According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in seven students aged between 10 and 19 faces mental health issues. Ignoring the mental health of your students can lead to severe problems in the future.
In our Indian education system, we only focus on marks and competitions, which can pressure our students and lead to impaired academic performance.
In this article, we will explore the importance of mental health for students. The blog will also discuss some mental health tips that you can implement as a teacher to boost your students’ academic performance.
Before moving forward, let’s understand what mental health is.
What is Mental Health?
Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Students’ mental health means being able to handle academic stress, build healthy relationships, and make sound decisions.
Healthy mental conditions help students focus and effectively handle academic pressure, resulting in better academic performance. Good mental health keeps your students motivated and energetic, increasing the overall learning experience.
Why is Mental Health Important for Students?
The importance of students’ mental health can not be overstated. Students with good mental states are likelier to perform better at school and college.
This is because a healthy mental state helps students stay calm and composed every time, helping them focus on essential tasks and eliminate distractions.
It has also been observed that mentally healthy students have better social skills, enabling them to create meaningful relationships and work collaboratively.
Students who know how to handle their emotions effectively can easily handle challenges as they transition into the workforce or higher education.
Poor mental health does not lead to violent behavior; it makes it very difficult for students to manage their emotions, leading to depression or emotional dysregulation.
According to the WHO, nearly one in twenty Indians are suffering from depression, and most of them are students. Therefore, teachers like you need to take care of the mental health of their students.
We will be sharing five major strategies with you that you can use to maintain the good mental health of your students. Before that, you should know the common mental health challenges students face.
Common Mental Health Challenges Faced by Students
Ignoring the mental health of students may result in several long-term health issues. Here are some of the common mental problems that students may face due to poor mental health.
1. Anxiety Disorders
Stress is primarily caused by not acting on something you can control. If stress students fail to manage their stress effectively, it can lead to anxiety disorders, affecting daily activities, sleep, and academic performance.
The Lancet’s report on mental health shows that Anxiety Disorders are more common in females than males. As a teacher, having healthy conversations and words of praise can automatically help your female students handle anxiety disorders.
2. Depression
Depression is a mental illness that can cause extreme sadness, low motivation, or hopelessness in students. It affects daily life activities, studies, and relationships, and students cannot even enjoy doing things they used to enjoy.
Constant fatigue, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and low self-esteem are some of the critical signs of depression.
3. Sleep Disorders
Sleep disorder is when students have trouble falling asleep or getting a good night’s sleep. This makes feel student highly tired during the day and affects their focus, mood, and overall ability to do well in school.
The possible reasons behind sleep disorders could be extreme performance pressure, anxiety, and other health issues.
4. Substance Abuse
This is one of the seriouss mental health problems. Many students consume harmful substances such as drugs and alcohol to handle unresolved stress or emotional pain.
According to the report submitted by the government of India to the Supreme Court, more than 1.5 crore children aged 10-17 are addicted to substances. In the future, this may lead to drug addiction, which would be extremely difficult to overcome for students.
5. Physical Health Issues
There is a direct connection between mental and physical health. Ignoring any of them automatically impacts the other one as well.
When student do not get any kind of help while fighting stress, depression, or anxiety, their bodies often react in negative ways. Bad or stressed mental condition weakens the immune system and damages the body in every possible way.
Therefore, the importance of physical education is vast and cannot be overstated, as it helps students manage stress and stay physically healthy.
Top 5 Strategies for Maintaining the Mental Health of Students
Here are the top 5 mental health tips you can implement to keep your students mentally healthy in your school or college.
1. Run Mental Health Programs
Establishing mental health programs, including workshops, wellness activities, and counseling sessions, would help students stay mentally healthy. This will create a supportive environment on the school campus where students feel safe and connected.
All these efforts will improve your student’s academic performance and help them handle their stress or other mental issues.
Tips for teachers to run mental health programs –
- Be regular with mental health programs
- Involve qualified mental health professionals.
- Integrate mental health topics into the curriculum.
- Establish peer support groups.
- Evaluate and update the program regularly.
2. Integrate Mindfulness and Stress-Relief Activities
Stress relief activities such as yoga sessions, guided meditation, and breathing exercises can significantly reduce students’ stress. It will assist students in building a positive mindset and reducing anxiety, especially during project deadlines and exams.
Stress-relief activities may include –
- Creative hobbies such as drawing or writing
- Listening to calming music or nature sounds
- Journaling for self-reflection and stress relief
- Group activities and social meet-ups
- Outdoor walks
3. Gamify the Learning Process
Gamifying the learning process is one of the best ways to improve the educational experience and keep students mentally active and healthy. You use new tech tools like the SENSES interactive panel/ whiteboard to gamify your lessons.
You can quickly turn lesson plans into interactive learning sessions using tech tools, increasing students’ attention spans.
Students who feel stress-free are more likely to learn faster and perform better in every aspect of their school life.
4. Collaborate with Parents and Guardians
Building a strong connection between the school and home ensures that students receive consistent support and understanding in both environments.
Involving parents in mental health campaigns or education will let them understand your school’s approach toward students’ health.
This collaboration helps parents recognize their role and contribute meaningfully. Together, you and your school can create a unified support system, amplifying the effectiveness of your efforts.
Click here to learn how you can enhance parent-teacher relationships.
5. Offer Support and Access to Resources
Teachers and schools should do more than just inform and inculcate a culture that encourages and supports people’s mental health.
Teachers should observe signs and symptoms of distress proactively and guide students toward the right kind of resources, such as school counselors or mental health programs.
Openness about mental health among students can tear down those kinds of stigmas and enable them to feel safer when seeking some sort of help.
School and college administrations must provide accessible and approachable counseling services that students know how to access. Campaigns of mental health, information workshops, and peer-to-peer support groups help to encourage a conversation, letting students feel it is okay to ask for assistance.
Students will feel motivated to use these resources to become more resilient, recover, and succeed in a healthy learning environment.
Harnessing SENSES for a Stress-Free Learning Experience
SENSES is an AI-powered Interactive Intelligent Panel that you can install in your classroom to implement mental health strategies effectively.
SENSES will enable you to integrate multimedia content such as videos and images, making health education more and more fun and dynamic.
This dynamic approach encourages active participation and keeps students interested in learning, which is essential when discussing sensitive subjects like mental health.
The SENSES panel is packed with various modern and interactive features, automatically increasing the quality of education you provide.
All the latest and advanced features can be seen in the following image. If you are not interested in pictures and want hands-on experience with SENSES, BOOK FREE DEMO; we will bring the panel to your place.
More than 70,000 teachers have already installed the SENSES panel in their classrooms, enhancing students’ learning experience.
Questions About Mental Health for Students
Anxiety, depression, stress, eating disorders, and ADHD are common mental health problems in students. These issues directly affect the learning outcomes of students.
Bullying, academic pressure, social isolation, family problems, and excessive use of technology are some of the major causes of mental health issues in students.
Encourage open communication, provide mental health resources, promote physical activities, ensure adequate sleep, teach stress management, and reduce academic pressure to enhance students’ overall mental well-being.
