media (especially when you’re depressed or anxious), and are constantly coming across personalized ads for things that are perfect for you to buy, what can you do? Again, it’s not that big of a deal to treat yourself every now and then, but it’s also up to you to determine just how long “every now and then” is. You can also see if you can explore alternatives to these items; for example, you can try making things yourself or see if someone is selling something similar secondhand. If you like having stricter rules in place, give yourself a small budget to spend each month for those times that you want to buy something that seems silly and useless online. Adblocks and turning off personalized ads can also go a long way too.

Do you do most of your shopping online? Do you find yourself buying things you don’t need? When do you find yourself doing them? Do you think you shop online as a coping mechanism?

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by Moderator ★

Is Being a Morning Person Better for You Mentally?

August 25, 2021 in Educate Yourself

You’ve likely heard that being a “morning person” can benefit one’s mental health significantly. You’ve probably seen a bunch of stories about how waking up with the and even before the sun helps people feel more accomplished, gets more done in the day, and feels healthier both mentally and physically. 

You may have tried becoming a morning person yourself, trying to squeeze in a workout, a full balanced breakfast, a time to journal, and meditation. You also probably have to wake up early to go to school, and maybe even earlier if you’re in a club or sport that requires you to be there before classes begin.

However, similar to the now debunked idea that less sleep = more time to be successfully productive, you actually don’t need to be a morning person to be productive and feel like you have everything together. What it really comes down to is understanding what’s best for your body and when your mind feels that it functions best. There are some people who do benefit from waking up early; for them, being a morning person means having control over what they want before their day officially begins and gives them a sense of accomplishment of having items on their to-do list already checked. Meanwhile, others may be at their peak in the middle of the day, or even in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately, because of the 9-5 work life and 7-2 school day, our culture favors those who wake up and function early, especially because those who function at other times are likely too exhausted because their body’s naturally preferred sleep cycle is so disrupted. But if you look around your coworkers and peers, most of them are likely too groggy, cranky, or about to go right back to sleep first thing in the morning.

So no, you don’t have to become a morning person if you want to have a well-rounded, productive, and healthy lifestyle. Although we still life in a 9-5 and 7-2 culture, those who benefit from being productive later in the day can still do so, but they just might have to do a little more work adapting and making sure that they can still get what they want done while still getting enough sleep.

Which brings us to our advice: whether you’re an early bird or night owl, try to do your best to establish a routine for when you want to be and feel your most productive. As long as you’re able to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night (and ideally waking up whenever you want to), you should be in good shape.  If you’re in college and are more productive later, try to schedule your classes for later in the day. The pandemic has made it easier for people to work remote, so those who can and live on the east coast, remote west coast jobs will allow you to have a schedule that starts later in the day too.

For more advice, click here!

Are you a morning person? Have you ever wanted to be a morning person, or have you trained yourself to be one? When do you find yourself to be the most productive?

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