As December approaches, so does the holiday season, and with that comes winter break. Winter break this year lasts from December 23 to January 1, with students returning to school on January 2. Winter break is the time for students to relax and unwind from the constant pressure and stress of school, some staying at home or going on vacations.

Winter break is a valuable time for students and for families to reconnect, sharing and creating great memories together. According to research done by Purdue University’s Xinran Lehto, breaks and vacations can help families bond, creating lasting and growing connections and greatly improve communication amongst family members. Winter break forces students to interact with their family, allowing them to improve their relationships and work past any problems they may have with their parents and siblings.

Winter break is also the time to catch up with friends as well as families, letting students to go out and go through with plans that have been pushed back for months due to school. Throughout the school year, students often feel swamped by work and unable to go out and have fun due to deadlines and tests. Break is the time to capitalize on events both with friends and with the local area, benefitting communities as a whole.

Breaks can also refresh and motivate students, so that when they return to school they are ready to learn and grow. Many students state that, at this point, they are starting to become quite frustrated with school and are not as excited to learn or even go to school. Having a break can help students focus themselves more and is scientifically proven to increase productivity, boosting someone’s mental health.

Stress plays a key role in every student’s life, especially high school students, as they prepare to take on college and the growing workload that comes with the moving of the school year. Chronic stress can lead to a plethora of problems, including the reduction in the body’s ability to handle infections or maintain vital functions, causing people to become more irritable, depressed, and anxious, and causing great harm to a student’s health as a whole. Having a break gives students a chance to step away from stress and stop thinking so much about grades and assignments and start thinking a little bit more about themselves, recharging in many ways including through the vital action of sleep.

Winter break is a crucial and important break in the school year and should be taken as it is: a vacation and a getaway from school. Students should not have to continue to do schoolwork through this break and should take advantage of the time off to do something that is exciting and fun, connecting with family and friends, going through with long-awaited plans. Furthermore, this break helps students return to school with a renewed vigor and breaks up bad stress cycles.

Article by MoCo Student staff writer Laura Yao of Richard Montgomery High School