#BetterU Blog

What to do when students struggle with perfectionism

By Diana Rodriguez, & Chelsey Taylor Perfectionism can be difficult to spot as a problem, especially among high-performing students and in high-stress environments. But it’s critical to pay attention to students who are struggling with the pressure to be perfect...

Are your students struggling with sleep? Help them get out of sleep debt

By Macaela Mackenzie, & Ally Carlton-Smith, MS A future riddled with student loan debt isn’t the only deficit students have to worry about—sleep debt can also leave them feeling depleted. “Sleep debt is an accumulation of sleep deprivation,” says Dr. Michael Breus, a...

Teens and vaping: What you should know

By Michelle Wallace, Chris Stuck-Girard, MPH, & staff writers There’s good news regarding teen smoking—it’s gone down significantly over the years, from 28 percent in 1991 to 11 percent in 2015, according to the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The not-so-good news:...

Chasing perfection: How to help students see through social media

By Renée Morrison According to a 2015 Pew Research report, more than half of teens regularly use Instagram, and it’s likely that number has continued to rise. As a photo- and video-based platform, Instagram lets users share their own photos and scroll through other...

Understanding teen depression: How you can help

By Renée Morrison If you’re like most people involved in the lives of high schoolers, you’re no stranger to teen mood swings. For adolescents, the boost in hormones during puberty—added to the stress of getting good grades and fitting in socially—can cause drastic...

Science-backed ways to help students test better

By Maria Yagoda and staff reporters For students, going to class is the easy part. Retaining the information they learn, especially around test time, can be more challenging. Now we know that many students are going at it wrong. Reviewing course notes is the most...