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For students, homework is nothing but a waste of time. Students have things to do outside of school and  use that time off for things other than school work. Doing school work every single day can take a toll on students and it is hard to find a balance to get it done. Too much homework can be harmful. Studies how that 82% of high school respondents in a survey said that were often if not always stressed by school work. Homework is such a constant worry and is not good for mental health. It is a waste of time when students could be doing many other things. Especially for younger grades. Students in younger grades don't need to be doing hours of home, it is unnecessary. They should be using their creative minds because in a few weeks time, they will forget about that homework they did. There is a very little amount of students out there who would disagree with these statements. There is often too much homework given and it is not fair to students. Homework needs to be banned for student's safety, mental health, and well being.

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Sleep deprivation is getting less than the needed amount of sleep. Children and teens need more nightly sleep than adults. Sleep deprivation can lead to lack of learning, falling asleep in class, and even car crashes. When students are not well rested they can they are more likely to participate in risk taking behaviours like bullying or smoking. A study was done and showed that about 72.7% of high school students do not get enough sleep. High school is stressful as it is and this doesn't help. Also, students who tend to not get enough sleep tend to have more suicidal thoughts and depressive symptoms. Getting enough sleep benefits students because it improve attendance, better grades, and will make less people fall asleep in class.

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Sleep in Middle and High School Students

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Children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk for many health and behavior problems. Learn how much sleep students need and how many are not getting it. Children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health, and problems with attention and behavior.

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One of the main causes of sleep deprivation is school and stress. Studies show that the average teenager goes to bed at 11 pm. High schools tend to start around 7:30 am, so students are not getting the minimum of an 8 hour sleep. One of the main reasons for this is homework. Teachers pile students with homework and students have things to do outside of school like sports and work. These kinds of things can run late as it so by the time they get home, it's already 9 or 10 pm, and they still have to shower, eat dinner and do homework. Eliminating  homework will get students to bed at a more reasonable time and give them more hours of sleep. Students stay up so late doing homework and projects and it's unreasonable for teachers to be giving so much. With this lack of sleep from doing homework all night, students develop sleep deprivation and it can cause a defect in learning. This is clearly showing that homework has a negative affect on the way students learn in school. Sleep deprivation not only causes defects in learning, but can also be dangerous. In high school, the seniors drive to and from school. When sleep deprived, it is very dangerous to drive as seen in the documentary, Sleeplessness in America. So many car accidents have happened from this and it can be fixed. Eliminating homework will allow students to get their required hours of sleep and not have to worry about any of these issues. They can excel in school and this will overall benefit them. Having no homework would show a major change in habits and is the answer for students to thrive in school.

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Mental health is something that everyone needs to take care of. It includes our social, psychological, and emotional well being. Our mental health affects how we think and act. It can change how we talk to people, how we handle certain situations, and how we handle stress. Throughout everyone's entire lives, mental health is always important. Having poor mental health can lead to severe mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety. These mental illnesses can lead to change in behaviour and suicidal thoughts or actions. Depression can increase risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. There are so many things that can happen to one with poor mental health that not enough people are aware of. Approximately 4.5 million 3-17 year olds have a diagnosed behaviour problem, 4.4 million with diagnosed anxiety, and 1.9 with diagnosed depression. These numbers are only diagnosed. There are so many more people out there who experience these illnesses, but don't speak up or get them diagnosed. So many students suffer with these and it makes their lives so much harder. Mental health trumps school because it could cost one's life.

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What is mental health?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. ¹ Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Why is mental health important for overall health?

Mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health. For example, depression increases the risk for many types of physical health problems, particularly long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Similarly, the presence of chronic conditions can increase the risk for mental illness. ²

Can your mental health change over time?

Yes, it's important to remember that a person's mental health can change over time, depending on many factors. When the demands placed on a person exceed their resources and coping abilities, their mental health could be impacted. For example, if someone is working long hours, caring for a relative, or experiencing economic hardship, they may experience poor mental health.

How common are mental illnesses?

Mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States.

More than 1 in 5 US adults live with a mental illness.

Over 1 in 5 youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness.⁵

About 1 in 25 U.S. adults lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.⁶

What causes mental illness?

There is no single cause for mental illness. A number of factors can contribute to risk for mental illness, such as

Adverse Childhood Experiences, such as trauma or a history of abuse (for example, child abuse, sexual assault, witnessing violence, etc.)

Experiences related to other ongoing (chronic) medical conditions, such as cancer or diabetes

Biological factors or chemical imbalances in the brain

Use of alcohol or drugs

Having feelings of loneliness or isolation

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Learn basic public health information about mental health including causes and types of mental illness.

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Mental health has so much to do with homework. Students already get so much stress and anxiety form tests and presentations, and having to get homework in on time does not help. It is so important to care for mental health and how is anyone supposed to do that with piles of homework and no time to do mindfulness or take a breather? Students have no time to themselves because they have that worry to do homework. When looking up the word, "homework," immediately what comes up are pictures of stressed out kids and help signs as shown two sections to the left. Especially when not knowing how to do something, it causes more stress on top of all of that other stress. This causes poor mental health because there is no time for self care when you want to rip your hair out and tear your paper. Over seventy percent of students say that school work makes them experience stress often with too much homework being the number one stressor. Teachers are not aware of the affect on mental health because mental health was not as important as it is now. It is vital for survival that everyone has good mental health and positivity.  It gets so hard sometimes to complete homework and it tears students apart. It makes them want to scream and cry which clearly is not at all good for your mental health. Everyone must be aware of how important mental health it and how much homework can affect it.

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Valuing relationships are so important. Everyone has important relationships in life and must make an effort to keep them going. Without having those special bonds with people, people often become alone and it affects everything in their life. These relationships are vital to humans' mental and emotional wellbeing, and survival. It is beyond important to have people in life to go to when you need something and to value them. Being connected with family. friends, and anyone else can boost one's mood and is very good for mental health. Relationships are necessary throughout everyone's entire life.

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Skip to main content

We're wired to connect to others from the time we're babies. Sometimes, when we're facing challenges we can withdraw from other people. But building our connections with people, instead of withdrawing, can change our thoughts and feelings for the better

Sophia, , says "when I was having my tough time, I think I definitely noticed that I put a lot of my relationships on the back burner... But when I [worked on them] it created a brighter future. There were things that I could look forward to, things that I was confident in. I knew that people really liked me."

Whether they're friends, family members, partners, mentors, colleagues or people you're just getting to know, working on your relationships can be great for your mental health.

Connecting more deeply to just one person can also help you get closer to other people in your life. Let's take a look at how building relationships can help and what you can do to nurture them.

Remember how other people can help

When you're going through a hard time, good relationships can:

Offer you support

If you've been struggling, it's great to talk to friends and family about what you're feeling. People care about you and are there to give you advice, listen and offer practical support. But you don't have to tell everyone everything. For example, if you're going through some mental health challenges, it's okay to tell some friends and not others.

Take your mind off things

Going through a rough patch? Sometimes we can fall into unhelpful habits or get a bit stuck inside our heads. Doing things you enjoy with mates is a great way to take your mind off worries and help you to feel more like yourself.

Help you feel less alone

When we talk to other people about things we're going through, it's often surprising how much they can relate to us. Everyone's unique, but it can be really reassuring to know that other people have had similar experiences.

Work to make your relationships healthier

A healthy relationship is one where both people are connected and respected. Often, healthy relationships have had lots of challenges - like arguments - and have grown from them. Here are some signs that your relationship with someone is going well:

you've shared experiences

you feel like you know the person and that they know you

you can talk to them when things aren't going as well as you'd like

you can hang out and do stuff you enjoy with them.

Unhealthy relationships can be tricky to spot, but over time it can get easier. Sometimes an outside perspective can help. If a friendship or romance makes you feel worse about yourself or unsafe, it's a good idea to talk about it to someone who you trust.

Reflect on your connections

It's helpful to reflect on the stuff that's working in your relationships and the things that could be improved. When one part of a relationship is hard - arguments, for example - it's easy to forget about the good things. On the other hand, we can sometimes be so keen to make a relationship to work that we ignore the ways it makes us unhappy.

It's easier to look at all this with a little bit of distance. Think about the strengths and weaknesses you see in the relationships between people you know. Then try to look at your own relationships in the same kind of zoomed-out way. What works? What could work better? How are you when you're with each other? How would you like to be?

Build your relationship with yourself

There's one person who you're closer to than anyone else, a human being who you spend every moment of your life with: yourself. When we practice looking after that person, our relationships with other people tend to get better. It works the other way around, too. Hanging out with and caring for our friends and family can make it easier to care for ourselves.

There are heaps of easy ways you can treat yourself with love and care - check out our tips for a healthy headspace.

Would you like to connect to an expert who can help you work through challenging stuff? Get in touch with your local headspace centre today.

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Skip to main content We're wired to connect to others from the time we're babies. Sometimes, when we're facing challenges we can withdraw from other people. But building our connections with people, instead of withdrawing, can change our thoughts and feelings for the better Sophia, , says "when I was having my tough time, I think I definitely noticed that I put a lot of my relationships on the back burner...

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This is related to homework because relationships can be broken over doing homework. First off, when asking a parent for help with homework, it often causes more stress from the beginning and often ends in yelling. This causes a fight between the child and parents and this is a frequent thing that happens. Another example is losing family time. Students are often in their rooms all night doing homework rather than spending time with family. They miss special things like birthday nights and celebrations. This is vital family time that they are missing and it drifts them apart from everyone else. One last example is with friends. Friends often want to go out and see each other, but can't because they have homework. They are missing out on their childhood and memories that they could be forming. It ruins the relationships between friends when they never get to see each other anymore. Also, if one friend has tons of homework and the others don't, so they hang out, the one friend is missing out and feeling left out from the group. It will make them upset and angry that they can't be apart of that. Relationships are so important in life, and homework ruins them and takes away memories that could have lasted forever.

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Homework is bad for students. Teachers don't understand how poorly it can affect students and waste their time, affect their relationships, affect their mental health and deprive them of sleep. Though it had some positives, the negatives outweigh those. It is far more important for students to care for themselves before pointless homework. because in a couple of weeks, they will completely forget that homework anyways. Homework should be banned because it will be more beneficial for students in the long run than having homework every night. It will benefit them in great amounts and help achieve goals in the future. If homework was banned, these problems will have less of a chance of occurring. This video below really shows perspective on the topic.

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In the teacher's eyes, homework is a way to benefit students and allow them to work on what they are learning in class. It allows students stay out of trouble outside of school. Homework reinforces learning and helps develop good study habits and life skills. Studies show that students only retain 50% of the information presented to them in class. In order to learn the material, students must apply it outside of school to fully understand what it is that they are learning. Homework also allows parents to be involved in their students learning. Teachers believe that students need homework to benefit them further, but students do not support this side of it.

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Homework Pros and Cons - Should Homework Be Banned?

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Proponents say homework improves student achievement. Opponents say too much homework is harmful to students. Explore both sides of the debate.