
Can Homework Lead to Depression?
Homework, also known as students’ nightmares, is generally an after-school task that barely anybody asks for. The first-grade students tend to spend about 10 minutes on homework. But the high school students spend about 2 hours every night on their homework. However, this is not the final result. The amount of time invested can be lesser or higher based on the teacher, school, and the student’s capabilities.
Sierra’s Homework Policy recommends that students must spend a minimum of ten minutes and a maximum of fifty minutes on homework. A Stanford University report shows excessive homework impacts students’ mental and physical health. They say about 56% of academics consider these tasks as their primary source of depression and stress. As per their records, too much homework is also causing sleep deprivation, weight loss, eating disorders, and headache.
How Homework Affects the Mental Health of Students?
Homework undoubtedly helps to ensure students’ better performance in academics. But the maximum hour they spend in school and after school-task, the more they go away from friends and family. This segregation often leads to exhaustion. Excessive homework makes them disheartened and crushes their motivation for growth.
The evolving pressure that students experience makes their homework proportional to a battlefield. It is a battle they aspire to win every night with their utmost efforts. And by any chance, if they feel like losing, they opt for other ways to win it over. One prevalent path most choose is cheating.
Just as studies are vital for one’s professional growth, enough relaxation is crucial for one’s personal development. Fair engagement with families and friends helps students relax, have fun, and perform better in academics. When kids feel abandoned of this inner delight due to heavy schoolwork, unfortunately, the process reverses. They become sad and unproductive. While they first strive to give it their best, they eventually give up and prefer to cheat.
How Homework Affects the Physical Health of Students?
Even poor physical health contributes to stress and is frequently mistaken for a sign of depression. Struggling with overloaded homework welcomes a lot of pressure for students. As a result, they grapple with lack of sleep, fatigue, sudden weight loss, headaches, and stomach problems. Students generally rely on fast foods while suffering from poor eating habits. They often begin to lack physical activities, which further leads to health-related issues like obesity and others. That progressively leads to tension and unhappiness.
How Does Too Much Homework Affect Student’s Performance?
One of the most dangerous consequences of schoolwork is burnout. The majority of a student’s day is spent in the classroom. Afterward, devoting even more time to assignments leads to fatigue. Students begin to get anxious and sometimes even unable to finish the projects at this state. They begin to score poor grades, which causes a downfall in their overall performance.
Excessive home-tasks even overshadow the benefits of active learning. It invites students to become passive participants by improvising their analysis. It even restricts parents’ involvement in the educational process and their children’s friendships. Instead, it causes kids to get bored, lack problem-solving abilities, and have difficulties working in groups.
How can Parents Co-operate in this Situation?
Indeed, parents can’t help practically by doing their homework on their behalf. But they can do a lot in promoting the well-being and health of the children. And to realize the need, parents first need to understand the problem.
The first step is to figure out what the problem is that your kid is experiencing. Parents must pay attention to the obstacles that the youngster encounters. You must also determine whether they are overburdened with work. If your child attends primary school and spends approximately or more than two hours there, they are in violation of the rules. That’s when you discover they’re under a lot of pressure. As a result, now is the time to speak with their instructors.
The later step includes assuring your kid works with full focus and dedication. You need to make sure they don’t feel distracted by other objects. Things like spending a considerable sum of time on social media, talking to friends, playing video games, and watching videos are great distractions for your kid. Thereafter, assist your youngster in developing a homework schedule. Also, provide a designated area only for learning. Make an effort to create a timetable and set out a time for each activity.
Is it Better to Practice Homework With Friends?
Extracurricular activities like volunteer work and sports are vital for students’ mental and personal growth. These events help refresh their minds, meet new and old friends, better team performance, and develop communication skills. Similarly, practicing homework with friends also helps get all these benefits. With active participation in groups, they interact and share more. This also helps to reduce their stress a lot.
With too much homework, children barely get to catch up with their friends. Another reason for poor reading is that it makes communicating with others harder. It acts as a barrier to children’s ability to express themselves. Working on tasks together helps to strengthen communication skills that have degraded. This exercise also aids kids in feeling at ease and relaxed. It ensures that individuals obtain the assistance they require while dealing with difficult issues. Working with friends makes even the most difficult tasks bearable.
Final Words
Too much of anything is harmful, so does homework. The adverse effects of homework are undoubtedly something to worry about for both students and their parents. But it also plays a vital role in education and the learning process. When it crosses the line, though, the issue arises. It must not devolve into student torment or misery. Students, like adults, deserve a work-life balance that allows them to think and enjoy themselves outside of class. The more balanced it is, the more healthy they will be, and the more versatile they will become in all areas.