what can having too much homework cause

• Future Students
• Current Students
• Faculty/Staff

News and Media

• News & Media Home
• Research Stories
• School's In
• In the Media

You are here

More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

More Stories

⟵ Go to all Research Stories

Get the Educator

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Stanford Graduate School of Education

482 Galvez Mall Stanford, CA 94305-3096 Tel: (650) 723-2109

• Contact Admissions
• GSE Leadership
• Site Feedback
• Web Accessibility
• Career Resources
• Faculty Open Positions
• Explore Courses
• Academic Calendar
• Office of the Registrar
• Cubberley Library
• StanfordWho
• StanfordYou

Improving lives through learning

• Stanford Home
• Maps & Directions
• Search Stanford
• Emergency Info
• Terms of Use
• Non-Discrimination
• Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

share this!

August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Explore further

Feedback to editors

New method could allow multi-robot teams to autonomously and reliably explore other planets

10 hours ago

Virgin Galactic completes final spaceflight before two-year pause

15 hours ago

Study finds fresh water and key conditions for life appeared on Earth a half-billion years earlier than thought

Jun 8, 2024

Saturday Citations: Praising dogs; the evolution of brown fat; how SSRIs relieve depression. Plus: Boeing's Starliner

Nonreciprocal quantum batteries exhibit remarkable capacities and efficiency

New method optimizes lithium extraction from seawater and groundwater

Rare 7-foot fish washed ashore on Oregon's coast garners worldwide attention

Jun 7, 2024

California wildfire pollution killed 52,000 in a decade: study

Quantum chemistry and simulation help characterize coordination complex of elusive element 61

A protein that enables smell in ants—and stops cell death

Relevant physicsforums posts, how is physics taught without calculus.

6 hours ago

Is "College Algebra" really just high school "Algebra II"?

Uk school physics exam from 1967.

May 27, 2024

Physics education is 60 years out of date

May 16, 2024

Plagiarism & ChatGPT: Is Cheating with AI the New Normal?

May 13, 2024

Physics Instructor Minimum Education to Teach Community College

May 11, 2024

More from STEM Educators and Teaching

Related Stories

Smartphones are lowering student's grades, study finds

Aug 18, 2020

Doing homework is associated with change in students' personality

Oct 6, 2017

Scholar suggests ways to craft more effective homework assignments

Oct 1, 2015

Should parents help their kids with homework?

Aug 29, 2019

How much math, science homework is too much?

Mar 23, 2015

Anxiety, depression, burnout rising as college students prepare to return to campus

Jul 26, 2021

Recommended for you

First-generation medical students face unique challenges and need more targeted support, say researchers

Investigation reveals varied impact of preschool programs on long-term school success

May 2, 2024

Training of brain processes makes reading more efficient

Apr 18, 2024

Researchers find lower grades given to students with surnames that come later in alphabetical order

Apr 17, 2024

Earth, the sun and a bike wheel: Why your high-school textbook was wrong about the shape of Earth's orbit

Apr 8, 2024

Touchibo, a robot that fosters inclusion in education through touch

Apr 5, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

* Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

* Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

* Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Media Contacts

Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected]

Is homework a necessary evil?

After decades of debate, researchers are still sorting out the truth about homework’s pros and cons. One point they can agree on: Quality assignments matter.

By Kirsten Weir

March 2016, Vol 47, No. 3

Print version: page 36

• Schools and Classrooms

Homework battles have raged for decades. For as long as kids have been whining about doing their homework, parents and education reformers have complained that homework's benefits are dubious. Meanwhile many teachers argue that take-home lessons are key to helping students learn. Now, as schools are shifting to the new (and hotly debated) Common Core curriculum standards, educators, administrators and researchers are turning a fresh eye toward the question of homework's value.

But when it comes to deciphering the research literature on the subject, homework is anything but an open book.

The 10-minute rule

In many ways, homework seems like common sense. Spend more time practicing multiplication or studying Spanish vocabulary and you should get better at math or Spanish. But it may not be that simple.

Homework can indeed produce academic benefits, such as increased understanding and retention of the material, says Duke University social psychologist Harris Cooper, PhD, one of the nation's leading homework researchers. But not all students benefit. In a review of studies published from 1987 to 2003, Cooper and his colleagues found that homework was linked to better test scores in high school and, to a lesser degree, in middle school. Yet they found only faint evidence that homework provided academic benefit in elementary school ( Review of Educational Research , 2006).

Then again, test scores aren't everything. Homework proponents also cite the nonacademic advantages it might confer, such as the development of personal responsibility, good study habits and time-management skills. But as to hard evidence of those benefits, "the jury is still out," says Mollie Galloway, PhD, associate professor of educational leadership at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. "I think there's a focus on assigning homework because [teachers] think it has these positive outcomes for study skills and habits. But we don't know for sure that's the case."

Even when homework is helpful, there can be too much of a good thing. "There is a limit to how much kids can benefit from home study," Cooper says. He agrees with an oft-cited rule of thumb that students should do no more than 10 minutes a night per grade level — from about 10 minutes in first grade up to a maximum of about two hours in high school. Both the National Education Association and National Parent Teacher Association support that limit.

Beyond that point, kids don't absorb much useful information, Cooper says. In fact, too much homework can do more harm than good. Researchers have cited drawbacks, including boredom and burnout toward academic material, less time for family and extracurricular activities, lack of sleep and increased stress.

In a recent study of Spanish students, Rubén Fernández-Alonso, PhD, and colleagues found that students who were regularly assigned math and science homework scored higher on standardized tests. But when kids reported having more than 90 to 100 minutes of homework per day, scores declined ( Journal of Educational Psychology , 2015).

"At all grade levels, doing other things after school can have positive effects," Cooper says. "To the extent that homework denies access to other leisure and community activities, it's not serving the child's best interest."

Children of all ages need down time in order to thrive, says Denise Pope, PhD, a professor of education at Stanford University and a co-founder of Challenge Success, a program that partners with secondary schools to implement policies that improve students' academic engagement and well-being.

"Little kids and big kids need unstructured time for play each day," she says. Certainly, time for physical activity is important for kids' health and well-being. But even time spent on social media can help give busy kids' brains a break, she says.

All over the map

But are teachers sticking to the 10-minute rule? Studies attempting to quantify time spent on homework are all over the map, in part because of wide variations in methodology, Pope says.

A 2014 report by the Brookings Institution examined the question of homework, comparing data from a variety of sources. That report cited findings from a 2012 survey of first-year college students in which 38.4 percent reported spending six hours or more per week on homework during their last year of high school. That was down from 49.5 percent in 1986 ( The Brown Center Report on American Education , 2014).

The Brookings report also explored survey data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which asked 9-, 13- and 17-year-old students how much homework they'd done the previous night. They found that between 1984 and 2012, there was a slight increase in homework for 9-year-olds, but homework amounts for 13- and 17-year-olds stayed roughly the same, or even decreased slightly.

Yet other evidence suggests that some kids might be taking home much more work than they can handle. Robert Pressman, PhD, and colleagues recently investigated the 10-minute rule among more than 1,100 students, and found that elementary-school kids were receiving up to three times as much homework as recommended. As homework load increased, so did family stress, the researchers found ( American Journal of Family Therapy , 2015).

Many high school students also seem to be exceeding the recommended amounts of homework. Pope and Galloway recently surveyed more than 4,300 students from 10 high-achieving high schools. Students reported bringing home an average of just over three hours of homework nightly ( Journal of Experiential Education , 2013).

On the positive side, students who spent more time on homework in that study did report being more behaviorally engaged in school — for instance, giving more effort and paying more attention in class, Galloway says. But they were not more invested in the homework itself. They also reported greater academic stress and less time to balance family, friends and extracurricular activities. They experienced more physical health problems as well, such as headaches, stomach troubles and sleep deprivation. "Three hours per night is too much," Galloway says.

In the high-achieving schools Pope and Galloway studied, more than 90 percent of the students go on to college. There's often intense pressure to succeed academically, from both parents and peers. On top of that, kids in these communities are often overloaded with extracurricular activities, including sports and clubs. "They're very busy," Pope says. "Some kids have up to 40 hours a week — a full-time job's worth — of extracurricular activities." And homework is yet one more commitment on top of all the others.

"Homework has perennially acted as a source of stress for students, so that piece of it is not new," Galloway says. "But especially in upper-middle-class communities, where the focus is on getting ahead, I think the pressure on students has been ratcheted up."

Yet homework can be a problem at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum as well. Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, Internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs, says Lea Theodore, PhD, a professor of school psychology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. They are less likely to have computers or a quiet place to do homework in peace.

"Homework can highlight those inequities," she says.

Quantity vs. quality

One point researchers agree on is that for all students, homework quality matters. But too many kids are feeling a lack of engagement with their take-home assignments, many experts say. In Pope and Galloway's research, only 20 percent to 30 percent of students said they felt their homework was useful or meaningful.

"Students are assigned a lot of busywork. They're naming it as a primary stressor, but they don't feel it's supporting their learning," Galloway says.

"Homework that's busywork is not good for anyone," Cooper agrees. Still, he says, different subjects call for different kinds of assignments. "Things like vocabulary and spelling are learned through practice. Other kinds of courses require more integration of material and drawing on different skills."

But critics say those skills can be developed with many fewer hours of homework each week. Why assign 50 math problems, Pope asks, when 10 would be just as constructive? One Advanced Placement biology teacher she worked with through Challenge Success experimented with cutting his homework assignments by a third, and then by half. "Test scores didn't go down," she says. "You can have a rigorous course and not have a crazy homework load."

Still, changing the culture of homework won't be easy. Teachers-to-be get little instruction in homework during their training, Pope says. And despite some vocal parents arguing that kids bring home too much homework, many others get nervous if they think their child doesn't have enough. "Teachers feel pressured to give homework because parents expect it to come home," says Galloway. "When it doesn't, there's this idea that the school might not be doing its job."

Galloway argues teachers and school administrators need to set clear goals when it comes to homework — and parents and students should be in on the discussion, too. "It should be a broader conversation within the community, asking what's the purpose of homework? Why are we giving it? Who is it serving? Who is it not serving?"

Until schools and communities agree to take a hard look at those questions, those backpacks full of take-home assignments will probably keep stirring up more feelings than facts.

Further reading

• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1–62. doi: 10.3102/00346543076001001
• Galloway, M., Connor, J., & Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. The Journal of Experimental Education, 81 (4), 490–510. doi: 10.1080/00220973.2012.745469
• Pope, D., Brown, M., & Miles, S. (2015). Overloaded and underprepared: Strategies for stronger schools and healthy, successful kids . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Letters to the Editor

• Send us a letter

Sport and Competition

Is too much homework unhealthy, a grassroots movement led by parents is backed by science..

Posted October 10, 2014

This is the question at the heart of the homework debate. The Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews wrote a powerful article: “ Parents Saying No to Too Much Homework .” The story was inspired by a chapter in the new book, The Learning Habit: A Groundbreaking Approach to Homework and Parenting That Helps Our Children Succeed in School and Life . (Perigee, 2014)

The Learning Habit separates fact from fiction about homework and has started a grassroots movement led by parents. Instead of encouraging a homework revolt, it asks for parents to institute a regular, balanced homework routine . This includes having children stop doing academic homework after a reasonable amount of time. When children can’t understand the assignment, parents will not make the children sit for extended time and try to help them figure it out; they will write a note on the paper asking the teacher for extra help.

At the root of the movement is science. It’s not developmentally appropriate to ask a third grader to sit for 120 minutes and complete an academic assignment. It’s also not psychologically healthy to have a fourth grader in tears every night over homework. The focus on a "the whole child" approach is resonating with parents and administrators in school districts such as Barrington, Rhode Island.

So how much academic homework should a child have?

10 minutes per grade in school, and then children can move onto other activities. If they don’t understand the assignment or get frustrated, they should stop and read a book for the remaining time.

The facts are clear when it comes to academic homework . There is a point of diminishing returns, and it is anything over 10 minutes per grade. We now understand that the concept of “homework” involves balancing many opportunities that provide our kids with healthy learning experiences.. Activities such as neighborhood play, sports, dancing, family time, chores, and sleeping are equally important for whole-child enrichment. Additionally, children who participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports, dance, and clubs score higher on academic, social and emotional scales.

• All students work at a different pace.
• Think big picture. Forcing a child to complete a homework assignment, after they have spent a reasonable amount of time on it (10 minutes per grade), is not promoting balance.
• Keep academic homework time balanced and consistent. On nights children don’t have schoolwork, they will read. Reading is important for both ELA and Mathematics.
• No tears policy: When kids feel frustrated or don’t understand an academic assignment, they can choose to read a book instead and ask the teacher for extra help the next day.

GET THE FACTS ON HOMEWORK: Fact Sheet Balanced Homework Habit

For more information on The Learning Habit (Perigee) click HERE

Rebecca Jackson is a neuropsychological educator and the co-author of The Learning Habit

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

Get Started Today!

• Centre Details
• Ask A Question
• Change Location
• Programs & More

10 Tips to Reduce Homework Stress

It’s no secret that homework causes stress for many students.

Whether it’s a big test around the corner or an upcoming deadline for an assignment, sometimes it can be impossible to avoid homework stress.

From Grades one through twelve, homework is a big part of children’s education. But when homework causes frustration and leads to feeling overwhelmed, it can have a negative impact on your child’s ability to focus and retain information. It can also lead to procrastination.

Ultimately, this can all end in poor in-class performance and lower grades. Because of this, learning how to manage homework stress important.

The Effects Of Homework Stress On Students

The effects of too much homework can include higher levels of stress and frustration for students. This can lead to negative impacts on grades, social life, and health (both physical and mental).

Most parents know homework can become a regular struggle. But it doesn’t have to be the worst part of your child’s day. Both parents and students can benefit from learning how to deal with homework stress, and turn it into a positive learning experience.

How To Avoid Homework Stress

Here are 10 tips to help your child learn how to make homework less stressful.

1. Stick to a Schedule

Help your child plan out his or her time, scheduling time for homework, chores, activities, and sleep. Keep this schedule handy so your child knows what he or she should be working on, and when.

2. Practise Good Time Management

When it’s time to get to work on homework assignments, make sure your child is focused on the task at hand. Remove distractions like cell phones or television so your child can complete his or her homework and stay on schedule.

3. Get Started Early

Every day right after school, sit down with your child and go over homework assignments for each class. Help your child make a list of what should be completed that night and get started early. Waiting to get started until later in the evening means your child has less time (and energy) to complete his or her homework, leading to more stress for both of you.

4. Review your Agenda Regularly

Your child should have an agenda where he or she writes down all homework and assignments given by the teacher. Have your child review the agenda each day to make sure he or she knows what homework assignments need to be completed.

5. Stay Organized

An unorganized homework station can be distracting. Make sure space is kept neat and tidy and has all the supplies your child will need to complete his or her homework, including pencils, paper, and textbooks.

6. Ask the Teacher Questions

As much as parents would like to help their children with homework, the material taught in school has changed a lot over the years. If your child is struggling with homework, make a list of questions he or she can take to the teacher to get the help needed to understand the assignment.

7. Organize a Homework Group

Whether virtually or in-person, creating a homework group can help make homework less overwhelming by giving your child the chance to go over the material with his or her classmates. This gives kids the opportunity to better understand the material by teaching it to each other and working through any questions as a team.

8. Walk Away if it’s Overwhelming

If your child is getting frustrated or overwhelmed by a homework assignment or question, encourage him or her to take a break and come back to it. This will give your child a chance to relax and regroup so he or she can come back with a clear mind. Even while completing other tasks, your child’s brain will continue working on problems in the background.

9. Make Time to Relax

Set aside time for your child to do something that he or she enjoys, whether it’s an activity at home or an organized extracurricular activity. On top of helping your child get important exercise, it will also give him or her a break from homework stress and an outlet for any frustration or extra energy.

10. Get a Good Night’s Rest

Get your child into a regular sleep routine so he or she has a chance to recharge after the day. Children 6-13 years old should get 9 to 11 hours of sleep each night, while teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Getting the recommended amount of sleep will help make sure your child is ready to tackle another day of school and homework assignments.

Learn more about overcoming homework stress and everything else homework related.

No More Homework Stress

Learning how to handle homework stress will help your child get more out of homework assignments, while also helping him or her develop better learning habits. Using these tips, your child can learn to tackle homework with more confidence and less frustration.

If your child is still struggling with homework, our homework help tutors are here to help!

Do Report Cards Matter This Year?

5 easy steps to set goals kids can stick to, related homework resources.

Homework, Organization, Studying

Homework procrastination: why do students procrastinate.

Understanding Dysgraphia and How Tutoring Can Help

Unwrapping the 12 Days of Holiday Skills

Canadian Attitudes Toward Homework

Find an oxford learning ® location near you, we have over 100 centres across canada.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Suggested Results

• EdCommunities
• NEA Foundation

How much homework is too much?

By: National Education Association Published: November 10, 2019

School Me, Please is the advice column where early career educators can come for individualized guidance from seasoned educators who have a passion for mentoring. Have a problem or question for one of our experts to address on the blog? Send it to us via email at  [email protected] .

My students are always complaining about the amount of homework I assign. Before, I just wrote those complaints off, but I've been seeing a lot of debate about how useful homework really is. How much is too much? - Always Assigning

Dear Always Assigning,

How much homework is too much is an age-old question, and there’s been a constantly shifting  debate on this for as long as I’ve been teaching. Research tells us that homework has some benefits, especially in middle and high school. However, some districts and teachers are abandoning homework altogether. At the end of the day, it’s about what works best for you and your students, but here’s some insight that might help you make a decision. 

First ensure your assignments are in line with school and district policy. I’d also ask your colleagues that teach similar grades and subjects. After these initial asks, start to consider factors like age, as elementary students are much different than high schoolers. Many districts follow the guideline of 10 minutes per grade level. This is a good rule of thumb and can be modified for specific students or subjects that need more or less time for assignments. This can also be helpful to gauge if you are providing too much (or too little) homework.  Consider surveying your students on how much time is needed nightly to complete what you assign, then compare to the guideline number to see if you are on the right track. 

Now think about your personal philosophy regarding homework. I tend to subscribe to the belief that homework is a reinforcement of skills already learned, and should be completed without the assistance of a teacher or adult. Homework, in this view, is a way of forming habits to set them up for success later in their education by teaching responsibility, time management, and how to complete a task. This is more common with elementary/primary teachers, as we see importance in children playing and being active after school and spending time with family members, in addition to their homework. In older students the benefit and purpose of homework is more academic. 

It is important to consider individual learners as well as the environment in which they are doing their homework. Parents can be an important resource in assessing the student’s needs for homework since they have insights into how students work at home. When I’m struggling to create a personal plan for a student’s homework assignments, I always try and reach out to their parents to collaborate.

In reflecting on how much homework is appropriate, consider how much time is it taking your students, their age, what your purpose and goals are, and the type of assignment. Also, consider all learners and their ability and support working without a teacher. Looking at all these factors will help you determine if in fact you are asking too much in regards to time spent on homework.

By Lori Celiz , California

Reference s

• 1 ‘Enjoy the Magic’: Classroom Veterans Share Tips for New Teachers
• 2 Want to Up Your Teaching Game? Let the Students Play
• 3 5 Tips for Co-Teaching
• 1 3 Paths to Productive Labor-Management Collaboration for Local Education Unions and Associations
• 2 Growing Our Union Together
• 3 Why Your Union Needs a Contract Action Team and How to Make One

Get more from

Great public schools for every student.

Login to your account

If you don't remember your password, you can reset it by entering your email address and clicking the Reset Password button. You will then receive an email that contains a secure link for resetting your password

If the address matches a valid account an email will be sent to __email__ with instructions for resetting your password

Access provided by

Download started.

• PDF [1 MB] PDF [1 MB]
• Figure Viewer
• Download Figures (PPT)
• Add To Online Library Powered By Mendeley
• Add To My Reading List
• Export Citation
• Create Citation Alert

Associations of time spent on homework or studying with nocturnal sleep behavior and depression symptoms in adolescents from Singapore

• Sing Chen Yeo, MSc Sing Chen Yeo Affiliations Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore Search for articles by this author
• Jacinda Tan, BSc Jacinda Tan Affiliations Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore Search for articles by this author
• Joshua J. Gooley, PhD Joshua J. Gooley Correspondence Corresponding author: Joshua J. Gooley, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, 8 College Road, Singapore 117549, Singapore Contact Affiliations Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore Search for articles by this author

Participants

Measurements, conclusions.

• Sleep deprivation

Introduction

• Dewald J.F.
• Meijer A.M.
• Kerkhof G.A.
• Scopus (1045)
• Google Scholar
• Gooley J.J.
• Scopus (234)
• Chaput J.P.
• Poitras V.J.
• Scopus (558)
• Crowley S.J.
• Wolfson A.R.
• Carskadon M.A
• Scopus (397)
• Roenneberg T.
• Pramstaller P.P.
• Full Text PDF
• Scopus (1143)
• Achermann P.
• Scopus (354)
• Gradisar M.
• Scopus (83)
• Watson N.F.
• Martin J.L.
• Scopus (84)
• Robinson J.C.
• Scopus (670)
• Street N.W.
• McCormick M.C.
• Austin S.B.
• Scopus (16)
• Scopus (297)
• Scopus (300)
• Twenge J.M.
• Scopus (148)
• Galloway M.
• Scopus (67)
• Huang G.H.-.C.
• Scopus (124)

Participants and methods

Participants and data collection.

• Scopus (81)

Assessment of sleep behavior and time use

• Scopus (1330)
• Carskadon M.A.
• Scopus (565)

Assessment of depression symptoms

• Brooks S.J.
• Krulewicz S.P.
• Scopus (62)

Data analysis and statistics

• Fomberstein K.M.
• Razavi F.M.
• Scopus (56)
• Fuligni A.J.
• Scopus (238)
• Miller L.E.
• Scopus (445)
• Preacher K.J.
• Scopus (23450)

• Open table in a new tab

• View Large Image
• Download Hi-res image
• Download (PPT)

• Scopus (35)
• Scopus (18)
• Scopus (59)
• Scopus (164)
• Scopus (85)
• Maddison R.
• Scopus (61)
• Lushington K.
• Pallesen S.
• Stormark K.M.
• Jakobsen R.
• Lundervold A.J.
• Sivertsen B
• Scopus (355)
• Scopus (32)
• Afzali M.H.
• Scopus (227)
• Abramson L.Y
• Scopus (1274)
• Spaeth A.M.
• Scopus (110)
• Gillen-O'Neel C.
• Fuligni A.J
• Scopus (77)
• Felden E.P.
• Rebelatto C.F.
• Andrade R.D.
• Beltrame T.S
• Twan D.C.K.
• Karamchedu S.
• Scopus (26)

Conflict of interest

Acknowledgments, appendix. supplementary materials.

• Download .docx (.51 MB) Help with docx files
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Article info

Publication history, identification.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2020.04.011

User license

For non-commercial purposes:

• Read, print & download
• Redistribute or republish the final article
• Text & data mine
• Translate the article (private use only, not for distribution)
• Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works

Not Permitted

• Sell or re-use for commercial purposes
• Distribute translations or adaptations of the article

ScienceDirect

• Download .PPT

Related Articles

• Access for Developing Countries
• Articles & Issues
• Articles In Press
• Current Issue
• List of Issues
• Special Issues
• Supplements
• For Authors
• Author Information
• Download Conflict of Interest Form
• Researcher Academy
• Submit a Manuscript
• Style Guidelines for In Memoriam
• Download Online Journal CME Program Application
• NSF CME Mission Statement
• Professional Practice Gaps in Sleep Health
• Journal Info
• About the Journal
• Activate Online Access
• Information for Advertisers
• Career Opportunities
• Editorial Board
• New Content Alerts
• Press Releases
• More Periodicals
• Find a Periodical
• Go to Product Catalog

The content on this site is intended for healthcare professionals.

• Privacy Policy   
• Terms and Conditions   
• Accessibility   
• Help & Contact

Session Timeout (2:00)

Your session will expire shortly. If you are still working, click the ‘Keep Me Logged In’ button below. If you do not respond within the next minute, you will be automatically logged out.

• Sign up and Get Listed

Be found at the exact moment they are searching. Sign up and Get Listed

• For Professionals
• Worksheets/Resources
• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Marriage Counselor
• Find a Child Counselor
• Find a Support Group
• Find a Psychologist
• If You Are in Crisis
• Self-Esteem
• Sex Addiction
• Relationships
• Child and Adolescent Issues
• Eating Disorders
• How to Find the Right Therapist
• Explore Therapy
• Issues Treated
• Modes of Therapy
• Types of Therapy
• Famous Psychologists
• Psychotropic Medication
• What Is Therapy?
• How to Help a Loved One
• How Much Does Therapy Cost?
• How to Become a Therapist
• Signs of Healthy Therapy
• Warning Signs in Therapy
• The GoodTherapy Blog
• PsychPedia A-Z
• Dear GoodTherapy
• Share Your Story
• Therapy News
• Marketing Your Therapy Website
• Private Practice Checklist
• Private Practice Business Plan
• Practice Management Software for Therapists
• Rules and Ethics of Online Therapy for Therapists
• CE Courses for Therapists
• HIPAA Basics for Therapists
• How to Send Appointment Reminders that Work
• More Professional Resources
• List Your Practice
• List a Treatment Center
• Earn CE Credit Hours
• Student Membership
• Online Continuing Education
• Marketing Webinars
• GoodTherapy’s Vision
• Partner or Advertise
• GoodTherapy Blog >

Fighting a Losing Battle: Too Much Homework Can Interfere with Learning

Understanding Learning

Our brains are programmed to learn things that are interesting to us and relevant to our lives. You’re more likely, for example, to remember where the aggressive dog who always chases children lives than you are to remember the color pattern on your neighbor’s shirt. Children in particular are primed to learn things that help them better function in their environment. Unfortunately, homework doesn’t pass this test. The overwhelming majority of homework assignments force children to sit down and memorize facts rather than experience their world. Not only does this make information more difficult to learn; it can also decrease your child’s motivation to learn. When learning is made miserable, children associate the thing they’re learning with misery and want to avoid it. This is why tactics such as forced silent reading time or flashcards rarely help children learn math and vocabulary.

The Stressed Brain

Even when homework is well-designed and does foster learning, too much of it can be damaging. Children who have more than one hour of homework each night overwhelmingly report that they feel stressed about their ability to complete their work. Over time, this stress can create real problems for a developing brain. When we are under stress, the brain produces cortisol , which lowers immune function and processing speed. On a short-term basis, cortisol can help us deal with stress. But when the brain is constantly releasing cortisol, development and learning can slow. This is especially damaging for children, whose brains are rapidly laying down neural connections. Even more troubling, excessive doses of cortisol can damage the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory, inhibition, and spatial reasoning.

Fewer Activities

The value of friendships , extracurricular activities, and relaxation time to children’s intellectual and emotional development has been extensively documented. When homework is overwhelming, however, children are less likely to have the opportunity to participate in these activities. Thus even a child who is left unfazed by excessive homework or who excels in school may suffer as a result of excessive homework because he’s unable to engage in the activities that can help him become a well-rounded adult.

A Better Approach to Homework

Homework can help bridge the gap between home and school, encourage independent learning, and give children who find school stressful an opportunity to learn at home. So what are the characteristics of “good” homework assignments? They include:

• Activities that encourage students to interact with their environment
• Activities that give students flexibility to focus on things they are interested in
• Activities that make learning relevant instead of flashcards and drills
• Reasonable amounts of time spent on homework—no more than one hour for young children and no more than two hours for high schoolers
• Activities that can be completed at home without substantial cost or the purchase of lots of supplies

When choosing a school or classroom for your child, ask about homework and advocate on your child’s behalf when homework becomes excessive. Your child’s stressed mind will thank you, and your child just may end up learning more.

References:

• Gerhardt, S. (2004). Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
• Harwood, R., Miller, S. A., Vasta, R. (2008). Child psychology: Development in a changing society. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Eyer, D. E. (2004). Einstein never used flash cards: How our children really learn–and why they need to play more and memorize less. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.

© Copyright 2012 GoodTherapy.org. All rights reserved.

The preceding article was solely written by the author named above. Any views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org. Questions or concerns about the preceding article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment below.

Please fill out all required fields to submit your message.

Invalid Email Address.

Please confirm that you are human.

• 22 comments

Leave a Comment

This entire school year I have been so frustrated with the amount of homework that my kids are consistently bringing home from school. It kind of makes me question what they are actually doing at school to have this much work to still have to bring home and work on at night. When I ask the teachers they just say it is to reinforce what they are teaching that day. But really? This is hour upon hour of work- the experts say that we need more family time together, but if most families are like ours, it is a struggle to get everything completed in the day, much less feel like we can have any quality down time together. What are we to do?

As a teacher I understand that sometimes parents feel even more overwhelmed by the homework than the students do. But I have to ask that you support us, we are not doing this to punish the students but instead to help them hold onto a concept that we have talked about in class that day.

I would never intentionally give more work to a class than I thought that they could handle, and I welcome any and all conversation with parents when they express that concern.

What bothers me though is when parents bad mouth the teachers and tell the students that they don’t have to do all of that work. That is not fair to the student nor is it fair to the rest of the class who really does manage to get all of their work done. I try to be as productive as possible in class but there are some days when we can’t get it all done and that necessitates the children having to bring home some work to complete.

Suffering parent

As a parent myself, there is no way that a few hours of homework is acceptable. They should be getting their work done in class with the help of their teachers, not bringing all of their work home to do. Home is not a place to make up time lost in class! Twenty minutes tops for a good review is okay. I agree with that. At the same time, that doesn’t mean hours. It’s absolutely unacceptable.

remember having to do tons of homework in high school.things must have only gotten worse ;)

but really,along with seeing what excessive homework does to us,we also need to look at why homework is only increasing.

if you ask me that well it could be because teachers are facing a lot of stress to deliver and they tend to give too much work to ensure the students do work.its like a doctor giving too many doses of a drug to ensure you are cured but in fact it is bad for you.

I think it’s the teachers who need to be reading this, not the parents. Parents know that most of the time their kids are being given way too much to have to do at home. I think that the real diconnect comes with the teachers. Of course if the students get the subject then the work won’t take that long to complete. But if a student is really struggling, this can be hours of homework horror for them.

When I can’t come home and have a concersation with my child because he or she has too much homework to take a break and sit with me for a few minutes, that’s a problem. That’s exactly what is goin on with my son this year. He is in the 10th grade and has barely had time to enjoy himself at all this year because of the amount of homework that he has on a daily basis. Now he is not the best student in school but he tries awfully hard and it makes me angry to think of how much time he gives on this work and yet I don’t necessarily see anyone giving back. I think that if the kids are working this hard then the teachers should at least reciprocate and give him a pat on the back every now and then for being such a hard worker.

Now a days the study competition increases day by day by increasing of progress in all things and today’s age of student have to work out so much on their studies so for the students help there are so much sources of help in studies are being introduce like online study which is easy to subscribe and get help from that.

I am so stressed! I am getting more than 7 pieces of homework each night + studying. Please help!

to help kids for losing homework to record it in phones or anything to keep crack on when kids lose homework.

Who is the author?

I am a high school student and I believe that homework should be required but an extra credit work and that all the grading should be on class participation and class work

high school student

I am a student and I get 4-7 hours of homework per night but I also am doing duke of ed ,scouts and cycling and that takes up most of my time . so I am getting in trouble for not completing homework and not getting enough sleep.as much as homework might help me I still get to much and don’t have time to have a normal teen life.

nun of yuz bisnus

i hate homework

My Spanish teacher who will remain undernamed as X gives excessive Homework. Today is Tuesday, and he says, he wants us to write 0 to 31, then 0 to 100, then 0 to 10000, and finally 0 to 200000 by next week Monday. How excessive and stressful is that.

these really help my techers dont give me and my class mates homework anymore thx

i dont know why children waste time on that like it´s so stesful when i was a kid i forgot what i needed to do because of all the homework and pakeges i needed to do every night

i am getting onlline homework, but i like homework. onlline scholl is just what i need:) its fun:) but not to much cause it ca be dameging:)

homework is pointless just doing hours and hours of review homework should not exist homework is idiotic

Although homework is a waste of time…it’s not like we have a choice, if we don’t get homework done we fail classes.

Homework is so hard and stressful that as soon as my parents tell me to do homework, I knew I was gonna get a headache.

I hate homework! It’s useless because it’s practically the same thing you learned in school, and it’s stressful!

By commenting you acknowledge acceptance of GoodTherapy.org's  Terms and Conditions of Use .

* Indicates required field.

Search Our Blog

Browse by category.

• Uncategorized
• GoodTherapy.org Announcements
• For Therapists by Therapist
• Find Therapist
• FAQ/What to Expect in Therapy
• Personal Growth
• Self-Concept
• Myths in Therapy
• Topic Expert Roundup
• Women's Issues
• Sex/Sexual Concerns
• Grief and Loss
• Separation and Divorce
• social media

Notice to users

Palo Alto Online

Study: the downside of too much homework

• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

A survey of more than 4,000 students from ten high-performing high schools showed that excessive homework produces unhealthy levels of stress, sleep deprivation and related health problems as well as reduced social engagement, a Stanford researcher has found.

Denise Clark Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, co-authored this new study , published in the Journal of Experimental Education. She and her colleagues used open-ended questions to examine perceptions about homework, behavioral engagement and student well-being in 4,317 students in California communities where the median household income exceeded $90,000 a year.

Too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and be counterproductive, said Pope and her colleagues, citing prior research suggesting that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night and that 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours is optimal for high school students.

Fifty-six percent of the students surveyed considered homework a primary source of stress, the study said. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent said it was the pressure to get good grades. Less than 1 percent said homework was not a cause of stress.

In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems, including headaches, exhaustion, weight loss and stomach problems.

Pope and her colleagues reported that spending too much time on homework meant students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” failing to pursue hobbies they enjoy, dropping activities and not keeping up with family and friends.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” Pope wrote.

Ideally, homework “should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development.

“…Busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points.”

Mollie Galloway of Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner of Villanova University co-authored the paper with Pope. Pope is also the co-founder of Challenge Success, a research-based expansion of the Stressed-Out Students Project at Stanford University that develops curriculum, conferences and other programs for students, schools and parents.

Join the Conversation

89 Comments

I never did no homework and I do just fine for myslef.

“90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours is optimal for high school students.” Then our middle and high schools are WAY off base, assigning excessive homework (which we all knew anyway). There is no way Paly and Gunn are going to bring it to this level, although would be fantastic. Also, any AP or honors class adds at least an hour per class. Think of the students who are taking 3-5 APs – torturous sleep deprivation.

The sleep deprivation and “reduced social engagement” are both torturous for our students and affects even students who take no AP or honors classes. Weekends are full of homework for most of our students. Thank you, Ms. Pope, for fighting for the health of our students.

I have two children that went through the Palo Alto school system El Carmelo/JLS/Gunn. We are not “Tiger” parents and I can say that they never had too much homework. I didn’t see any of their peers too stressed out and they all graduated and are in good colleges and doing fine.

I think the problem is more with the adults involved, rather than the students.

Part of the “homework problem” is related to course selection. It is easy to have too much work if you are taking too many / too hard courses. Our younger child doesn’t want the load our older one took, so she is taking less demanding courses. That’s fine with us. This is a Parent Education issue as much as a school issue.

My son has been in two different high-pressure school districts. In the first district, he had so much homework by the first grade that he had no time for play time after school. By the time he finished his homework, it was dark outside. By the end of the school year, he was overweight. Then, because he did not do so well in first grade, the school district there required him to attend summer school, so his physical activity was cut into again by homework from summer school.

My son had, until the end of the first grade year, been a skinny child. By fourth grade, he was bordering on obese and had over three hours of homework per night, including Christmas vacation ( Christmas Day in second grade, spent at his grandparents’ home, was ruined by the fact that he spent most of the day working on reports for school).

I took him out of that district and put him in a private school for two years, which capped homework at one hour per night, and he lost the excess weight . He had more time to play with friends and joined Little League and Cub Scouts.

Then we moved to Palo Alto. Suddenly, my son was inundated with so much homework there was no more time for Little League, Cub Scouts, or friends. In the sixth grade, he was doing four hours of homework, and by his freshman year he was drowning in nearly five-and-half hours of it.

His sophomore year he rebelled BIG time against all this homework! which led to several family talks with his counselor. She got him into two study hall classes per day, which enabled him to finish a lot of the homework and have help to do it. Now, he is losing some of the weight he regained, but he is so burned out on school that he has no interest in AP classes or even college.

Due to the fact that Paly keeps bragging about its college-like atmosphere, my son is afraid that college will simply be a big Paly, and he is refusing to go. He reads a lot, and likes to learn on his own, but he is completely burned out on institutionalized learning, mostly due to PAUSD.

My son will be the first kid in at least four generations NOT to earn a graduate degree. Thanx, Paly, Jordan, and New Haven!

“Fifty-six percent of the students surveyed considered homework a primary source of stress, the study said. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent said it was the pressure to get good grades.”

Let’s see, 56 + 43 + 33 = 132%. Seems wrong, but then I am not a college grad. Is this new math?

The timed idea of homework makes no sense.

One student will take 30 minutes to do an assignment while another takes 15 or another will take 60. Some students fill 2 hours homework time doing review while others will only barely have time to do their assignments.

No a better way to discuss this is the value of homework. I think homework should be for review that the student has understood the material presented in class, for research in subjects like history, or for comparable reading and written assignments to develop opinion in subjects like English. Making a student teach himself a concept through homework is a bad idea, also anything that is designed to decorate the classroom walls is a bad idea.

The value of homework is a big topic and this study does not address homework, just the time it takes to do it. Waste of time as far as I am concerned.

Studies like this might as well be about homework on Mars for all the good they will ever do in penetrating the cult of homework in PAUSD. We have had a takeover of our schools by conservative theorists of the “high test scores” and ‘back to basics’ crowd (Lowell, Mitchell, Townsend, Caswell, Tom, etc.). We have also seen the marginalization of anyone who wanted anything other than bigger, faster, higher, more as “watering down” our “excellent schools” . The net result: some of the most stressed out students anywhere in America.

Where is SHARE? Where is SOS? They were dismantled in favor of PSN, which is nothing but a club for giving out money to block parties. Where are our advocates for less stress in the schools? They all got burned out, beat up, and quit.

Is this who PA is now? Do we even care what is a good or sound educational practice? My answer is no, we do not. We care about our home prices, which are linked to homework and test scores. In a very insidious way we are forcing our own children to work to keep our family home prices up. It is almost a form of child labor.

Contrasting the treatment of the Paly math department and the Paly english department is highly instructive. On the one hand, the math department wrote a letter about how they could not be forced to teach Algebra 2 (not even a very advanced class) to VTP kids because they would have to “dilute” their “standards” to do it. Nothing happened to them and Mr. Toma was not even replaced as the IS. The English department tried to de-lane 9th grade english to the benefit of all students, and they were put in the stocks.

Get to work kids, daddy needs a boat.

Our kids got an intimidating amount of homework from the 6th grade Terman teachers and it continued through with some of the 7th grade teachers (math in particular). They were miserable those years – anxiety was at an all time high. It was totally unnecessary. Other years, including those at Gunn, were not so bad.

It all depends on the teachers the students have, and it’s luck-of-the-draw. So some students might get lucky and have less demanding teachers while others don’t. What ends up happening is the parents do the homework when there is excessive homework that the student can’t complete.

Applause to Denise Pope for opening this conversation through Stanford’s Dept. of Education. However, since the beginning of her crusade (when it was known as SOS, Stressed Out Students), I always found it ironic and hypocritical that this campaign started at Stanford. It’s exactly Ivy League schools like Stanford, where students are literally killing themselves to get in, that drive students’ crazy work load: too many APs, shooting for 5.0 GPAs, every activity in the book. If students were to limit their time doing homework, and accept lower grades for sleep , you can betcha Stanford would not consider their applications! Maybe Denise and her Challenge Success crew should hop off the pulpit and do something that’s not connected to Stanford, the very type of university that drives this insane pressure high school students feel. The pressure comes from the top (colleges) and trickles down!

The district had a homework committee of parents and teachers that unanimously adopted homework time guidelines similar to those supported by Pope’s study: 10 minutes per night per grade, topping out at 120 minutes per night for seniors. Two problems: they don’t apply to honors and AP classes, and the school board adopted the time limits but balked at monitoring whether they are being applied. Guess what? They’re not.

As to Stanford causing the problem: Stanford and the Ivies want our top kids. They don’t care if they kill themselves in high school or not. They’re aren’t going to stop wanting them because they are doing 2 hours of homework a night rather than 6.

This is our problem. We can solve it, or we can blame it on the kids, the parents, Stanford, or the Russians.

Gunn Mom: Blame the Russians, LOL. Regarding homework guidelines, “they don’t apply to honors and AP classes”. SO TRUE. Somehow, the teachers seem to have a YOU ASKED FOR IT attitude. So if our students want balance in their life, they have to avoid accelerated lanes and AP classes. Yet, the colleges want to see AP classes on the transcript. Our capable children can take many AP classes elsewhere and do fine while they have to take regular lanes in PAUSD to keep sane?

In Taiwan, after school and homework many students take additional course work at night in downtown teaching centers. The government last year required the centers to close at 10PM so the students would not stay and study endlessly. That’s why they are successful and the US is 23rd in math and dropping fast. Lazy students that think the world owes them a living and because their parents make a great deal of money that they should be treated differently. Two hours/night of homework is not much.

And “excessive homework produces unhealthy levels of stress, sleep deprivation and related health problems as well as reduced social engagement,” is just nonsense. Reduced Social Engagement??? The students are there to learn, not to make friends or text or use Facebook. Grow up and understand that if we want the student to be working they have to shape up and study- simple as that.

I wish all the colleges would stop accepting AP classes, the problem would be solved. Are these classes really college level anyway? If they are, why not wait until college to take them and enjoy a more “normal” high school life. My son, who chooses a heavier load than we would like, also chooses not to be involved in other after school activities such as sports, volunteering and clubs so he can get his work done in a more relaxed manner. Sadly, I think these choices will effect his life as an adult; he won’t see that sports offer a lifetime of health and other activities offer a more creative life balance. Each of our children approached high school differently and we try to let each make their choices and live with them. But I find it sad they work so hard–there is so much time to work hard in the future. We are squelching their youthful joy and creativity.

Do kids still average 3 hours a day watching television? That’s what the Nielsen studies say. http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/are-young-people-watching-less-tv-24817/

Dear Oriflamme, I was very sad reading your letter. There is absolutely no valid research showing that there is any meaningful benefit to homework prior to 8th grade; yet schools keep piling it on. You only get one chance to be a kid and the social, emotional and healthy physical growth are critical to developing the whole person. When we value grades and achievement over kindness and creativity, we get sharp-elbowed, self centered “citizens”. What a tragedy. My daughter was a mostly happy B student who followed her various interests and got accepted by a lot of colleges, including an excellent liberal arts school which offered her a huge scholarship we didn’t even ask for. I am glad she chose to follow her own path; she has become a young adult of whom we are very proud. She has always been the kid who would stop to talk to a friend who was upset, rather than cramming for the big test next class. I salute those values. i hope your son finds joy in some activity. The best value in education is two years at community college (practically free) and transfer into UC. When he gets his degree from UC, nobody will care that he spent two years at Foothill/DeAnza!! And he will have met a lot of real people from a tremendous number of backgrounds giving him insight.

The problem is that middle school and high school are in session a lot more of the day than college is. Kids in our high schools get hours of homework after being in class about 3 times longer every day than a college student would be.

I do think the schools should get better at getting the kids to learn how to focus and produce during the school day, then relax when they get home and pursue other things – sports, hobbies, science projects, music – after all, that’s pretty good practice for work life! Instead, it’s almost like the day classes are some kind of prelude to the “real” work that will happen “later” at home. It’s very unhealthy.

My kid’s after school life includes high-level music, sports, language, writing and science projects not possible in school, all his choice — in fact, what I see him write at home on his own accord versus what he’s willing to do at school is like night and day. I’m so tired of being a cattle prod to get him to do work he is spending all his home time on at the expense of things he would both be learning from and deriving joy from, and at the expense of his friendships and family time.

I am standing on my chair applauding this work. We do have amazing teaching staff in this district. Now we need a school administration that understands this work and will help our teaching staff incorporate changes to bring our education here to the next level.

I would just like to add…

I think 90 minutes of homework is too long, speaking as one whose child will usually stretch that 90 minutes into 5 hours (of pulling teeth)….

I wonder where that “optimal” designation comes from, and if it would drop if our schools did a more optimal job of getting kids to produce focused work in the middle of the school day…. Like I said, it’s better practice for life!

“Applause to Denise Pope for opening this conversation through Stanford’s Dept. of Education. However, since the beginning of her crusade (when it was known as SOS, Stressed Out Students), I always found it ironic and hypocritical that this campaign started at Stanford. It’s exactly Ivy League schools like Stanford, where students are literally killing themselves to get in, that drive students’ crazy work load: too many APs, shooting for 5.0 GPAs, every activity in the book. If students were to limit their time doing homework, and accept lower grades for sleep , you can betcha Stanford would not consider their applications! Maybe Denise and her Challenge Success crew should hop off the pulpit and do something that’s not connected to Stanford, the very type of university that drives this insane pressure high school students feel. The pressure comes from the top (colleges) and trickles down!”

I agree, Challenge Success is not really challenging the real problem, which is the college board and college industry.

Pressuring the parents and schools will add no further value except to cause anxiety about the politics of reducing homework when schools like Stanford are rewarding the kids who can do “more.”

What is missing is research or an outing of the insane college admissions game which uses silly words like “holistic” to evaluate equally capable candidates. The black box has never been researched.

Why not make a big part of Stanford’s admissions a lottery? What would be the risk?

Time to change the focus of challenge success’ research, and look within.

I’m surprised that kids have any time at all to do homework, between TV and cell phones. Didn’t I hear that they sleep with their phones? Makes for a lot of lost sleep, eh? I’m not sure that I believe that homework is the villain here.

“I’m surprised that kids have any time at all to do homework, between TV and cell phones. Didn’t I hear that they sleep with their phones? Makes for a lot of lost sleep, eh? I’m not sure that I believe that homework is the villain here.”

Though phones and social media are a problem, it could also be the three sports, the three tutors, the viola, the first novel, or finding the cure for something that is making after school like a second or third job.

Any of the leaders of faith communities in Palo Alto can attest to the high level of stress over homework of the youth of our community.

Posted by Ironic, a resident of Midtown 4 hours ago

“Applause to Denise Pope for opening this conversation through Stanford’s Dept. of Education. However, since the beginning of her crusade (when it was known as SOS, Stressed Out Students), I always found it ironic and hypocritical that this campaign started at Stanford. It’s exactly Ivy League schools like Stanford,” Stanford people are trying ultra hard to claim to be Ivy league…but they ‘aint.

And I used to stress over delivering the Palo Alto Times to a hundred customers six afternoons a week. Until I started stressing about my draft lottery number and Vietnam. But stress was a way of life when you grow up cowering under the school desks once a quarter listening to the air-raid sirens that would signal incoming H-bombs. Oh, the halcyon days of my youth. Amazing what one can become inured to.

Having lived on Taiwan for two years, I can attest to the fact that most Taiwanese kids ( as well as Japanese kids) are very overstressed. They have a higher rate of teen suicide there and in Japan than anywhere else in the world. Their parents pressure them so much that they have a high rate of nervous breakdowns that usually go untreated, as to do so would shame the parents. The parents achieve high results from their kids with horrible threats ( such as being disowned or kicked out on the street for a month) which they usually follow through with.

These kids often come over here for college, and away from their parents, they GO WILD with freedom. In Taiwan and Japan, all the real work is in high schools. my cousin is a professor at Tokyo University, where he teaches advanced English. His first semester there he flunked half the class. The dean asked him why he did this, and he replied that half the students never showed up, the other half did sloppy work, so to them he gave Cs. The dean replied, NO! NO! To the ones who attended,you give As. To the ones who never showed, you give Bs. Understand?”

So many excellent comments here. Personally, I am intrigued by those who are “flipping” the classroom, esp AP classes. Teachers video their lecture and that is the homework, plus reading. Then class is spent in discussion, projects, problem-solving. At the end of the day, I don’t think it is homework, but our outdated style of pedagogy that needs to be examined.

Bravo!!! The truth about homework is finally outed. This report should be mandatory reading for the whack job, neurotic parental units in Palo Alto/Los Altos Hills. The 5% fringe group of parents need to digest this research and take it to heart. This will take the pressure off teachers who are trying to accommodate the whims of the crazies (aka parents).

I read a book a while back about the education system in Finland. While they do have a longer school day, they also get more recess time, even at the high school level. Homework is non-existent before 10th grade, at which time it is only one-half hour , the school work gets done IN school, with teachers there to assist.

And Finnish kids are kicking the butts of Asian kids with their scores! Go figure.

I was just about to talk about Europe. We all keep being told about how hard the kids work in Asia, but Europeans tend to have a longer school year, a longer school day and much less homework. They tend to have a central college application process too which makes a lot less stress. They can only apply for 5 or 6, get accepted to no more than 3 and depending on exam results are selected for 1.

It is about time education was simplified and quantified here.

@Think again – In the most recent PISA math scores, FInland ranked 12th. The top 7 were all in Asia:

1: Shanghai-China 2: Singapore 3: Hong Kong 4: Chinese Taipei 5: Korea 6:Macao-China 7: Japan … 31: United States

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/dec/03/pisa-results-country-best-reading-maths-science

I guess my kids are among the 44% students who don’t think homework is overly taxing in PA high schools… My kids took AP classes including in math, science and languages, so they were in high lane classes. However, they refused to take all APs (no AP English or AP history). I’ve never seen them spend that much time studying. They certainly are in bed at a reasonable time every night (between 10 and 11 PM for my senior). And he has a job outside of school and belongs to a club at school.

Honestly, if my kids had less homework, I’d worry that it’s way too little.

So, you can be in high school in PA and not be the stereotypical kid drowning in homework. I think some kids take on too much, either because of parental, or peer pressure, or for college admissions (we circle back to parental and peer pressure on this one).

Parent of a senior: If your children are sailing through the most difficult AP classes doing fine and well-rested, holding a job, it points to one thing: they are supersmart. Don’t give people the wrong impression because not all have it as easy as yours do.

Wouldn’t it be great if Ohlone extended through 8th grade or even high school? After school today my daughter attended play rehersal, built a Lego city, made Jello AND baked a cake with her big sis. Then they played in the back yard until dusk and finished a book before going to sleep at 8:30pm. So much learning happens after school – memorization, fractions, design, reading and so on. Ohlone rocks.

@Paul, Do up you actually know any parents here or are you just one of the whack job trolls who likes to make strong comments about things you don’t have a clue? Or maybe you’re one of the administrators who is so threatened by smart peope you have to anonymously attack parents every chance you get? Because we’ve been to three area schools and still don’t know any of those mythical stress mngerong pa parents.

A totally different era! Grew up long ago (1930s/40s) when TV, cell phones, computers and computer games did not exist. Homework was mostly in math, which took 30-45 min. to complete. Then: stickball, hide & seek, tree climbing, long bike rides, the occasional fight with the neighborhood bully, or reading a book. AP did not exist. I went on to finish college in 2 and a half years, was invited to Phi Beta Kappa, and went on to a great career in a highly competitive field: administration in higher education. Today’s kids face far too many demands on their time and energy; they have little time for unprogrammed fun. No wonder they’re stressed out!

I have 2 kids who went through the entire Paly public school system. They took mostly the same classes up through junior year in high school.

One spent maybe 45 minutes per night on homework. The other one spent probably 2hrs per night on average, but many nights much more than that. Both learned the material although to varying degrees, and they were also better and worse at different subject areas.

Given the differences in kids (even apparently between siblings), “hours of homework” seems like a metric hard to draw conclusions from. Or maybe it’s really argument for lane-ing, yet you can find plenty of people in this district who don’t want lane-ing either.

At the very least, I hope the study came to deeper conclusions than “homework which ‘cultivates learning and development’ is good, but homework which is ‘busy work’ is bad.”

G6od bless the Experimental School of Education! I trust school officials and parents in Asia are paying attention to this!

My oldest child is in 5th grade, both are in elementary school – they have never had homework that couldn’t be completed in under an hour (often far less), and often have no homework nights. Maybe things will change radically in middle school and high school, but so far we have found our school to be a good balance of work and play. I don’t get the depictions of this district as a pressure cooker. It hasn’t been our experience at all.

the problem with classroom flipping is that kids become so dependent on who they are sitting next to. to be effective it also necessitates that teachers enforce a rule that the classroom operates in english only so that kids can’t be excluded by a table group where they are the only english speaker and everyone else speaks spanish or russian or chinese or urdu or farsi. teachers are afraid of being perceived as racist so they usually turn a blind eye to that phenomenon making them, of course, reverse racists.

Yes, things will change radically. Get ready for 8th grade. That’s when the demands really went to 11.

I have a senior at Gunn (Palo Verde/JLS/Gunn) and an 8th grader at JLS. Both kids are rarely overwhelmed by homework and have plenty of time for sports, socializing with friends, and other extracurriculars. My younger child does do more than her brother did, but she is a different student than he is and the assignments take her longer. BUT both my kids (and my husband and I) are OK with Bs, which around here are often considered “bad” grades. My son is graduating Gunn with a GPA that is definitely below their average but we’re in the middle of college acceptance letters and so far he is 6 or 6 in acceptances. His GPA might not have gotten him into MIT, Stanford or Harvard, but there are 1,000s of other colleges out there and 6 very good ones have accepted him. He’s happy, well adjusted and not stressed or sleep deprived.

@pa parent: The study was on high school homework. Elementary schools here don’t have much homework and were easy academically. Middle and high school will be much different unless your children have easy teachers.

Always hard to know if conclusions drawn in reports like this, where all the authors are affiliated with an advocacy group and so are like-mind going into it, are sound. It looks like Galloway and Conner were Pope’s students and involved in Challenge Success’ advocacy efforts before they took jobs at other universities.

Were the survey questions clear and unbiased? When my child took a Challenge Success survey what I heard afterwards was that the questions were confusing and the answers that could be checked were too narrow.

Add to that that the questions were “open-ended,” that leaves lots of room for confirmation bias when interpreting the responses.

Same can be said about the findings. I am confused by Challenge Success’ conclusion: “many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems, including headaches, exhaustion, weight loss and stomach problems”

How many? If it was a high number Challenge Success would likely have noted the percentage like it did in its other findings. Could “many” have been better stated as “not many?” No way to know without more.

I tried to pull up the report through the Weekly’s link but you have to pay to get the details which makes it hard to verify. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220973.2012.745469 .

On homework, I agree with Another Paly Parent. The same homework assignment can take two students a vastly different amount of time to complete. Homework expectations should be clear at registration so each high school student can select the class mix that will have the right amount of homework for him.

I heard that Paly wanted to take away lanes and make ALL 9th graders take the hardest, most advanced English class. I hope that student choice – and the ability to self-regulate the homework load that comes with that – prevailed in the end.

Agree with Parent: “I wish all the colleges would stop accepting AP classes, the problem would be solved. “ We have never had college level classes in high school back to Russia ( so don’t blame Russians :-), spent about a couple of hours for HW, were accepted to great colleges and got good jobs in competitive Silicon Valley market.

Smooth move, censors, deleting me for commentary about Paul above calling parents “ whack os” but still letting him call them “ crazies”. I’ll bet Paul doesn’t even know any PAUSD parents but just finds it easy to pile on the nasty lobs by a few admins secretly posting their bile against parents on other school threads (kind of obvious, too).

The parents in this district are a dream compared to other places I’ve been. What’s the group word for ad hominem?

@ Mom – Palo Verde resident

Exactly!! I so totally agree. My senior (Palo Verde/JLS/Paly – so our kids were classmates for a long time obviously) followed the same route as yours, and the end results are very similar.

I believe the stress comes from wanting to go to Ivy Leagues or Stanford at any cost. Silly, especially at the undergraduate level.

It’s interesting to me that there are so many more comments on this thread here, than on the Almanac thread with the same article. Many of the Menlo/Atherton/Woodside/PV kids I know are stressed, too, whether they’re in private schools or public.

Maybe, just maybe, it is because Palo Alto parents tend to blame their schools for anything that can possibly be an issue with their kids. Perhaps Menlo/Atherton/Woodside/PV residents have a different outlook on this.

@Mom from Palo Verde – I like your approach. No need blame others – the high schools, the colleges, “Tiger Moms,” etc. – for something that is really under our own control. We too accept Bs (though cheer As), and adjust the lane to the interest and ambition level of our children. Our kids do deal with stress and failure at times, but when and how they choose.

As you say, there are lots of colleges out there that will be lucky to have our kids. And I’ve known many, many folks who somehow managed to be quite happy and fulfilled despite not attending a college ranked high by US News!

Parents of a Senior – good observation. I don’t know the answer, but it’s good that parents are paying attention and concerned. The other parents I mention seem to put into place as much help as possible, via programs, tutoring, etc. It’s a huge amount of context shifting for all involved, and I feel for all of them!

I recall being shocked by a weird combination of helicopter parenting and ignoring kids to pursue their own agendas from the parents of a number of kids at Paly when I went there. I know now that some of it was just their way of trying to balance demanding careers, personal ambitions and kids’ needs – not easy at all – in order to keep up with the Joneses. Of course that happens everywhere, but this particular combo seemed to be really obvious in Palo Alto.

When I look back at who went to what school and what they’re doing now, I honestly see a mixture of kids who went to both junior college first and those who went straight to a four year school. Many of them went to state schools, not UCs, and they’re employed, seemingly happy, make a good income and are raising kids on their own.

Of those from my AP classes, I’m more in touch with those from AP English, many of whom went to fancier universities. I can’t honestly say that they’re more successful than the ones who went to state, because as we grow and change, hopefully our idea of what constitutes success does, too.

And amongst the younger generation – the only recent college grad I know who actually owns property on the Peninsula went to San Jose State, working the whole time 🙂

Posted by Allen Veaner, a resident of another community 4 hours ago A totally different era! Grew up long ago (1930s/40s) when TV, cell phones, computers and computer games did not exist. Homework was mostly in math, which took 30-45 min. to complete. Then: stickball, hide & seek, tree climbing, long bike rides, the occasional fight with the neighborhood bully, or reading a book. AP did not exist. I went on to finish college in 2 and a half years, was invited to Phi Beta Kappa, and went on to a great career in a highly competitive field: administration in higher education. Today’s kids face far too many demands on their time and energy; they have little time for unprogrammed fun. No wonder they’re stressed out!

***************

Wonderful post, Allen! I love the idea of “unprogrammed fun.” Rarely do I see kids in my neighborhood out playing, running around, exploring, and doing the things they should be doing in childhood. Sad.

It seems very unfair to all of the Gunn kids that across town the Paly kids are benefiting from a block schedule. Block scheduling helps alleviate the stress of daily homework, as advocated by Challenge Success. At Gunn we still have students trying to jam their load of college-like courses into a high-school schedule and it simply doesn’t work. Something has to give. That’s why nearly all of the local public and private high schools have moved toward block scheduling. Except for Gunn.

As Dana Tom said to Gunn parents about counseling, sit down and be quiet. Paly is no Shangri La.

“That’s why nearly all of the local public and private high schools have moved toward block scheduling. “

That’s interesting. It seems like most schools do have some blocking – some have 2-3 days blocks, others 4-5, but most have many days with longer periods. As with the calender, there is some sense in following the crowd on things like this.

Here’s a nice “Pro and Con” article from the Gunn Oracle last year on this very topic: http://gunnoracle.com/2013/04/palys-block-schedule-is-superior-to-gunns-rotating-schedule/

@hmmmm and @parents of a senior bring up an interesting question i have never understood.

These discussion boards are full of paly/gunn related issues and commenters: too much homework, too much pressure, too much tutoring, ucla didnt take my kid, go east kids, we can do better, no we can’t, etc.

there is rarely (that i have found at least) a similar discussion re nearby highschools, be the Menlo Atherton, Woodside, etc.

MA for example does not have the same net high test scores across the board (more diverse student body) — but a very large cohort of kids there go to great colleges each year (stanford, cal, ivies, great independent small schools, etc etc, plus do marvelous things and seemingly much less energy is expended on this stuff.

are they less stressed? is that just that they are sleepy in menlo/portola? or are we uniquely frantic even as others do similar things without all the hoopla? are palo alto schools really that different? seriously — what is the comparison and why is it so different (or silent) nearby?

Confused: Do they have Town Forums? People move to Palo Alto for the schools so there is more competition of nerd genes. It’s perhaps easier to attain a higher GPA at M-A for the same amount of work that would get a B in PAUSD?

Answers — thanks. I am not trying to offend, but my concern is those are stereotypes we create and then attempt to force for ourselves. i say that mainly because i am in this district and have friends who send kids to MA. the idea that effort X gets you grade Y there vs here rings false from a number of parents i talk to.

here is what i understand:

– on a test score basis — PA/GUNN does better than MA — but that is mainly do to MA having a large population of students learning english (so the scores are more widely distributed). this test score alone is the source of how we compare the schools.

– that said there is a cohort of 400 kids every year at MA who are are quite good. a friend of mine recently attended an 8th grade info night with a table full of older MA kids as speakers — ALL of whom were on their way to stanford, brown, wellseley, etc.

– that cohort of 400 plus apparently operates with way less stress, agita, etc. vs what we do to ourselves.

– the parent group in PA may just approach things differently — ie more aggressively in a way that creates agita that otherwise would just be a normal demanding school like exists in many well off areas without anywhere near the stress etc

the question is if groups in other places dont have the same madness — but perform very near the same — what can we do to be less insane. its concerning.

It could very well be that Menlo Atherton handles diversity better than Paly and Gunn. One look at their College Counseling website and it’s much easier to understand than Gunn’s or Paly; they even have a section in Spanish.

Handling diversity better means they probably handle kids in the middle better too. That’s a huge indicator of school culture.

We have all sorts of drama like the Paly Math letter, and the English 9 de-laning. Both related to better serving under represented minorities. That’s all at Paly alone. Gunn has it’s own issues. Two schools, double drama.

The overall pressure though comes from the top though. AP’s are really unnecessary. What possible rationale is there to take college level work in high school, when you are going to be taking college level courses for four years.

Hey J99 you scare me Sounds like a terrible lifestyle

Homework and education are mortal enemies. Homestudy and education are best friends.

PA Parent and Rocket Science,

My PAUSD 5th grader has had TONS of homework and big projects so both of you are mistaken about the current amount of elementary school homework, at least at my son’s school. My child just turned in a long term project that was mostly worked on at home and that we spent many weekends working on! Many of the other parents here have been complaining about this project too. That is not the only one. My child is about to begin another huge project and that will be interspersed with math, science, book reports, and other miscellaneous work. Much of this work is worthwhile, in my opinion, but it is just too much to do at home and too difficult for my chid to do without help from parents and teachers. I really wish most if not all of this work could be done in school. I blame it on the new Common Core tests all of the schools are trying to get ready for.

@ parent 2 Challenge Success did a survey at Gunn a few years ago and would not release the results to the school, the challenge success club at the school, the ptsa or the site council. Presumably the results did not coincide with their theories at the time. I would never let my kids fill out one of their surveys again because of the way the data is used/not used.

I hear that their theories on stress have changed recently anyhow.

The other big problem is that their message to high schoolers was “its okay if you go to Tulane, Wash U, or other high-priced private schools instead of Stanford” while completely ignoring kids who will be going to state schools or community colleges. So elitist that people were walking out of their seminars.

Wow, that is a huge amount of misinformation crammed into one post. A nice mix of falsehoods and unsourced rumor. Wonder why you have an ax to grind on this?

@Pressure Here!: Sometimes there are super-challenging elementary school teachers and it seems your child has one. The last of my three children is in 6th now and we never had much homework in elementary school – usually none at all or 15 minutes occasionally. Perhaps talk to your principal. Are you at Hoover? The Hoover parents have no problem with hours of homework, as many of them grew up with hours of it in Asia.

I find it hard to believe Common Core is going to change anything in PAUSD since our district already over prepares our children.

This isn’t rocket science,

“I find it hard to believe Common Core is going to change anything in PAUSD since our district already over prepares our children.”

This term “over prepared” should give people pause, as it relates to homework and stress.

The college racket has caused an official system of over preparing. It is carried out in a million ways, and kids, and families are under assault. Colleges border on being family life wreckers.

Change the college application system to a lottery. Colleges should trust districts like PAUSD who turn out decent kids to have a pool of kids who are considered qualified if they have completed normal, regular work. Make a separate small pool for first generation, and athletes, if that is so important.

Anyone who wants to “over prepare”, do it by choice, and that should not be on the application.

What colleges want is a steady flow of olympians and rocket scientists, and they have corrupted the system to attract these types. Colleges should suffer the reality of the stats on how many of those there really are instead of making everyone work as if.

I am a sophomore at Woodside Priory School and I think that there is way too much homework. I remember the days in elementary school when I would come home, do around half an hour of homework, and then play with my brother until the sun went down. High school students need time to play just like younger kids and we should not be spending our time stressed out over homework. I really wish that I had a chance to just have fun and figure out what I want to to with my life.

@pressure here – your 5th grader’s homework has nothing to do with the Common Core. 5th grade at Addison (my kids are now in high school and college) was filled with project, events, assemblies, etc. The teachers were fabulous and caring BUT a lot of the work required significant parental time, involvement, and often $$ (my eldest’s 5th grade class had many kids who rented costumes for the “Wax Museum” project of famous, deceased americans).

You can pretty much ignore any individual anecdote which indicates homework is easy or non-existant. Dr. Pope’s statistics capture a much broader view of homework than a single Parent bragging that their kid has no problem.

Dr Pope’s data pretty much matches surveys done locally by the city – youth council and by the district, over multiple years of surveys. about half the kids are Very stressed, and the time spent on homework skyrockets in middle school. Teachers here assign about 50% more than guidelines ( yes we have guidelines) and about 1/4 of the students are burning almost 20 hrs/week on hw.

Homework load varys by teacher, and many are quite rigid about hw rules and grading. in Jordan we saw excessive pressure from teachers intimidating students about hw: “…you’ll fail high school if you don’t do this work!” you can almost hear the witches cackle.

Anyhoo, get yourself a tutor in middleschool – that’s what the teachers want you to do, and there is no use fighting it. This will make your students life easier, the tutor will actually teach your kid the material, and hw will go much faster once they know the subject. Also, you are not the hw whip anymore. plus they can edit your kids papers and give your student the immediate writing feedback which they get so rarely from most of the English teachers.

Once you understand the dysfunction of this district, the solution is not too hard to accept. Either a tutor, or private school, or depression & darkness.

@ gunn mom No axe, just a point of view. And not misinformation either. I was one parent who attended presentations at Stanford and at Gunn by Challenge Success where they specifically said there are dozens schools worth attending and advised students to go just beyond the Ivies and Stanford. In fact there are thousands of schools in the US alone. At least once I witnessed another panel member challenge Denise on that topic. I think Challenge Success should really put their money where their mouth is and embrace all kids, not just the sub-Ivy set. Otherwise they are Elitist. Period. The presentations were probably recorded so you might check for yourself.

“Anyhoo, get yourself a tutor in middleschool – that’s what the teachers want you to do, and there is no use fighting it. This will make your students life easier, the tutor will actually teach your kid the material”

If you want to go this way, that’s fine. It is not necessary of course – many (most?) do without tutors, or get spot support when needed. They do fine too.

In my view, the dysfunction isn’t so much in the schools, as in some of the families. The teachers and material seem fine (esp. if you and your kids select lanes/classes that are a good fit for them). Some families treat education as an arms race, which we simply try to ignore.

Fred’s “everything’s fine, and if it’s not it’s your fault” perspective doesn’t fit my experience. My son went to Gunn excited to be in high school, and intellectually curious. Not a powerhouse, but interested in school and in his friends. He quickly realized that there is no place for kids who don’t or can’t want to do many hours of homework a night, but don’t want to be in the lowest lane in terms of content. I can’t believe that there is no way to provide the average kid a stimulating education that doesn’t require that that they give up their after-school activities and weekends, and that doesn’t leave them feeling like they aren’t cut out for school.

I just don’t buy the Libertarian, blame the kid view that I see some holding around Palo Alto.

Palo Alto Parent,

Funny you should mention Addison because guess where my kid goes? Yes, Addison, not Hoover, like somebody else guessed! And the Wax Museum was a major endeavor and like you said it required significant help from parents. I thought the project was interesting and definitely worthwhile, but why not have it shorter, less involved and much more manageable so that a kid could do it him/herself? I don’t know about you, but my husband and I had to help in every aspect of this nightmare project! Will it really help my child once he gets to Jordan next year to have completed a project for which he had to have a lot of help from his parents? And he continues to be bombarded with one project after another, reading letters (essentially mini literary essays), the Inquiry Fair, etc… The teachers are good and I feel are preparing him well, but why can’t a lot of this work be done in school? It is almost like there are really two separate issues, not only the excessive amount of HW, but that the HW is so difficult that the kids can’t complete by themselves. It’s almost as though the school/district has some lofty image to uphold and they don’t want to tarnish it by having the kids do less and easier work otherwise that will decrease the rigor thereby decreasing the reputation of the school and district. And the 5th grade teachers (who all collaborate on the curriculum, at least three of them do) explained that each project/assignment was to be explored MUCH more in depth than in previous years in order to comply with the Common Core. So yes, they did mention part of all of this is due to the Common Core.

@Pressure Here, Funny you should give the “wax museum” as an example of additional homework, my child did it all alone. The only part we, as parents, got involved with was help in learning the lines. Her teacher adjusted other homework to limit the impact on homework overall. To be honest there was no notable spike in homework effort and it was managed very well by the teacher involved.

@Pressure here! Maybe it’s the Addison parents who are kicking it up because we experienced the Wax Museum three times and it was easy – they did the work in class besides memorizing. Or perhaps it’s an issue with your specific teacher – when things are out-of-control difficult, it’s the teacher.

@Fred: You are partially correct – some parents expect too much from their children. But there are also teachers who expect too much from our children. It’s not one or the other.

Confused – I don’t know the answer as to why there’s more hoopla/conversation in PA than in MP/PV/EPA/, etc. In my experience, many of the PA adults do get all het up in a much more entitled fashion than the other parents. But when it’s PA monied parents vs the other local wealthy parents, I’ve seen things much more contained amongst the non-PA parents. Money gets quietly thrown at problems, whereas in PA, money gets thrown w/a lot more drama. And of course, the infamous Palo Alto Process, which has now been around for decades, creates an ongoing wrench in the works when it comes to civic and school matters.

In Menlo, there used to a be more quiet modesty about things were handled – which wasn’t always for the better, but of course, that is changing.

Hey no pressure,

Is your child a current student at Addison or a past one? Why are you bragging for him/her and what is the point of being so smug? The Wax Museum was only one project (a huge one nonetheless) out of many and I think I made that clear. That combined with everything else is hard. Not sure who your kid has but not all of the teachers adjusted the homework schedule to compensate. In fact one of the classes did the entire thing in school, but the other three did not. Not sure who you talked to but every parent I did said what a huge project it was and how they had to help their children. Plus we are talking 5th grade here. If your kid can do Wax Museum by himself good for him, but that wasn’t the case for many of the families I know of. Plus what does it say about you to be bragging about your kid on this forum anyway? That you live through your kid’s accomplishments?My kid needed absolutely no help whatsoever with his lines and gave his performance beautifully! He will also need no help with his Inquiry Fair because that is more his thing. But that is not the point. the point is that our child and others at Addison have been experiencing quite the HW load this year and I think it’s too much and too difficult. Every family and each child is different but that’s our experience. And for the record, my child is pretty smart too.

Not bragging, didn’t give any results. Just stating how it was managed by the teacher (well) and how it impacted homework overall (not at all). This was down to the teacher not the child. As I stated, the only time we got involved was on helping to memorize the lines and I’d expect to help out on that. It’s easier when you have someone to work with. Hardly a “project from hell”.

Pressure and no pressure,

Depending on the child or the family, historical re-enactments can be grueling. That fact alone is enough to reconsider their value.

I always found projects for “show” or “tell” fun and cute for the people taking pictures, and great for the family photo albums, but it is not for sure that they add a huge amount of depth to learning compared to the theater involved. Theater is simply not something that works for everyone, and people who are not into that kind of pressure should not be forced into it. Maybe one max in elementary, end of story.

Theater just compounds the idea that kids have to “demonstrate” something, and the bigger the production the better?

PAUSD is too full of these re-enactments. How about Medieval Feast at Jordan?

Worst part, when you get graded on costume, or whatever. They can be really annoying after second grade.

In response to the comment about Hoover, above, and as a data point for others: my child attends Hoover and he really likes it.

He is in fourth grade, and has never been deluged with homework. He enjoys school, feels safe, likes the teachers and staff, and has good friends there.

As a family, we find the diversity of the student body to be a strength of the school.

the answer is easy. school choice and vouchers. take your kids to where they want or need to be. ivy league at all costs! – public education in palo alto is an absolute disgrace!

Vouchers are utter bullcrap, but leave it to a Libertarian to think they’re a good answer.

Parents: some advice – ignore Fred. His single point of view is not representative of the actual statistics in our district.

Addison parents: no matter how well you think your child is prepared, they aren’t. The surveys show the transition to 6th grade is hard. You kids will face an ungodly crap-ton mountain of homework at Jordan, the likes of which would make a Tiger mom quiver. You see, teacher success comes with scores, and they get this success on the backs of student labor, not teaching brilliance. The teachers will pressure your kids quite enough.

If you want to lower your students stress level (without dropping lanes, skipping class, or shirking) your student will need help. We’re not talking about the 1% genius kid, but rather an average kid who is fine with a mix of A’s and B’s. School will be he’ll for that kid, and they will burnout and checkout.

But – a little help will go a long way. You can tutor them, or hire a tutor, or look for free tutoring services/help after school. 1or2 times a week. It will boost their confidence, give them help understanding material, and they can connect with someone in the education process who encourages them as students. (something you ‘LL find rare at Jordan)

The surveys are clear – you are facing difficult times ahead, and the school has no motivation to address the issues that are there. Don’t pressure your kid – help them.

Heh, heh,.. . Wow I have been remembering our days at the Jordan Gulag, and I am so relieved to be out of THAT hellhole.

Good example of too much pointless homework and the innovative skills of the teachers. Apparently they got together in a coven and decided that literacy and writing skills should be distributed across all classes. No research backing this up, just a pure-hearted motivation to ruin the one class that had no homework.

THEY MADE THE KIDS WRITE AN ESSAY IN P.E. !!

No shizzle. True story. Of course this was not part of any unit, there were no writing skills or analysis skills presented in class. They were not practicing anything taught in class. Just pure work for the sake of work. When it was graded, there was no feedback that would help them write better, nor help them improve at P. E.

Of course, not that we expected a useful educational experience; we had learned by now that this game is about obedience, compliance, organization, and work volume.

So the net result of an assignment with 1) no relevance 2) no class support 3) no useful feedback ?; it was actually a net negative experience. Like most things at Jordan Gulag it burned time, deprived sleep and demotivated kids. In P.E no less!

The fires burned high in the coven that night! You could hear the witches cackle as they finally figured out how to load homework in the one class that had avoided pointless drudgery -P.E. It was a moral victory for the side of evil.

Anyhoo, that kind of nonsense was a weekly drama at Jordan Gulag. Boy am I glad to be out of there!!

Trust me, you don’t need to pressure your kid – there is plenty pressure already in th Gulag.

Homework Parent’s summary could be appropriate for one of my children, who had a difficult duo of teachers (but is no longer a duo). But another child had a different duo and it wasn’t so dire.

I do agree with HP that paying tutors lessens stress for both parent and child. I formerly thought people paid tutors to ace classes, however, we have hired them to clarify for our children so they are less frustrated and this has not always resulted in “A”s but has resulted in far less stress for us. Some of the math/science is quite difficult in high school, and my husband has a math/science graduate degree but claims he has to relearn so it’s just easier to hire a tutor. Chemistry at Paly is challenging (college textbook), both in regular and honors lane (most have tutors in AP and honors lanes of math and science). Surely, someone will brag about their children never having tutors and taking advanced classes – kudos to you for having super-intelligent, driven children.

My biggest disappointment is that the Jordan English department has been failing students for at least a decade now. PAUSD’s English department was excellent back in the 70s and 80s. We all learned to write and papers were returned with comments. Nowadays, both Jordan and Paly fail to teach writing skills or return papers with useful comments so we have had to find instruction outside of school or I have helped our children learn. There are a few good English teachers at Jordan/Paly, but I emphasize “few” between the two schools.

To those of you elementary parents who are living from mortgage to mortgage, I encourage you to save for tutoring, which costs $45-$85/hour.

The middle,schools,in Palo Alto, especially Jordan , simply do NOT prepare the kids well for high school. I have noticed a trend the last 15 years of Palo Alto parents taking their kids out of middle school and putting them in private schools for those three years, THEN placing them back in Paly or Gunn.

Amazingly, many parents who do this state that’s their kids have less homework in private school ( with the exception of Castilleja) than at Jordan, JLS, or Terman.

@PAmiddle school Sucks: yep, that pretty much sums it up. Jordan creates a ton of work, and results in underprepared, burned-out students.

No surprise that parents look elsewhere. The Jordan Gulag has an image problem and a dissatisfied customer problem. Neither will be fixed of course, because – hey we’re PAUSD, and we don’t have to reform broken culture.

I used to only have 1 sheet a day in elementary school and when I went up to middle school I got more and more so I couldn’t spend time with friends and family.

You may be good at simple arithmetic, but it is obvious that many kids were in more than one group, such as “ homework is primary stress” AND “getting good grades”, OR some may have fit into all three categories, even.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Leave a comment

You’ve read all free articles for the month.

Register now and get five free articles every month.

Gain unlimited access to Palo Alto Online .

Already have an account?  Sign In . Trouble with your login information?  Get help .

We've recently sent you an authentication link. Please, check your inbox!

Sign in with a password below, or sign in using your email .

Get a code sent to your email to sign in, or sign in using a password .

Enter the code you received via email to sign in, or sign in using a password .

Subscribe to our newsletters:

• Weekend Express
• Breaking News Email Alerts
• Peninsula Foodist
• The Six Fifty
• Local Scoop
• Editorial Features

Sign in with your email

Lost your password?

Try a different email

Send another code

Sign in with a password

Privacy Policy

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: June 5, 2024

Published: January 23, 2020

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

Why should students have homework.

Homework has been a long-standing part of the education system. It helps reinforce what students learn in the classroom, encourages good study habits, and promotes a deeper understanding of subjects. Studies have shown that homework can improve students’ grades and skills. Here are some reasons why homework is important:

1. Homework Encourages Practice

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

While homework has its benefits, there are also many arguments against it. Some believe that homework can cause increased stress, limit time for extracurricular activities, and reduce family time. Studies and expert opinions highlight the drawbacks of too much homework, showing how it can negatively affect students’ well-being and academic experience. Here are some reasons why homework might be bad:

1. Homework Encourages A Sedentary Lifestyle

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

FAQ Section

What are the benefits of assigning homework to students.

Homework reinforces what students learn in the classroom, helps develop good study habits, and promotes a deeper understanding of subjects. It also encourages practice, improves time management skills, and encourages parents to participate in their children’s education.

How much homework is too much for students?

Generally, it is recommended that students receive no more than 10 minutes of homework per grade level per day. For example, a first grader should have no more than 10 minutes of homework, while a fifth grader should have no more than 50 minutes.

What are the potential drawbacks of excessive homework assignments?

Excessive homework can lead to increased stress, a sedentary lifestyle, lack of free time for extracurricular activities, and diminished family time. It can also create a negative attitude towards school and learning.

How does homework impact students’ stress levels and well-being?

Too much homework can significantly increase stress levels and negatively affect students’ well-being. It can lead to anxiety, burnout, and reduced time for physical activity and relaxation.

Does homework promote independent thinking and problem-solving skills?

Yes, homework can promote independent thinking and problem-solving skills by encouraging students to tackle assignments on their own, manage their time effectively, and find solutions to problems without immediate assistance from teachers.

Are there any long-term effects of excessive homework on students?

Excessive homework over long periods can lead to chronic stress, burnout, and a negative attitude towards education. It can also hinder the development of social skills and reduce opportunities for self-discovery and creative pursuits.

How can technology enhance or supplement traditional homework practices?

Technology can provide interactive and engaging ways to complete homework, such as educational apps, online resources, and virtual collaboration tools. It can also offer personalized learning experiences and immediate feedback.

Are there any innovative approaches to homework that schools are adopting?

Some schools are adopting innovative approaches like flipped classrooms, where students watch lectures at home and do hands-on classroom activities. Project-based learning and personalized assignments tailored to individual student needs are also becoming more popular.

How do educators balance the workload with diverse student needs?

Educators can balance the workload by differentiating assignments, considering the individual needs and abilities of students, and providing flexible deadlines. Communication with students and parents helps to ensure that homework is manageable and effective for everyone.

Related Articles

• Our Mission

5 Ways to Make Homework More Meaningful

Use these insights from educators—and research—to create homework practices that work for everyone.

Homework tends to be a polarizing topic. While many teachers advocate for its complete elimination, others argue that it provides students with the extra practice they need to solidify their learning and teach them work habits—like managing time and meeting deadlines—that have lifelong benefits. 

We recently reached out to teachers in our audience to identify practices that can help educators plot a middle path. 

Elementary school teacher John Thomas told Edutopia on Facebook that he finds the best homework looks more like no-strings-attached encouragement for students to read or even play academically-adjacent games with their families. “I encourage reading every night,” Thomas says, but he doesn’t use logs or other means of getting students to track their completion. “Just encouragement and book bags with self selected books students take home for enjoyment.” 

Thomas said he also suggests to parents and students that they can play around with “math and science tools” such as “calculators, tape measures, protractors, rulers, money, tangrams, and building blocks.” Math-based games like Yahtzee or dominos, can also serve as enriching—and fun—practice of skills they’re learning.

At the middle and high school level, homework generally increases, and that can be demotivating for teachers, who feel obliged to review or even grade half-hearted submissions. It can also be demotivating for students, too. “Most [students] don’t complete it anyway,” said high school teacher Krystn Stretzinger Charlie on Facebook . “It ends up hurting them more than it helps.”    

So how do teachers decide when to—and when not to—assign homework and how do they ensure that the homework they assign feels meaningful, productive, and even motivating to students? 

1. Less is More

A 2017 study analyzed the homework assignments of more than 20,000 middle and high school students and found that teachers are often a bad judge of how long homework will take. 

According to researchers, students spend as much as 85 minutes or as little as 30 minutes on homework teachers imagined would take students one hour to complete. The researchers concluded that by assigning too much homework , teachers actually increased inequalities between students for “minimal gains in achievement.” Too much homework can overwhelm students who “have more gaps in their knowledge,” the researchers said, and creates situations where homework becomes so time-consuming and frustrating that it demotivates students and turns them off to classwork.

To counteract this, middle school math teacher Crystal Frommert says she focuses on quality over quantity. She cites the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics , which recommends only assigning “what’s necessary to augment instruction,” and adds that if teachers can “get sufficient information by assigning only five problems, then don’t assign fifty.” 

Instead of sending students home with worksheets and long problem sets from textbooks that often repeat the same concepts, Frommert recommends assigning part of a page, or even a few specific problems—and explaining to students why these handpicked problems will be helpful practice. When students know there’s thought behind the problems they’re asked to solve at home, “they pay more attention to the condensed assignment because it was tailored for them,” Frommert says. 

On Instagram , high school teacher Jacob Palmer said that every now and then he condenses homework down to just one problem that is particularly engaging and challenging: “The depth and exploration that can come from one single problem can be richer than 20 routine problems.” 

2. Add Choice to the Equation 

Former educator and coach Mike Anderson says teachers can differentiate homework assignments without placing unrealistic demands on their workload by offering students some discretion in the work they complete, and explicitly teaching them “how to choose appropriately challenging work for themselves.” 

Instead of assigning the same 20 problems or response questions on a given textbook page to all students, for example, Anderson suggests asking students to refer to the list of questions and choose and complete a designated number of them (three to five, for example) that give students “a little bit of a challenge but that [they] can still solve independently.” 

To teach students how to choose well, Anderson actually has students practice choosing homework questions in class before the end of the day, brainstorming in groups and sharing their thoughts about what a good homework question should accomplish. The other part, of course, involves offering students good choices: “Make sure that options for homework focus on the skills being practiced and are open-ended enough for all students to be successful,” he says. 

Once students have developed a better understanding of the purpose of challenging themselves to practice and grow as learners, Anderson also periodically asks students to come up with their own ideas for problems or other activities they can use to reinforce learning at home. A simple question, such as “What are some ideas for how you might practice this skill at home?” can be enough to get students sharing ideas, he said. 

Jill Kibler, a former high school science teacher, told Edutopia on Facebook that she implemented homework choice in her classroom by allowing students to decide how much of the work they’ve recently turned in they’d like to redo as homework: “Students had one grading cycle (about seven school days) to redo the work they wanted to improve,” she said. 

3. Break the Mold 

According to high school English teacher Kate Dusto, the work that students produce at home doesn’t have to come in the traditional formats of written responses to a problem. On Instagram , Dusto told Edutopia that homework can often be made more interesting—and engaging—by allowing students to show evidence of their learning in creative ways. 

“Offer choices for how they show their learning,” Dusto said. “Record audio or video? Type or use speech to text? Draw or handwrite and then upload a picture?,” the possibilities are endless. 

Former educator and author Jay McTighe notes that visual representations such as graphic organizers and concept maps are particularly useful for students attempting to organize new information and solidify their understanding of abstract concepts. For example, students might be asked to “draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth” in biology class or map out the plot, characters, themes, and settings of a novel or play they’re reading to visualize relationships between different elements of the story and deepen their comprehension of it. 

Simple written responses to summarize new learning can also be made more interesting by varying the format, McTighe said. For example, ask students to compose a Tweet in 280 characters or less and answer a question like “What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?” or even record a short audio podcast or video podcast explaining “key concepts from one or more lessons.”

4. Make Homework Voluntary 

When Elementary school teacher Jacqueline Worthley Fiorentino stopped assigning mandatory homework to her second grade students and suggested voluntary activities instead, she found that something surprising happened: “They started doing more work at home.” 

Some of the simple, voluntary activities she presented students with included encouraging at-home reading (without mandating how much time they should spend reading); sending home weekly spelling words and math facts that will be covered in class, but that should also be mastered by the end of the week: “it will be up to each child to figure out the best way to learn to spell the words correctly or to master the math facts,” she said; and creating voluntary lesson extensions such as pointing students to outside resources—texts, videos or films, webpages, or even online or in-person exhibits—to “expand their knowledge on a topic covered in class.”

Anderson said that for older students, teachers can sometimes make whatever homework they assign a voluntary choice. “Do all students need to practice a skill? If not, you might keep homework invitational,” he said, adding that teachers can tell students: “If you think a little more practice tonight would help you solidify your learning, here are some examples you might try.”

On Facebook , Natisha Wilson, a K-12 gifted students coordinator for an Ohio school district, said that when students are working on a challenging question in class, she’ll give them the option to “take it home and figure it out” if they’re unable to complete it before the end of the period. Often students take her up on this, she said because many of them “can’t stand not knowing the answer.” 

5. Grade for Completion—or Don’t Grade at All  

Former teacher Rick Wormeli argues that work on homework assignments isn’t “evidence of final level of proficiency”; rather, it’s practice that provides teachers with “feedback and informs where we go next in instruction.” 

Grading homework for completion—or not grading at all, Wormeli says—can help students focus on the real task at hand of consolidating understanding and self-monitoring their learning. “When early attempts at mastery are not used against them, and accountability comes in the form of actually learning content, adolescents flourish.” 

High school science teacher John Scali agreed , confirming that grading for “completion and timeliness” rather than for “correctness” makes students “more likely to do the work, especially if it ties directly into what we are doing in class the next day” without worrying about being “100% correct.” On Instagram , middle school math teacher Traci Hawks noted that any assignments that are completed and show work—even if the answer is wrong—gets a 100 from her.

But Frommert said that even grading for completion can be time consuming for teachers, and fraught for students if they don’t have home environments that are supportive of homework, or if they have jobs or other after school activities. 

Instead of traditional grading, she suggests alternatives to holding students accountable for homework, such as student presentations, or even group discussions and debates as a way to check for understanding. For example, students can debate which method is best to solve a problem, or discuss their prospective solutions in small groups. “Communicating their mathematical thinking deepens their understanding,” Frommert says. 

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

• How It Works
• Sleep Meditation
• VA Workers and Veterans

• How It Works 01
• Sleep Meditation 02
• Mental Fitness 03
• Neurofeedback 04
• Healium for Business 05
• VA Workers and Veterans 06
• Sports Meditation 07
• VR Experiences 08
• Social Purpose 11

Does Homework Cause Stress? Exploring the Impact on Students’ Mental Health

How much homework is too much?

Homework has become a matter of concern for educators, parents, and researchers due to its potential effects on students’ stress levels. It’s no secret students often find themselves grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety throughout their academic careers, so understanding the extent to which homework affects those stress levels is important. 

By delving into the latest research and understanding the underlying factors at play, we hope to curate insights for educators, parents, and students who are wondering  is homework causing stress in their lives?

The Link Between Homework and Stress: What the Research Says

Over the years, numerous studies investigated the relationship between homework and stress levels in students. 

One study published in the Journal of Experimental Education found that students who reported spending more than two hours per night on homework experienced higher stress levels and physical health issues . Those same students reported over three hours of homework a night on average.

This study, conducted by Stanford lecturer Denise Pope, has been heavily cited throughout the years, with WebMD eproducing the below video on the topic– part of their special report series on teens and stress : 

Additional studies published by Sleep Health Journal found that long hours on homework on may be a risk factor for depression while also suggesting that reducing workload outside of class may benefit sleep and mental fitness .

Lastly, a study presented by Frontiers in Psychology highlighted significant health implications for high school students facing chronic stress, including emotional exhaustion and alcohol and drug use.

Homework’s Potential Impact on Mental Health and Well-being

Homework-induced stress on students can involve both psychological and physiological side effects. 

1. Potential Psychological Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Anxiety: The pressure to perform academically and meet homework expectations can lead to heightened levels of anxiety in students. Constant worry about completing assignments on time and achieving high grades can be overwhelming.

• Sleep Disturbances : Homework-related stress can disrupt students’ sleep patterns, leading to sleep anxiety or sleep deprivation, both of which can negatively impact cognitive function and emotional regulation.

• Reduced Motivation: Excessive homework demands could drain students’ motivation, causing them to feel fatigued and disengaged from their studies. Reduced motivation may lead to a lack of interest in learning, hindering overall academic performance.

2. Potential Physical Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Impaired Immune Function: Prolonged stress could weaken the immune system, making students more susceptible to illnesses and infections.

• Disrupted Hormonal Balance : The body’s stress response triggers the release of hormones like cortisol, which, when chronically elevated due to stress, can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance and lead to various health issues.

• Gastrointestinal Disturbances: Stress has been known to affect the gastrointestinal system, leading to symptoms such as stomachaches, nausea, and other digestive problems.

• Cardiovascular Impact: The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure associated with stress can strain the cardiovascular system, potentially increasing the risk of heart-related issues in the long run.

• Brain impact: Prolonged exposure to stress hormones may impact the brain’s functioning , affecting memory, concentration, and cognitive abilities.

The Benefits of Homework

It’s important to note that homework also offers many benefits that contribute to students’ academic growth and development, such as: 

• Development of Time Management Skills: Completing homework within specified deadlines encourages students to manage their time efficiently. This valuable skill extends beyond academics and becomes essential in various aspects of life.

• Preparation for Future Challenges : Homework helps prepare students for future academic challenges and responsibilities. It fosters a sense of discipline and responsibility, qualities that are crucial for success in higher education and professional life.

• Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities: Homework often presents students with challenging problems to solve. Tackling these problems independently nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

While homework can foster discipline, time management, and self-directed learning, the middle ground may be to  strike a balance that promotes both academic growth and mental well-being .

How Much Homework Should Teachers Assign?

As a general guideline, educators suggest assigning a workload that allows students to grasp concepts effectively without overwhelming them . Quality over quantity is key, ensuring that homework assignments are purposeful, relevant, and targeted towards specific objectives. 

Advice for Students: How to balance Homework and Well-being

Finding a balance between academic responsibilities and well-being is crucial for students. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help manage homework-related stress and foster a healthier approach to learning:

• Effective Time Management : Encourage students to create a structured study schedule that allocates sufficient time for homework, breaks, and other activities. Prioritizing tasks and setting realistic goals can prevent last-minute rushes and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.

• Break Tasks into Smaller Chunks : Large assignments can be daunting and may contribute to stress. Students should break such tasks into smaller, manageable parts. This approach not only makes the workload seem less intimidating but also provides a sense of accomplishment as each section is completed.

• Find a Distraction-Free Zone : Establish a designated study area that is free from distractions like smartphones, television, or social media. This setting will improve focus and productivity, reducing time needed to complete homework.

• Be Active : Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and enhance mood. Encourage students to incorporate physical activity into their daily routine, whether it’s going for a walk, playing a sport, or doing yoga.

• Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques : Encourage students to engage in mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing exercises or meditation, to alleviate stress and improve concentration. Taking short breaks to relax and clear the mind can enhance overall well-being and cognitive performance.

• Seek Support : Teachers, parents, and school counselors play an essential role in supporting students. Create an open and supportive environment where students feel comfortable expressing their concerns and seeking help when needed.

How Healium is Helping in Schools

Stress is caused by so many factors and not just the amount of work students are taking home.  Our company created a virtual reality stress management solution… a mental fitness tool called “Healium” that’s teaching students how to learn to self-regulate their stress and downshift in a drugless way. Schools implementing Healium have seen improvements from supporting dysregulated students and ADHD challenges to empowering students with body awareness and learning to self-regulate stress . Here’s one of their stories. 

By providing students with the tools they need to self-manage stress and anxiety, we represent a forward-looking approach to education that prioritizes the holistic development of every student. 

To learn more about how Healium works, watch the video below.

About the Author

Sarah Hill , a former interactive TV news journalist at NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Missouri, gained recognition for pioneering interactive news broadcasting using Google Hangouts. She is now the CEO of Healium, the world’s first biometrically powered immersive media channel, helping those with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and other struggles through biofeedback storytelling. With patents, clinical validation, and over seven million views, she has reshaped the landscape of immersive media.

Because differences are our greatest strength

Homework anxiety: Why it happens and how to help

By Gail Belsky

Expert reviewed by Jerome Schultz, PhD

Quick tips to help kids with homework anxiety

Quick tip 1, try self-calming strategies..

Try some deep breathing, gentle stretching, or a short walk before starting homework. These strategies can help reset the mind and relieve anxiety. 

Quick tip 2

Set a time limit..

Give kids a set amount of time for homework to help it feel more manageable. Try using the “10-minute rule” that many schools use — that’s 10 minutes of homework per grade level. And let kids know it’s OK to stop working for the night.

Quick tip 3

Cut out distractions..

Have kids do homework in a quiet area. Turn off the TV, silence cell phones, and, if possible, limit people coming and going in the room or around the space.

Quick tip 4

Start with the easiest task..

Try having kids do the easiest, quickest assignments first. That way, they’ll feel good about getting a task done — and may be less anxious about the rest of the homework.

Quick tip 5

Use a calm voice..

When kids feel anxious about homework, they might get angry, yell, or cry. Avoid matching their tone of voice. Take a deep breath and keep your voice steady and calm. Let them know you’re there for them. 

Sometimes kids just don’t want to do homework. They complain, procrastinate, or rush through the work so they can do something fun. But for other kids, it’s not so simple. Homework may actually give them anxiety.

It’s not always easy to know when kids have homework anxiety. Some kids may share what they’re feeling when you ask. But others can’t yet identify what they’re feeling, or they're not willing to talk about it.

Homework anxiety often starts in early grade school. It can affect any child. But it’s an especially big issue for kids who are struggling in school. They may think they can’t do the work. Or they may not have the right support to get it done. 

Keep in mind that some kids may seem anxious about homework but are actually anxious about something else. That’s why it’s important to keep track of when kids get anxious and what they were doing right before. The more you notice what’s happening, the better you can help.

Dive deeper

What homework anxiety looks like.

Kids with homework anxiety might:

Find excuses to avoid homework

Lie about homework being done

Get consistently angry about homework

Be moody or grumpy after school

Complain about not feeling well after school or before homework time

Cry easily or seem overly sensitive

Be afraid of making even small mistakes

Shut down and not want to talk after school

Say “I can’t do it!” before even trying

Learn about other homework challenges kids might be facing . 

Why kids get homework anxiety

Kids with homework anxiety are often struggling with a specific skill. They might worry about falling behind their classmates. But there are other factors that cause homework anxiety: 

Test prep: Homework that helps kids prepare for a test makes it sound very important. This can raise stress levels.

Perfectionism: Some kids who do really well in a subject may worry that their work “won’t be good enough.”

Trouble managing emotions: For kids who easily get flooded by emotions, homework can be a trigger for anxiety. 

Too much homework: Sometimes kids are anxious because they have more work than they can handle.

Use this list to see if kids might have too much homework .

When kids are having homework anxiety, families, educators, and health care providers should work together to understand what’s happening. Start by sharing notes on what you’re seeing and look for patterns . By working together, you’ll develop a clearer sense of what’s going on and how to help.

Parents and caregivers: Start by asking questions to get your child to open up about school . But if kids are struggling with the work itself, they may not want to tell you. You’ll need to talk with your child’s teacher to get insight into what’s happening in school and find out if your child needs help in a specific area.

Explore related topics

• Close Menu Search
• Award Winners

Is Excessive Homework the Cause of Many Teen Issues?

Sydney Trebus , Business Manager | September 15, 2019

Does excessive homework really make a student perform worse? Is homework a big influencer on the emotional and physical health of students? Can we change the bad reputation homework has obtained over the years or is it too late?

Today, schooling is ever-changing, currently focusing on a “necessary” end goal of attending college. Standards are rising, teachers are better trained, and students are left with rigorous courses riddled with hours and hours of homework. People are now wondering how important homework really is. Is that just the overload talking or does homework actually have a negative impact on students? 

Popular opinion would suggest yes, claiming that homework is a useless and stress-inducing part of school at any age. Many Boulder High students communicate a similar complaint. 

Seniors Carson Williams and Carson Bennett voiced their opinions. Bennet says that “Homework results in later bedtimes which means we get less sleep and therefore, have less energy the next day.” Williams agreed and added,“Homework is good if you need it to study, but if it is just busywork then it is useless.” 

Another student, Bishal Ellison, commented that in some classes “homework doesn’t impact [his] success, there is no point … In one of [his] classes, homework is just for extra credit.”

While student opinions are extremely significant, teachers are the ones in control of this so-called “stress inducing and useless activity.” 

Mr. Weatherly, an AP World Geography teacher here at Boulder High, commented that homework has an enormous impact on the success of students within the class; he claimed that there is simply not enough time in class to review everything. He does, however, agree with popular opinion, saying, “Teachers give homework thinking about their own class, not the five or six others students have.” 

So which is it? How important is homework? Homework has been seen both beneficial and detrimental in association with time. Homework over a certain time limit can cause stress, depression, anxiety, lack of sleep, and more. 

Homework distracts from extracurriculars and sports as well, something colleges often look for. Homework is ultimately leading students to resent school as a whole.

According to a study done by Stanford University, 56 percent of students considered homework a primary source of stress, 43 percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while less than one percent of the students said homework was not a stressor. They were able to conclude that too much homework can result in a lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion, and weight loss. 

Experts denote that the homework assigned to students today promotes less active learning and instead leads to boredom and a lack of problem-solving skills. Active learning, done through students learning from each other through discussion and collaboration, enhances a student’s ability to analyze and apply content to aid them in a real-world setting. 

This negative attitude towards homework can, unfortunately, arise at a young age, especially in today’s schooling systems. 

Students in all grades are required to extend the hard rigor of school past the average eight hours they need to spend inside the building. According to an Education Week article by Marva Hinton, kindergarteners are often required to do a minimum of 30 minutes of homework a night; these young students are expected to read for 15 minutes as well as work on a packet for another 15-30 minutes. 

Kindergarten is forcing children to learn concepts they may not be ready for, discouraging them at a young age. As a principle rule, the National PTA recommends 10 to 20 minutes of homework per night for children in first grade and an additional 10 minutes for every grade after that. 

After this time marker, homework begins to be detrimental to the success of a student. Additionally, according to the Journal of Educational Psychology , students who did more than 90 to 100 minutes of homework per night actually did worse on tests than those with less than 90 minutes of homework.

The hours of homework students receive takes time that could be spent on extracurriculars, with family and friends, or on sports or activities. Children and young adults focus a large part of their time and energy on school, removing time to replenish and work on other skills in life, including socializing. 

Physical activity can actually be very beneficial to the success rates of students, improving self-esteem, well-being, motivation, memory, focus, and higher thinking. 

According to the   US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) , exercise has an impact on cognitive skills such as concentration and attention, and it enhances classroom attitudes and behaviors. 

The more time taken away from the emotional and physical health of a student, the more resentful they will be towards school. In kindergarten, over 85 percent of students are enthusiastic about learning and attending school, whereas 40 percent of high school students are chronically disengaged from school and any learning that takes place. 

What’s even more baffling is that as students enter high school, they are expected to be enthusiastic about school, obtain perfect grades and test scores, and do extracurricular activities and sports in order to get into a good college. 

Logan Powell, the Dean of Admissions at Brown University asks when accepting students, “Have they learned time management skills, leadership, teamwork, discipline? How have they grown as a person and what qualities will they bring to our campus?” 

These are unrealistic standards for students who most likely already have negative attitudes towards school and homework and aren’t given the opportunity to work on the skills colleges look for by exploring their community through clubs, volunteering, and working.

Experts see how detrimental homework can really be for a plethora of reasons; Donaldson Pressman reported that homework is not only not beneficial to a students grades or GPA, but it is also  detrimental to their attitude towards school, their grades, their self-confidence, their social skills, and their quality of life.” 

Homework, however, helps student achievement, reinforces good habits, involves parents in their students’ learning, and helps students remember material learned in class. 

This is all based on the circumstances however, if schools keep making homework more prominent in the learning system, students will lose their passion for learning. Unfortunately, many of us already have. So when teachers consider giving homework to their students, they should ask themselves how they believe it will improve their students’ learning and abilities.

Clash of Clans: In Defense of “Rushing”

Casa Bonita Makes a Splash

Instagram Turns Us Into Awful People

Pecking Away at Food Waste

The Glamorization of Mental Illness

Comments (4)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Chris • Feb 23, 2023 at 6:24 am

I hate homework in 5th grade

Jason • May 24, 2023 at 8:25 am

good luck in 7th grade then cuz that’s where finals start to get difficult. I’m barely keeping up right now and have to stay up late to keep up with the work.

John • May 9, 2022 at 11:40 am

Good article very informative.

Garrett • May 19, 2022 at 7:01 pm

yes i agree

• Attractions
• Calendar of Events
• Special Needs
• Big Book of Schools
• School Issues
• Tutors + Classes
• At-Home Learning
• Early Education
• Private Schools
• Public Schools
• Charter Schools
• College Planning
• Things to Do with Kids This Summer
• The Ultimate Guide to Metro Detroit Summer Camps
• Read Our May/June 2024 Magazine
• ParentEd Talks 2023-2024: Free Virtual Speaker Series
• The Ultimate Family Road Trip Guide
• Making Your Child’s College Dreams Come True
• Guide to Michigan Charter Schools
• How to Help A Child with Autism Thrive
• A Family Guide to Macomb County
• How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy
• A Parent’s Guide to Family Mental Health
• Your Top Kids Health Questions ­— Answered
• Our Magazine
• Newsletters

School, piano lessons, soccer practice, homework and family time. There truly aren’t enough hours in the day for today’s busy kids. And, it turns out, they could be experiencing some negative effects of too much homework, in particular.

As parents, we want to raise well-rounded children who will become successful adults, so we keep them active in school clubs, sports and more – and make sure they stay on top of school stuff.

But when it comes to that homework, one study shows that too many hours of assignments are actually negatively impacting kids’ emotional state .

High school students who get an average of three hours of homework per night actually experience more stress, physical health issues and lack of balance in their lives, according to research out of Stanford University in California .

And it’s something that’s happening here in metro Detroit and Ann Arbor, too – but starting even earlier than high school.

In fact, Stacy Brooks, who once served as life skills teacher at Derby Middle School in Birmingham , says many students have expressed feeling overwhelmed by the amount of homework they receive, which ranges from one-and-a-half to three hours each night.

“Our school district is very competitive,” Brooks told Metro Parent in a 2014 interview. “I think they are under a lot of stress where I teach. And not just where I teach – we live in a very competitive society.”

Homework overload

In an effort to examine the relationship among homework, a student’s well-being and behavioral engagement, researchers looked at survey data from 4,317 students from 10 high-performing schools – four public and six private – in upper-middle class neighborhoods.

With parent consent, students completed a 40-minute survey during school. Teens were asked about homework load/usefulness, time for other activities, stress and more.

Questions included:

• “In general, how well does your homework prepare you for tests, papers or projects?”
• “How often do you worry about school assignments?”
• “How often does schoolwork or studying keep you from having time for your family, friends or other activities?”

Kids were asked to rate them on a five-point scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always).

“Students who did more hours of homework experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems and lack of balance in their lives,” the study notes.

That came as no surprise to Brooks, who says many students express feeling anxious about the amount of homework they have, even as early as sixth grade.

“They can’t deal with the homework – they are not used to it,” Brooks says.

Balancing act

Homework is stressful on parents, too, she adds, because they are balancing their careers and family time – plus, they still have to make dinner, clean the house and more.

So while they may not necessarily have to help their children with their homework, they do have to stay on top of it – and know how much their child has, when it’s due, etc.

According to the study, it also impacts the quality and quantity of family time. Your child might be missing Grandpa’s birthday because he’s too busy trying to juggle school with everything else.

Plus, “These kids are so over-scheduled. They are so well-rounded, but they have no free time,” Brooks says.

Teacher tips

Practice is a key part of learning, so homework isn’t going anywhere. And there are benefits; they just tend to plateau around the two-hour mark for high schoolers, the study notes.

So what can be done to stave off the negative effects of too much homework? Brooks has some suggestions on making things a bit easier.

“Have a calendar and a schedule and stick to it,” she says, but encourages parents to not overschedule their children.

Create a homework environment by designating a quiet spot – one that is free of distractions. Brooks also suggests checking your child’s school’s website or teacher blogs for upcoming homework and projects.

Finally, if your kid is really struggling with the workload, Brooks says it might be time to talk to his or her teacher.

“There might be a reason they have so much homework – wasting class time, struggling with the material – or they may have resources to assist you if your child is truly struggling.”

This post was originally published in 2014 and is updated regularly.

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

LATEST STORIES

These are the top 50 public high schools in michigan, bombshell treat bar brings taste bud poppin’ desserts to berkley, see the avondale school district 2024-2025 academic calendar, what grades do you need to get into college in michigan.

Metro Parent is southeast Michigan’s trusted parenting hub since 1986. We connect families with the best local resources, advice, stories, things to do with kids and much more.

Grow your business

Connect with Metro Parent’s audience — and your best new customers in southeast Michigan and beyond — with Zoe Marketing & Communications .

Metro Parent, as a Zoe Communications Group company, is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women. Ask how we can add diversity to your supply chain.

© 2023 Zoe Communications Group | 280 N. Old Woodward Ave., Suite 100, Birmingham, MI 48009 | 708.386.5555 | Website by Web Publisher PRO

The educational process gives many benefits for the youth as it helps children obtain knowledge, improve skills, and get ready for a future career. However, there’s one thing that bothers: Both children and parents are worried about the amount of homework teachers assign kids to study in their free time.

Image Source

It’s no secret that most students share the same idea that teachers give them too much homework. And a logical question appears: How many minutes of homework should school students have? Is homework bad ? The short answer is 10 minutes of homework for each grade reacher. Obviously, school, college, and university students can’t get the same amount of homework.

In partnership with the National Parent Teacher Association, The National Education Association has created the 10-minute rule, according to which students shouldn’t be spending more than 10 minutes on doing homework each day for each grade reached. In other words, being a student of the 12th grade, children should spend up to 120 minutes on homework daily which means up to 10 hours a week.

However, statistics on homework claim that children spend around 17.5 hours a week on homework. Simply put, teachers assign too much homework as they lack the knowledge of teaching with SCDL , which may lead to health problems.

Although out-of-class activity is an essential part of the educational process, there are five reasons why too much homework is bad for health.

The Main Source of Stress

There’s a great variety of homework facts and one of them claims that 56% of students consider homework a primary source of stress. Not only does homework help to improve academic achievements, but it also affects students’ grades. Thus, it’s no wonder that students want to complete their homework assignments on a good level. Once students don’t know how to do their task, they start worrying and it leads to stress. The more assignments students get, the higher risks of getting stressed.

Rising Levels of Anxiety

No matter how good as a student you are, you may still have a trouble keeping a work-life balance. Since schools ask students to do too many time-consuming things (attending lectures, reading materials, doing homework), children feel pressed. Unfortunately, more than 41% of college students suffer from anxiety disorders. And the pressure of homework assignments can increase anxiety, according to the facts about homework. If students can’t meet given deadlines, they start panicking and it results in anxiety. Thus, having too much homework isn’t a great idea if keeping students healthy is high on the list.

Chronic Daily Headaches

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or student, you must know that homework leads to chronic daily headaches. When students get too much homework, they spend a considerable amount of time working on their tasks, so there are two main reasons why homework causes headaches: a student chooses a bad posture while sitting at the desk and he or she is worried about submitting the tasks on time. No matter why headache appears, it goes without saying that it negatively affects physical and mental health, so it also has an influence on the educational process which means students can’t concentrate on the learning materials. All in all, it’s nearly impossible to study well when you suffer from chronic headaches. Thus, it’s important for a parent to control the amount of homework teachers assign.

Lack of Socialization

Getting too much homework prevents kids from spending time with their friends.

At first blush, it seems that homework helps children spend time with their parents, as kids are more likely to ask their parents for help once they have some problems with out-of-class assignments . However, there’s no proof that working together with parents on assignments is beneficial. Firstly, many parents and teachers ask themselves: Should parents help with homework or not? Secondly, it can be daunting for adults to help with homework if they don’t remember the material. Thirdly, students need socialization with their peers.

When students are overwhelmed with the amount of homework, they can’t afford to spend time with their friends which leads to a lack of socialization.

Loss of Creativity

Have you ever heard about the idea that schools are killing creativity ? Since most teachers are focused on honing theoretical skills rather than boosting creativity , they assign homework that doesn’t help students showcase their creative nature. With the growing amount of homework assignments, children don’t seek out creative ways to complete their tasks; they are focused on submitting tasks without spending much time or effort. Most kids study for the test and forget, and it’s no doubt that this approach leads to the loss of creativity, which is an important soft skill every person needs.

If you have ever paid attention to the homework statistics, you know that getting a great number of homework assignments won’t help to become smarter. It has a negative effect on physical and mental health which also affects academic performance. All in all, it seems to be a closed circle: young people should keep a balance in life to stay happy and productive and working too much on assignments isn’t the way to achieve it. Thus, it’s important to control how much time students spend doing homework.

• Claim credits
• Plan your learning
• Browse journals and articles
• View sessions recordings
• Renew membership
• Submit Your Science!
• Find other members
• Become a member leader
• Get published
• Earn recognition
• Develop your career
• Promote your work

Adrenal Hormones

The adrenal (s uprarenal) glands are located at the top of both kidneys. The produce hormones that regulate the immune system, blood pressure, metabolism, and the stress response. In addition, also helps your body do the following:

• Promoting proper cardiovascular function
• Helps in how we respond to stress
• Properly utilizing carbohydrates and fats
• Helps distribute stored fat
• Gives you body odor and pubic hair
• Promotes healthy gastrointestinal functions

Adrenaline is produced in the medulla in the adrenal glands as well as some of the central nervous system's neurons. Within a couple of minutes during a stressful situation, adrenaline is quickly released into the blood, sending impulses to organs to create a specific response.

What is the Function of Adrenaline?

Adrenaline triggers the body's fight-or-flight response. This reaction causes air passages to dilate to provide the muscles with the oxygen they need to either fight danger or flee. Adrenaline also triggers the blood vessels to contract to re-direct blood toward major muscle groups, including the heart and lungs. The body's ability to feel pain also decreases as a result of adrenaline, which is why you can continue running from or fighting danger even when injured. Adrenaline causes a noticeable increase in strength and performance, as well as heightened awareness, in stressful times. After the stress has subsided, adrenaline’s effect can last for up to an hour. Adrenaline is an important part of your body's ability to survive, but sometimes the body will release the hormone when it is under stress but not facing real danger. This can create feelings of dizziness, light-headedness, and vision changes. Also, adrenaline causes a release of glucose, which a fight-or-flight response would use. When no danger is present, that extra energy has no use, and this can leave the person feeling restless and irritable. Excessively high levels of the hormone due to stress without real danger can cause heart damage, insomnia, and a jittery, nervous feeling. Medical conditions that cause an overproduction of adrenaline are rare, but can happen. If an individual has tumors on the adrenal glands, for example, he/she may produce too much adrenaline; leading to anxiety, weight loss, palpitations, rapid heartbeat, and high blood pressure. Too little adrenaline rarely occurs, but if it did it would limit the body's ability to respond properly in stressful situations. Adrenaline rarely causes problems, but ongoing stress can cause complications associated with adrenaline. Addressing these problems starts with finding healthy ways to deal with stress.

Consider asking your doctor:

• How can I tell if I am dealing with excessive adrenaline?
• How can I reduce stress in my life?
• Could adrenaline be causing my symptoms?
• What affect is adrenaline function and stress having on my overall health?

An endocrinologist is the best type of doctor to talk to when dealing with hormonal issues. Use our helpful form to locate one in your area.

Aldosterone is produced in the cortex of the adrenal glands, which are located above the kidneys. It affects the body's ability to regulate blood pressure. It sends the signal to organs, like the kidney and colon, that can increase the amount of sodium the body sends into the bloodstream or the amount of potassium released in the urine. The hormone also causes the bloodstream to re-absorb water with the sodium to increase blood volume. All of these actions are integral to increasing and lowering blood vessels. Indirectly, the hormone also helps maintain the blood's pH and electrolyte levels. Aldosterone is closely linked to two other hormones: renin and angiotensin, which create the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This system is activated when the body experiences a decrease in blood flow to the kidneys, such as after a drop in blood pressure, or a significant drop in blood volume after a hemorrhage or serious injury. Renin is responsible for the production of angiotensin, which then causes the release of aldosterone. Once the body is rehydrated and has proper salt levels in the blood, renin levels fall, and aldosterone levels lower as a result.

What Can Go Wrong With Aldosterone?

In a healthy individual, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system functions without interference, helping to regulate and control blood pressure levels naturally. However, individuals can have too-high or too-low amounts of aldosterone, and both of these can impact aldosterone function.

Individuals with high levels of aldosterone have a condition known as hyperaldosteronism, and this is typically caused by small, benign tumors on the adrenal glands. Hyperaldosteronism can cause high blood pressure, low potassium levels and an abnormal increase in blood volume because of the way the hormone affects the body. It's also possible to have low levels of aldosterone. Primary adrenal insufficiency, a disease that causes a general loss of adrenal function, can be a cause. Patients with primary adrenal insufficiency causing low levels of aldosterone may experience low blood pressure, increased potassium levels, and lethargy. Genetic mutations can also affect the production of aldosterone. Patients with this rare genetic disorder will experience symptoms similar to primary adrenal insufficiency but the symptoms are typically less severe. If you are struggling with maintaining a healthy blood pressure, and also have changes in blood potassium levels, you may want to talk to your doctor about aldosterone. Consider asking your doctor if your hormones could be the cause of your blood pressure and potassium struggles, especially if lifestyle changes are not helping. If aldosterone levels are not where they should be, talk to your doctor about changes or treatments that are possible to help your condition.

Cortisol is often called the "stress hormone" because of its connection to the stress response, however, cortisol is much more than just a hormone released during stress. Understanding cortisol and its affect on the body will help you balance your hormones and achieve good health. Cortisol is one of the steroid hormones and is made in the adrenal glands. Most cells within the body have cortisol receptors. Secretion of the hormone is controlled by the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal gland, a combination glands often referred to as the HPA axis.

What Does Cortisol Do?

Most bodily cells have cortisol receptors, it affects many different functions in the body. Cortisol can help control blood sugar levels, regulate metabolism, help reduce inflammation, and assist with memory formulation. It has a controlling effect on salt and water balance and helps control blood pressure. In women, cortisol also supports the developing fetus during pregnancy. All of these functions make cortisol a crucial hormone to protect overall health and well-being.

Problems Associated with High Cortisol Levels

Sometimes tumors on the pituitary or adrenal glands can contribute to a condition known as Cushing syndrome, which is characterized by high levels of cortisol in the blood. Individuals with Cushing syndrome will experience rapid weight gain in the face, abdomen, and chest. Often doctors will notice this because of the individual's slender arms and legs compared to the heavy weight in the core of the body. Cushing syndrome also causes a flushed face, high blood pressure, and changes in the skin. Osteoporosis and mood swings are also a factor considered with Cushing disease. High cortisol levels can also contribute to changes in a woman's libido and menstrual cycle, even without the presence of Cushing disease. Anxiety and depression may also be linked to high cortisol levels. Low cortisol levels can cause a condition known as primary adrenal insufficiency or Addison disease. While rare, primary adrenal insufficiency is an autoimmune disease that causes damage to the adrenal glands. Symptoms may start slowly, but they can be quite serious. Patients with primary adrenal insufficiency can experience fatigue, muscle loss, weight loss, mood swings, and changes to the skin.

Consider asking your doctor: 

• How do cortisol levels vary throughout the day?
• What underlying conditions could be affecting my cortisol levels?
• How can I manage cortisol levels to regain my health?
• What testing is needed to determine the cause of my symptoms?

The brain controls the production of DHEA. The body uses a unique mechanism known as negative feedback to control the production of DHEA. Negative feedback tells your brain that once DHEA levels drop in your body, the mechanism is switched “on” and begins to produce more of the hormone. Once DHEA levels begin to rise, negative feedback is switched “off”. 

DHEA and Anti-Aging

There are many rumors and claims that taking DHEA can also help slow down the process of aging. Claims include that DHEA can also increase energy and muscle strength, boosts immunity, and decrease body weight. However, these claims have yet to be medically proven. Does DHEA have a role in treating certain health problems?  Some researchers have suggested that DHEA might be used to treat:

• Adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease)
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Osteoporosis
• Crohn’s disease
• Infertility
• Problems linked to menopause DHEA also might help induce labor in childbirth.

What Problems Can Occur with DHEA? 

Research has shown that women with hirsutism and polycystic ovary syndrome may have higher levels of DHEA. Children diagnosed with congenital adrenal hyperplasia also have high levels of DHEA, as well as some cancer patients. Lower levels of DHEA have been linked to a decreased life span in men. In women, low DHEA levels are often associated with a lower libido and osteoporosis.

DHEA has not yet been approved by the fda as a treatment for these health problems. More research is needed to study the potential benefits and the long-term risks of DHEA. 

Norepinephrine also called noradrenaline is both a hormone, produced by the adrenal glands, and a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger which transmits signals across nerve endings in the body. Norepinephrine is produced in the inner part of the adrenal glands, also called the adrenal medulla. The adrenal medulla also makes adrenaline (also known as epinephrine). Norepinephrine, adrenaline and dopamine belong are part of the catecholamine family. 

Adrenal glands are making primarily adrenaline and most of the norepinephrine in the blood comes from nerve endings. It plays a role in your mood and ability to concentrate. Together with other hormones, norepinephrine helps the body respond to stress and exercise. Other hormones include:

• Corticotropin releasing hormone
• Adrenocortical hormone

What Does Norepinephrine Do?

Together with adrenaline, norepinephrine increases heart rate and blood pumping from the heart. It also increases blood pressure and helps break down fat and increase blood sugar levels to provide more energy to the body.

In the brain, norepinephrine plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle, helping you to wake up, in increasing attention and focusing on performing a task ,and in memory storage. It is also important for emotions. Problems with norepinephrine levels are associated with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. Bursts of norepinephrine can lead to euphoria (very happy) feelings but are also linked to panic attacks, elevated blood pressure, and hyperactivity. Low levels can cause lethargy (lack of energy), lack of concentration, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and possibly depression. Some anti-depressant medications affect norepinephrine levels in the brain. In stressful situations, norepinephrine increases as part of the fight or flight response to mobilize the brain and body for action. Norepinephrine can be used to treat low blood pressure (hypotension) that can occur during certain medical procedures or life-threatening situations where cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is needed.

How Can you Increase Norepinephrine Naturally?

Norepinephrine and serotonin are a great pair. These chemicals help combat antidepressant effects and have therapeutic benefits. Serotonin, also called a “feel-good” hormone, improves mood and norepinephrine improves alertness and energy. You can boost these chemicals naturally through:

• Small accomplishments
• Eating dopamine rich foods such as chocolate

Consider asking your healthcare provider:

• How does norepinephrine affect my mood?
• How can I improve my norepinephrine and serotonin levels?
• Is my high blood pressure due to too much norepinephrine or adrenaline?

Return to Hormones and Endocrine Function>>>

Related Resources

Download the top 23 hormones poster, download the coloring glands pad, find an endocrinologist.

Our physician referral directory is comprised of over 6,500 members of the Society. The referral is updated daily with clinicians who are accepting new patients.

Hormone Headlines Blog

Our experts are at the forefront of improving hormone health and explaining the science behind the topics that matter to you.

For 100 years, the Endocrine Society has been at the forefront of hormone science and public health. Read about our history  and how we continue to serve the endocrine community.

• Patient Care & Health Information
• Diseases & Conditions
• High cholesterol

Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in your blood. Your body needs cholesterol to build healthy cells, but high levels of cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease.

With high cholesterol, you can develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits grow, making it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Sometimes, those deposits can break suddenly and form a clot that causes a heart attack or stroke.

High cholesterol can be inherited, but it's often the result of unhealthy lifestyle choices, which make it preventable and treatable. A healthy diet, regular exercise and sometimes medication can help reduce high cholesterol.

Products & Services

• A Book: Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, 5th Edition
• Newsletter: Mayo Clinic Health Letter — Digital Edition
• Nutritional Supplements at Mayo Clinic Store

High cholesterol has no symptoms. A blood test is the only way to detect if you have it.

When to see a doctor

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a person's first cholesterol screening should occur between the ages of 9 and 11, and then be repeated every five years after that.

The NHLBI recommends that cholesterol screenings occur every one to two years for men ages 45 to 65 and for women ages 55 to 65. People over 65 should receive cholesterol tests annually.

If your test results aren't within desirable ranges, your doctor might recommend more-frequent measurements. Your doctor might also suggest more-frequent tests if you have a family history of high cholesterol, heart disease or other risk factors, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

More Information

• Arcus senilis: A sign of high cholesterol?

There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Review/update the information highlighted below and resubmit the form.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. Click here for an email preview.

Error Email field is required

Error Include a valid email address

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Thank you for subscribing!

You'll soon start receiving the latest Mayo Clinic health information you requested in your inbox.

Sorry something went wrong with your subscription

Please, try again in a couple of minutes

Cholesterol is carried through your blood, attached to proteins. This combination of proteins and cholesterol is called a lipoprotein. There are different types of cholesterol, based on what the lipoprotein carries. They are:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL). LDL , the "bad" cholesterol, transports cholesterol particles throughout your body. LDL cholesterol builds up in the walls of your arteries, making them hard and narrow.
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL). HDL , the "good" cholesterol, picks up excess cholesterol and takes it back to your liver.

A lipid profile also typically measures triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood. Having a high triglyceride level also can increase your risk of heart disease.

Factors you can control — such as inactivity, obesity and an unhealthy diet — contribute to harmful cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Factors beyond your control might play a role, too. For example, your genetic makeup might make it more difficult for your body to remove LDL cholesterol from your blood or break it down in the liver.

Medical conditions that can cause unhealthy cholesterol levels include:

• Chronic kidney disease
• Hypothyroidism

Cholesterol levels can also be worsened by some types of medications you may be taking for other health problems, such as:

• High blood pressure
• Irregular heart rhythms
• Organ transplants

Risk factors

Factors that can increase your risk of unhealthy cholesterol levels include:

• Poor diet. Eating too much saturated fat or trans fats can result in unhealthy cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are found in fatty cuts of meat and full-fat dairy products. Trans fats are often found in packaged snacks or desserts.
• Obesity. Having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater puts you at risk of high cholesterol.
• Lack of exercise. Exercise helps boost your body's HDL , the "good," cholesterol.
• Smoking. Cigarette smoking may lower your level of HDL , the "good," cholesterol.
• Alcohol. Drinking too much alcohol can increase your total cholesterol level.
• Age. Even young children can have unhealthy cholesterol, but it's much more common in people over 40. As you age, your liver becomes less able to remove LDL cholesterol.

Complications

Development of atherosclerosis

If there's too much cholesterol in the blood, the cholesterol and other substances may form deposits called plaque. Plaque can cause an artery to become narrowed or blocked. If a plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form. Plaque and blood clots can reduce blood flow through an artery.

High cholesterol can cause a dangerous accumulation of cholesterol and other deposits on the walls of your arteries (atherosclerosis). These deposits (plaques) can reduce blood flow through your arteries, which can cause complications, such as:

• Chest pain. If the arteries that supply your heart with blood (coronary arteries) are affected, you might have chest pain (angina) and other symptoms of coronary artery disease.
• Heart attack. If plaques tear or rupture, a blood clot can form at the plaque-rupture site — blocking the flow of blood or breaking free and plugging an artery downstream. If blood flow to part of your heart stops, you'll have a heart attack.
• Stroke. Similar to a heart attack, a stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to part of your brain.

The same heart-healthy lifestyle changes that can lower your cholesterol can help prevent you from having high cholesterol in the first place. To help prevent high cholesterol, you can:

• Eat a low-salt diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and whole grains
• Limit the amount of animal fats and use good fats in moderation
• Lose extra pounds and maintain a healthy weight
• Quit smoking
• Exercise on most days of the week for at least 30 minutes
• Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all
• Manage stress

The Mayo Clinic experience and patient stories

Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced. See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients.

Embracing wellness following massive heart attack

Editors note: This is a first-person account written by Kim Sidlak I was 46 years old when I had a massive heart attack. It was a Wednesday evening, June 4, 2014. It was a day I will never forget. My grandmother and mother both died from heart issues in their early fifties, so I knew heart disease ran in my family. I had read about heart disease in women, eating healthy, staying active, and keeping…

• Blood cholesterol. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/blood-cholesterol. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Lipid panel. Lab Tests Online. American Association for Clinical Chemistry. https://labtestsonline.org/tests/lipid-panel. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Goldman L, et al., eds. Disorders of lipid metabolism. In: Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Elsevier; 2020. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• My cholesterol guide. American Heart Association. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/cholesterol-tools-and-resources. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Bonow RO, et al., eds. Lipoprotein disorders and cardiovascular disease. In: Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 11th ed. Elsevier; 2019. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Ferri FF. Hypercholesterolemia. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2021. Elsevier; 2021. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Rosenson RS, et al. Management of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Rosenson RS. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering with drugs other than statins and PCSK9 inhibitors. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Tibuakuu M, et al. Bempedoic acid for LDL-C lowering: What do we know? American College of Cardiology. https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2020/08/10/08/21/bempedoic-acid-for-ldl-c-lowering. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• De Ferranti SD, et al. Dyslipidemia in children: Management. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 10, 2021.
• Cholesterol management at a glance. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/cholesterol-management-at-a-glance. Accessed April 1, 2021.
• Cholesterol level: Can it be too low?
• Cholesterol medications: Consider the options
• Cholesterol ratio or non-HDL cholesterol: Which is most important?
• Cholesterol test kits: Are they accurate?
• Cholesterol: Top foods to improve your numbers
• Cholesterol-lowering supplements may be helpful
• Eggs and cholesterol
• HDL cholesterol: How to boost your 'good' cholesterol
• High cholesterol in children
• High cholesterol treatment: Does cinnamon lower cholesterol?
• Is there a risk of rhabdomyolysis from statins?
• Lifestyle changes to improve cholesterol
• Lowering Triglycerides
• Niacin overdose: What are the symptoms?
• Niacin to improve cholesterol numbers
• Soy: Does it reduce cholesterol?
• Statin side effects
• Statins: Do they cause ALS?
• Triglycerides: Why do they matter?
• VLDL cholesterol: Is it harmful?

News from Mayo Clinic

• Try a cholesterol-lowering diet for heart health Feb. 15, 2024, 04:30 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Who benefits from taking statins? Oct. 03, 2023, 02:05 p.m. CDT
• Ceramide testing helps shape individualized heart health treatment plan Sept. 24, 2023, 11:00 a.m. CDT
• Symptoms & causes
• Diagnosis & treatment
• Doctors & departments

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.

• Opportunities

Mayo Clinic Press

Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press .

• Mayo Clinic on Incontinence - Mayo Clinic Press Mayo Clinic on Incontinence
• The Essential Diabetes Book - Mayo Clinic Press The Essential Diabetes Book
• Mayo Clinic on Hearing and Balance - Mayo Clinic Press Mayo Clinic on Hearing and Balance
• FREE Mayo Clinic Diet Assessment - Mayo Clinic Press FREE Mayo Clinic Diet Assessment
• Mayo Clinic Health Letter - FREE book - Mayo Clinic Press Mayo Clinic Health Letter - FREE book

We’re transforming healthcare

Make a gift now and help create new and better solutions for more than 1.3 million patients who turn to Mayo Clinic each year.

Advertisement

Hourglass Syndrome: Why You Should Stop Sucking In Your Stomach

‘Stomach gripping’ can lead to muscle weakness, back pain and breathing problems

Have you ever felt a little bit self-conscious about your body and “sucked in” your stomach to try to look thinner? Most of us have, at one time or another.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

What you might not realize, though, is that there’s a medical term for this action, and that doing it too often or for too long can have health implications. “Stomach gripping,” as it’s called, can lead to back pain, breathing issues and other concerns.

“Stomach gripping is the process of repeatedly and extensively contracting the muscles of your upper abdomen in order to pull your stomach up and in,” explains chiropractor Adam Browning, DC . “It can alter the movement patterns of your abdominal muscles, which leads to imbalances known as ‘hourglass syndrome.’”

Dr. Browning explains what hourglass syndrome is, how it happens and what you need to know to remedy or avoid it.

What is hourglass syndrome?

Although you might’ve grown up learning that an hourglass is a desirable body shape , don’t be fooled by the name of this condition. Hourglass syndrome isn’t the same as having an hourglass figure — and hourglass syndrome can be both painful and problematic.

“Hourglass syndrome is the result of performing stomach gripping often or for an extended period of time,” Dr. Browning says. “The muscles of the upper abdomen become hypertonic, or tight, and the muscles of the lower abdomen become weak and underused.”

This happens because stomach gripping activates several muscles, including three kinds of abdominal muscles :

• Upper fibers of the rectus abdominis: This pair of muscles stretches down from your ribs to your pelvis, holding your internal organs in place and keeping you balanced. This is where “six-pack” abs form.
• Internal obliques: This pair of muscles attaches just inside your hip bones and midline stomach, on the sides of the rectus abdominis. They play a key role in twisting and turning movements.
• Transversus abdominis: Located below your internal obliques, this deep muscle layer helps stabilize your trunk.
• Diaphragm: Located just underneath your lungs, this is the muscle that helps you breathe.

“In each case, the muscles you contract increase intraabdominal pressure and push your lungs and stomach contents higher into your rib cage,” Dr. Browning explains.

Why does it happen?

The more you grip your stomach muscles, the more you train them to malfunction — but you might not even realize you’re doing it.

Stomach gripping can happen for a few different reasons. When you’re in pain, for example, from an injury or after a surgery, you may breathe shallowly to try to protect your core muscles from hurting even more. Most often, though, stomach gripping is something people do for aesthetic reasons.

“You might perform it both consciously and subconsciously to try to achieve a slimmer figure or a flatter stomach,” Dr. Browning says. “It seems to be consistently tied to a perception that flat abs are an indicator of health or athleticism. What starts as a self-conscious or coached behavior to flatten your stomach can become a systematic or chronic behavior carried into adulthood.”

Hourglass syndrome is most common in cisgender women, from adolescence into their mid-thirties, but anyone can have it.

Side effects of stomach gripping

Sucking in your stomach every now and then isn’t going to do you any harm, but too much of it can cause problems.

“As with any muscular imbalance, the effects can be far-reaching,” Dr. Browning warns. He walks you through some of the possible implications to your health.

Breathing issues

“With stomach gripping, your diaphragm learns to contract in the opposite direction, which can pull the lower ribs up and in, instead of pulling down and creating negative space for the lungs to expand with inhalation,” Dr. Browning explains.

This means that when you suck in your stomach, there’s less room available for your ribs and lungs to expand. And when your lungs don’t have the space they need, the surface area for oxygen transport is limited — and you simply can’t breathe your best.

Ultimately, stomach gripping can reduce your oxygen intake by as much as 30%.

Neck and back pain

The muscles in your mid and lower back are responsible for supporting your upper body. But when stomach gripping messes with the muscles in your core (abdomen), your neck , shoulders and back pay the price in pain.

“As your body tries to find space for your ribs to expand, your lungs start to press upward instead of down, which can cause neck pain,” Dr. Browning says. “Because of the way your muscles are attached, this upward movement can cause increased structural strain in the mid and lower back, which are anchors for your contracting abdominal muscles.”

Pelvic floor problems

Stomach gripping takes place in your abdomen and diaphragm, but it can ultimately also affect your pelvic floor muscles.

“Your soft tissues are weakened by being in a constant state of stretch, without the ability to contract on their own with the same frequency or strength as those in your upper abdomen,” Dr. Browning notes.

A weak pelvic floor can cause urine leakage during everyday activities like laughing, coughing or sneezing.

How to know if you have it

In addition to the health issues listed above, these physical signs may represent an imbalance in your abdominal muscles:

• A slightly upturned belly button
• One or more noticeable horizontal creases around or above your belly button.
• Good, firm definition in your upper abs but a significantly softer lower ab region (that is, a “pooch”).

But you may not see any visible evidence of stomach gripping or hourglass syndrome.

Beyond noticeable signs, Dr. Browning advises doing a mental inventory of your mentality and practices.

“The easiest way to recognize the condition has to do with recognizing your own motivations and behaviors of the past and looking for muscle imbalances,” he says. “For many people, I think it’s possible to take a moment to reflect honestly and find patterns of the behavior in multiple places.”

Ask yourself whether you tend to:

• Spend a lot of time “sucking it in.”
• Obsess over trying to flatten your stomach.
• Focus on ab workouts more than other body regions or muscle groups.

“Individually, each of these possible identifiers is nonspecific,” Dr. Browning says, “but together they can provide insight into what may or may not be going on.”

How to fix hourglass syndrome

Hourglass syndrome is treatable, but it’s not as easy as just “letting it all hang out.” Dr. Browning shares some tips for getting your body back on track if it’s become accustomed to stomach gripping.

• Try to break the habit: The first step toward correcting stomach gripping is acknowledging that you do it. Only when you’re aware of the behavior can you make an effort to stop it.
• Practice proper breathing: Learning diaphragmatic breathing can help you retrain your body and brain. “You want to allow your belly to expand naturally with each inhalation,” Dr. Browning says. Though you can learn and practice it on your own, you may need extra coaching from a yoga instructor, physical therapist or doctor, depending on how ingrained your current breathing habits are.
• Address strength deficits: This one requires the assistance of a healthcare professional, like a physiotherapist. “They can help you target soft tissue relaxation of the upper abdominal musculature and focus on strengthening and activating your altered muscles,” Dr. Browning explains.

Bad habits are hard to break, and stomach gripping is no different, especially when it’s borne of discomfort or discontent with your body. By striving for body positivity or body neutrality , you can learn to love the skin you’re in — and finally give those abdominal muscles a break.

Learn more about our editorial process .

Related Articles

8 Posture Exercises To Sit and Stand Straighter

Simple exercises like wall angels and pelvic tilts can help keep your body in an optimal position — and help undo years of improper posture habits

What To Know About Underwear for Incontinence

Before you run out and buy this specialty underwear, there are treatment options to try first, like pelvic floor therapy and medication

What Your Grip Strength Means for Your Overall Health — and Exercises To Improve It

Turns out your health really is in your hands

Men Ask: “Why Am I Peeing So Much?”

An enlarged prostate, diuretics and bladder irritants can all contribute

Should You Consider Botox Injections for Your Bladder?

It’s an FDA-approved treatment for urinary incontinence and overactive bladder

How To Stop Frequent Urination at Night

Try elevating your legs during the day and stop drinking two hours before bed

What to Do If Your Overactive Bladder Medication Isn’t Working

3 other treatments to consider

Does My Stomach Actually Shrink When I Lose Weight?

The short answer from a gastroenterologist

Trending Topics

Here’s How Many Calories You Naturally Burn in a Day

Your metabolism may torch 1,300 to 2,000 calories daily with no activity

5 Sinus Massage Techniques To Relieve Pressure and Promote Drainage

A gentle touch in all the right places may help drain your sinuses

52 Foods High In Iron

Pump up your iron intake with foods like tuna, tofu and turkey

Health Categories to Explore

Other Popular Categories

Hyperphosphatemia

Hyperphosphatemia is a condition in which you have too much phosphate in your blood. Causes include advanced chronic kidney disease, hypoparathyroidism and metabolic and respiratory acidosis. Hyperphosphatemia doesn’t have symptoms. Treatment includes making changes to your diet, medications and dialysis.

What is hyperphosphatemia?

Hyperphosphatemia is a condition in which you have excess phosphate (phosphorus) in your blood.

Phosphate is a type of electrolyte . Electrolytes are minerals that have a natural positive or negative charge when dissolved in water or other body fluids, such as blood.

Advertisement

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

Who can develop hyperphosphatemia?

Anybody can get hyperphosphatemia. However, you’re more likely to have hyperphosphatemia if you have advanced chronic kidney disease or kidney failure .

You’re at a greater risk of chronic kidney disease or kidney failure if you:

• Have diabetes .
• Have high blood pressure (hypertension).
• Have heart disease.
• Have a family history of kidney disease.
• Have abnormal kidney structure.
• Are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, First Nations or Alaska Native.
• Are over 60.
• Have a long history of taking pain relievers frequently, including over-the-counter (OTC) products such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

How common is hyperphosphatemia?

Among most people throughout the world, hyperphosphatemia alone is rare. However, if you have advanced chronic kidney disease, hyperphosphatemia is common. Approximately 70% of people with advanced chronic kidney disease have hyperphosphatemia.

What happens when phosphate levels are too high?

Your body needs phosphate to help form and strengthen your bones and teeth. It also helps your cells produce energy and build cell membranes.

But if your phosphate levels are too high, it can remove calcium from your bones, which makes them brittle. It can also cause calcium deposits in your eyes, lungs, heart and blood vessels, which increase your risk of heart attack , stroke and death over time.

Symptoms and Causes

What are the symptoms of hyperphosphatemia.

Hyperphosphatemia usually doesn’t have any immediate symptoms by itself. However, hyperphosphatemia can remove calcium from your bones and blood, which may cause hypocalcemia .

Hypocalcemia symptoms include:

• Muscle cramps .
• Brittle nails.
• Coarser hair than what’s normal for you.
• Memory problems .
• Irritability.
• Tingling in your lips, tongue, fingers and/or feet.
• Abnormal heart rhythms ( arrhythmia ).

What causes hyperphosphatemia?

Hyperphosphatemia causes include:

• Advanced chronic kidney disease.
• Hypoparathyroidism .
• Lower-than-normal blood pH (increased acids in the blood) because your lungs can’t remove all of the carbon dioxide your body produces (respiratory acidosis).
• Lower-than-normal blood pH for other reasons (metabolic acidosis).

Though not as common, hyperphosphatemia can also develop as a result of:

• Diabetes-related ketoacidosis .
• Damage to your muscles (rhabdomyolysis).
• Severe infection ( sepsis ).
• Physical trauma from something heavy falling on you or pressing on you for a long time (crush injury).
• Your body not properly responding to your parathyroid hormone (pseudohypoparathyroidism).
• Consuming too much phosphate in your diet or receiving too much phosphate in an enema.

What is the most common cause of hyperphosphatemia?

Advanced chronic kidney disease is the most common cause of hyperphosphatemia.

Is hyperphosphatemia contagious?

No, hyperphosphatemia isn’t contagious. You can’t spread hyperphosphatemia to another person through any means other than genetics in very rare cases.

Diagnosis and Tests

How is hyperphosphatemia diagnosed.

A healthcare provider can diagnose hyperphosphatemia. They’ll look over your medical history, conduct a physical examination and ask about your symptoms, diet and any medications you’re currently taking. In order to check the phosphate levels in your blood, they must conduct a blood test.

During a blood test, the provider will use a thin needle (21 gauge, slightly smaller than the size of a standard earring) to withdraw a small amount of blood from a vein in your arm. They’ll send the sample to a laboratory to measure the amount of phosphate in your blood. A phosphate level greater than 4.5 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) indicates you have hyperphosphatemia.

If you have hyperphosphatemia, your provider may then order additional tests to check for kidney disease. These tests may include:

• Additional blood tests.
• Urine protein test .
• Ultrasound .
• Kidney biopsy .

Management and Treatment

How is hyperphosphatemia treated.

Hyperphosphatemia treatment depends on what’s causing phosphate to build up in your blood. Certain foods, drinks and medications can elevate your phosphate levels. You may need to limit or eliminate some foods and drinks from your diet, or you may need to find alternative medicines that have lower phosphate levels.

Your provider may also prescribe medicines that make phosphate harder for your body to absorb, so more phosphate passes out of your body when you urinate (pee). These medicines include:

• Sevelamer (RenaGel®).
• Lanthanum (Fosrenol®).
• Calcium acetate (Calphron®).

If kidney failure is causing your high phosphate levels, your provider may order dialysis . Dialysis does the work of your kidneys. It removes excess fluid and waste products from your blood, including phosphate.

What foods cause high phosphorus levels?

Foods and drinks that have high levels of phosphorus include:

• Dairy, including milk, processed cheeses and yogurt.
• Processed meats.
• Snack foods.
• Whole grains, including wheat, oats and rice.

Your healthcare provider may refer you to a renal (kidney) dietitian. A renal dietitian is a food and nutrition expert who specializes in kidney health. They’ll work with you to develop a special renal diet that limits the amount of phosphate in your body.

How can I prevent hyperphosphatemia?

The best way to prevent hyperphosphatemia is to be aware of your kidney health and to limit the amounts of phosphate and calcium you put in your body. If you’re at risk of hyperphosphatemia, talk to a healthcare provider. They may refer you to a nephrologist. A nephrologist is a doctor who specializes in conditions that affect your kidneys.

Outlook / Prognosis

When should i see a healthcare provider.

See your healthcare provider right away if you have hyperphosphatemia and develop symptoms of kidney disease or kidney failure.

What questions should I ask a healthcare provider?

• How do you know that I have hyperphosphatemia?
• If I don’t have hyperphosphatemia, what other condition might I have?
• What’s a healthy blood phosphate level?
• What medications do you recommend?
• Do I need a prescription for medications or are they available over the counter?
• What foods and drinks should I avoid?
• How much phosphorus should I eat every day?
• Can you refer me to a renal dietitian?
• Should I see a nephrologist or another specialist?

Living With

What is the difference between hyperphosphatemia and hypocalcemia.

Hyperphosphatemia is a condition in which the phosphate levels in your blood are too high.

Hypocalcemia is a condition in which the calcium levels in your blood are too low. Hypocalcemia is usually a side effect of other conditions, including hyperphosphatemia.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Hyperphosphatemia is a condition in which you have too much phosphate in your blood. It’s not a common condition among most people throughout the world. However, it’s very common if you have advanced chronic kidney disease or kidney failure. It usually doesn’t have symptoms — most people don’t realize they have hyperphosphatemia until it causes another condition with observable symptoms.

You may feel anxious or overwhelmed if you have hyperphosphatemia, especially if you require dialysis to help treat it. These feelings are normal. Talk to your healthcare provider about any concerns or questions you may have. They can answer your questions and provide support and advice on how you can best treat hyperphosphatemia.

Last reviewed on 10/14/2022.

Learn more about our editorial process .

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Entire Site
• Research & Funding
• Health Information
• About NIDDK
• Endocrine Diseases
• Hashimoto's Disease
• Español

Hashimoto's Disease

On this page:

What is Hashimoto’s disease?

How common is hashimoto’s disease.

• Who is more likely to develop Hashimoto’s disease?

What are the complications of Hashimoto’s disease?

What are the symptoms of hashimoto’s disease, what causes hashimoto’s disease, how do doctors diagnose hashimoto’s disease, how do doctors treat hashimoto’s disease, how does eating, diet, and nutrition affect hashimoto’s disease, clinical trials for hashimoto’s disease.

Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disorder  that can cause hypothyroidism , or underactive thyroid. Rarely, the disease can cause hyperthyroidism , or overactive thyroid.

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland  in the front of your neck. In people with Hashimoto’s disease

• the immune system  makes antibodies  that attack the thyroid gland
• large numbers of white blood cells, which are part of the immune system, build up in the thyroid
• the thyroid becomes damaged and can’t make enough thyroid hormones

Thyroid hormones control how your body uses energy, so they affect nearly every organ in your body—even the way your heart beats.

Does Hashimoto’s disease have another name?

Hashimoto’s disease is also called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, or autoimmune thyroiditis.

The number of people who have Hashimoto’s disease in the United States is unknown. However, the disease is the most common cause of hypothyroidism , which affects about 5 in 100 Americans. 1

Who is more likely to have Hashimoto’s disease?

Hashimoto’s disease is 4 to 10 times more common in women than men. 2 Although the disease may occur in teens or young women, it more often develops in women ages 30 to 50. 3 Your chance of developing Hashimoto’s disease increases if other family members have the disease.

You are more likely to develop Hashimoto’s disease if you have other autoimmune disorders, including 4

• celiac disease , a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine
• lupus , a chronic, or long-term, disorder that can affect many parts of the body
• rheumatoid arthritis , a disorder that affects the joints
• Sjögren’s syndrome , a disease that causes dry eyes and mouth
• type 1 diabetes , a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high

Many people with Hashimoto’s disease develop hypothyroidism . Untreated, hypothyroidism can lead to several health problems, including 5

• high cholesterol
• heart disease and heart failure
• high blood pressure
• myxedema , a rare condition in which the body’s functions slow down to the point that it can threaten your life

Left untreated, hypothyroidism can also cause problems during pregnancy .

Many people with Hashimoto’s disease have no symptoms at first. As the disease progresses, you may have one or more of the symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Some common symptoms of hypothyroidism include

• weight gain
• trouble tolerating cold
• joint and muscle pain
• constipation
• dry skin or dry, thinning hair
• heavy or irregular menstrual periods or fertility problems
• slowed heart rate

Hashimoto’s disease causes your thyroid to become damaged. Most people with Hashimoto’s disease develop hypothyroidism. Rarely, early in the course of the disease, thyroid damage may lead to the release of too much thyroid hormone into your blood, causing symptoms of hyperthyroidism. 3

Your thyroid may get larger and cause the front of the neck to look swollen. The enlarged thyroid, called a goiter , may create a feeling of fullness in your throat, though it is usually not painful. After many years, or even decades, damage to the thyroid may cause the gland to shrink and the goiter to disappear.

Researchers don’t know why some people develop Hashimoto’s disease, but a family history of thyroid disease is common. Several factors may play a role, including 2

• viruses , such as hepatitis C

Hypothyroidism can also be caused by

• some medicines used to treat bipolar disorder or other mental health problems
• iodine-containing medicines used to treat abnormal heart rhythm
• exposure to toxins, such as nuclear radiation

Doctors diagnose Hashimoto’s disease based on

• medical history and physical exam . Your doctor will start by taking a medical history and performing a physical exam. In addition to asking about symptoms, the doctor will check your neck for a goiter, which some people with Hashimoto’s disease can develop.
• the thyroid hormones T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine)
• thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH
• thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO), a type of thyroid antibody that is present in most people with Hashimoto’s disease

You probably won’t need other tests to confirm you have Hashimoto’s disease. However, if your doctor suspects Hashimoto’s disease but you don’t have antithyroid antibodies in your blood, you may have an ultrasound of your thyroid. The ultrasound images can show the size of your thyroid and other features of Hashimoto’s disease. The ultrasound also can rule out other causes of an enlarged thyroid, such as thyroid nodules—small lumps in the thyroid gland.

How your doctors treat Hashimoto’s disease usually depends on whether the thyroid is damaged enough to cause hypothyroidism. If you don’t have hypothyroidism, your doctor may choose to simply check your symptoms and thyroid hormone levels regularly.

The medicine levothyroxine , which is identical to the natural thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4), is the recommended way to treat hypothyroidism. Prescribed in pill form for many years, this medicine is now also available as a liquid and in a soft gel capsule. 2 These newer formulas may be helpful to people with digestive problems that affect how the thyroid hormone pill is absorbed.

Some foods and supplements can affect how well your body absorbs levothyroxine. Examples include grapefruit juice, espresso coffee, soy, and multivitamins that contain iron or calcium. 1,6 Taking the medicine on an empty stomach can prevent this from happening. Your doctor may ask you to take the levothyroxine in the morning, 30 to 60 minutes before you eat your first meal.

Your doctor will give you a blood test about 6 to 8 weeks after you begin taking the medicine and adjust your dose if needed. Each time you change your dose, you’ll have another blood test. Once you’ve reached a dose that’s working for you, your doctor will likely repeat the blood test in 6 months and then once a year.

Never stop taking your medicine or take a higher dose without talking with your doctor first. Taking too much thyroid hormone medicine can cause serious problems, such as atrial fibrillation or osteoporosis . 5

Your hypothyroidism can be well-controlled with thyroid hormone medicine, as long as you take the medicine as instructed by your doctor and have regular follow-up blood tests.

The thyroid uses iodine, a mineral in some foods, to make thyroid hormones. However, if you have Hashimoto’s disease or other types of autoimmune thyroid disorders, you may be sensitive to harmful side effects from iodine. Eating foods that have large amounts of iodine—such as kelp, dulse, or other kinds of seaweed, and certain iodine-rich medicines—may cause hypothyroidism or make it worse. Taking iodine supplements can have the same effect.

Talk with members of your health care team about

• what foods and beverages to limit or avoid
• whether you take iodine supplements
• any cough syrups you take that may contain iodine

However, if you are pregnant, you need to take enough iodine because the baby gets iodine from your diet. Too much iodine can cause problems as well, such as a goiter in the baby. If you are pregnant, talk with your doctor about how much iodine you need.

Researchers are looking at other ways in which diet and supplements—such as vitamin D  and selenium —may affect Hashimoto’s disease. 2 However, no specific guidance is currently available. 3

The NIDDK conducts and supports clinical trials in many diseases and conditions, including endocrine diseases. The trials look to find new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease and improve quality of life.

What are clinical trials for Hashimoto’s disease?

Clinical trials—and other types of clinical studies —are part of medical research and involve people like you. When you volunteer to take part in a clinical study, you help doctors and researchers learn more about Hashimoto’s disease and improve health care for people in the future.

Find out if clinical studies are right for you .

Watch a video of NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers explaining the importance of participating in clinical trials.

What clinical studies for Hashimoto’s disease are looking for participants?

You can find clinical studies on Hashimoto’s disease at www.ClinicalTrials.gov . In addition to searching for federally funded studies, you can expand or narrow your search to include clinical studies from industry, universities, and individuals; however, the National Institutes of Health does not review these studies and cannot ensure they are safe. Always talk with your health care provider before you participate in a clinical study.

This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.

The NIDDK would like to thank: Leonard Wartofsky, M.D., M.A.C.P., MedStar Georgetown University Hospital