LIKE every teenager, young people from Bathgate Academy know what it's like to feel down sometimes.

With the stress of exams, family life, peer pressure and just growing up, things can often feel as if they are getting a bit much. So along with some of their teachers, the pupils formed a health committee, and now meet once a week to discuss their mental and physical health, and ways of getting those positive vibes flowing again. Two of the pupils - Lauren and Brionna - contributed their thoughts to a website, www. talking2ourselves. com, a place where young people can get information about keeping themselves well.

Here are some of their top tips:

Eat and sleep well: It's hard being a teenager. Exams can get you all stressed and you can feel like you've got far too much work to do. If you worry lots it can make you feel a bit depressed. If you have an exam, you might not eat or sleep properly which makes you even more nervous. It's really important to eat and sleep well, especially at these times.

Healthy eating also makes you feel less tired and more alert.

Talk to your friends: Having mates is really important to your mental health. If you don't talk to anyone about these feelings, you'll just bottle them up inside yourself and it'll get worse, much worse in fact than it really is. You shouldn't be embarrassed about telling your friends if you are feeling low, because they are likely to have had similar experiences to you. If you can't talk to your friends, talk to someone who is older, like a teacher who you trust.

Exercise regularly: Exercise is brilliant. It's a way of letting out the stresses of the day. When you go somewhere else, like to the swimming pool or running, you can forget a bit about your problems and concentrate on something else.

School can be a long day, so to do something else afterwards takes your mind off it and can make you feel better. Going to the gym is also great. You'll never get bored as there are loads of different things to do. Also, you are choosing to do it - it's not like school, where you have to be there. And it's fun.

Watch TV: It can help you relax.

You can lose yourself in it and take time out. But don't rely on TV too much. It's not healthy to spend all your time on the sofa watching it.

Raise awareness of mental health: Mental health needs to be talked about more at school. Some people think it's a bad thing, but it's not. Before we got involved in the website, we didn't really know what it meant, but now it's clear that emotional and mental health are the most important part of your health. If you are not happy, you are not going to feel healthy, eat healthily, or want to do exercise. You'll scoff chocolate all the time, which in small amounts can make you feel good, but too much of it will make you feel worse.

Don't be a sheep: There is a lot of peer pressure to look good and follow fashion. Exercise is a great way of combating this, because not only does it make you feel better, but when you are taking part in a sport everyone is concentrating on their own performance and not so concerned about other people and what they look like.

Stick on some tunes: Music can also be great, but it depends what kind of music. Pick something uplifting and that you are into.

Set up a buddies scheme at school: A pairing scheme between older and younger pupils, where the younger pupils can turn to the older for advice is great to help you feel better. If you feel you can't tell something to your friends, you might be able to tell the 'buddy' because you are not as close to them.

Find alternatives to unhealthy habits: If someone thinks that having a fag will help relieve their stress, that's not true. They will be unhealthier when they are older. Encourage them to do something else, but don't drag them along to do what you want to do; try and find something they like to do and do it together.

For more ways to keep positive, see www. talking2ourselves. com. The website is supported by the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health www. sdcmh. org. uk and Young Scot www. youngscot. org.

For telephone advice, Young Scot info Line is on 0808 801 0338 Monday-Friday 12pm-8pm Thanks to all the pupils at Bathgate Academy who helped with this article.