5 Health and Wellness Tips for Teachers

Below are 5 health and wellness tips for teachers.

1. Sleep

If you’re like me, you would love to whack that alarm clock with all your might when it blares it’s tune every morning around 5:15am. I love sleep and would love to get more of it because I rarely feel rested! Of course, we all know it’s important to get our “8 hours of sleep”, but is that really possible as a teacher? It is, and you’re going to want to start working harder to get that consistent 8 hours of sleep.

Lack of sleep, or irregularity of sleep, can lead to many health problems including diabetes, heart problems, stroke and obesity. Each time you lose sleep, you’re preventing your brain from reenergizing and preparing you for the day ahead. This can affect your ability to communicate with your students, focus during the day, and even your ability to drive home after work. No amount of coffee can replace the brainpower you lose with sleep deprivation.

So how can you get more sleep?

• Start with what we have our kids do. Go to bed at a specific time every night. Be consistent with your bedtime and wake up time to receive the optimal amount of sleep.
• Have a bedtime routine setup that will encourage relaxation (no iPhones playing Candy Crush or checking your emails). Use this time to catch up on some light reading.
• Although it may sound enticing to take a nap when you get home from work, avoid it! Your body will not be ready to go to bed at your set bedtime if you’ve taken a nap, especially late in the afternoon.
• Get comfortable! Make sure you have on pajamas that are allowing you to relax and breathe and a mattress that isn’t about to blind you with a protruding spring.

2. Hydration

The second health and wellness tip for teachers is to hydrate. This can be hard for teachers because it’s sort of a catch-22. We talk and talk all day long and need to keep drinking because of it, however, we need to avoid as many liquids as possible because we can’t just go to the bathroom whenever we want. This one will take some preparation and a good teammate. There is usually someone that can come relieve you for a quick potty break (a teacher across the hall, a teacher walking past your classroom, an office staff member who adores you, etc.), so don’t be afraid to ask! If you’re not comfortable doing that, prepare your body ahead of time (say, summer) for going a few hours without the bathroom. Test out how much liquid your body can hold before you “just have to go.” I call this “training my bladder.” It may seem silly, but hydration is crucial to your overall health.

Here are some other tips to helping your body stay hydrated:

• Snack on fruits and vegetables is a great way to get the hydration without the urgency to run to the bathroom. Items like celery or melons are great for this.
• Try a straw with your cup of water. You’ll find yourself sipping almost mindlessly and drinking more than you thought you would.
• Avoid foods that will have the opposite effect: dehydration. Sugary, sweet, salty foods are a staple in almost all teachers’ desk drawers, but they can be making you more thirsty and dehydrated than you should be.
• Keep your reusable water bottle or cup with you in the classroom. If it’s in your face, you won’t forget to drink it!
• Not a big water drinker? Try infusing your water with sugar free drink mixers (crystal light perhaps) or with fresh fruit! This will kill your cravings for sweets and keep you hydrated which is a win-win!

3. Exercise

We all know that we’re supposed to exercise and eat right to stay healthy, but do we always do it? No. I come home from work and I’m exhausted and the last thing on my mind is “I need to work out.” This, like everything else in this step, will require time and dedication in order for it to become a habit. The benefits of exercise include sleeping better, lower weight, fewer health problems, and more energy. You can achieve all of those things just by doing 30-60 minutes of exercise a day.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Chunk your workout time. It can be hard to find a set 30-60 minutes a day to spend working out, so space it out! Spend 10 minutes in the morning doing jumping jacks, pushups, and situps when you get out of bed. Power walk to the office instead of strolling down the halls to add in another few minutes to your routine. With how many trips you’ll walk to the office or copy room in a day, it will definitely add up! Dance around the living room with your kids while dinner is in the oven (this is a fun way to get your heart rate up and spend quality time together). End the day with some yoga stretching before bed and you’ll be on your way to a more healthy life.
• Lift small weights while watching TV. Instead of lifting your hand between your box of crackers or cookies and your mouth, lift weights instead! Remember to start small though, so you don’t overdo it.
• Walk everywhere you can! Park at the farthest spot away from the school or from the door to the store. Those extra steps add up quickly.
• Look into a device that tracks your steps or exercise. You can program it to sync to your phone and compete in step challenges with friends for “awards”. Exercise is always better when we can share it with friends.

4. Diet

The fourth health and wellness tip for teachers is to eat a healthy diet. This goes hand-in-hand with a previous step of meal prep. The right, balanced diet can change your life. The benefits include a healthy weight, more energy, fewer health concerns, and sleeping better. The key word in all this though, is balance. This doesn’t mean you have to give up your Friday trip to Tutti Frutti with the kids, but it does mean that you have to make smarter choices about what food you put into your body regularly.

Here are some ways to make sure you’re making smarter, healthier choices (especially at work):

• Eliminate that stockpile of sweet and salty goodness hiding in your desk drawer. If you need a sweet treat one day after school after you’ve eliminated your stash, you’ll have to work for it and walk to someone who has something to offer you.
• Stick with your meal plans. If you spent time planning out dinners for the week or have freezer meals ready to go, stick to the plan! Changes to meal plans often lead to impulse ordering/purchasing which is detrimental to your diet plan. You might be interest in this post about saving money on groceries.
• Keep healthy snacks with you. Prepare ahead of time for cravings that might hit and have a stash of go to health snacks in your desk drawer.
• Keep it balanced. Make sure your meals have a good balance of fruit, veggies, carbs, protein, and some fats (the healthy kind of course). If you feel deprived, you’re likely to binge on something that you really shouldn’t.
• Remember that this isn’t about losing weight, this is about changing your life and becoming a healthier you!

5. Revamp Additional Health and Wellness Areas

Below are 3 areas you may want to consider revamping. These are not traditional health and wellness tips for teachers, but they are important.

Clothing

You may not think your clothing choices affect your health, but what you put on your body can be almost as important as what you put in your body. We all have dress codes at work, and I’m pretty sure no school will allow us to show up in PJs or yoga pants on a daily basis, so you need to choose clothing that works with your dress code that is also comfortable. More importantly, choose shoes that are comfortable! We are on our feet all day and we need the comfort and support of a good pair of shoes. Splurge for those extra supportive memory foam shoes at the beginning of the year and you’ll be happy you did!

Teacher Bag

When I leave work (or head into work), I usually look like I’m auditioning to be the next juggler at the circus. I’m balancing a purse, a lunch box, a teacher bag or two, my keys, my coffee cup, and my water bottle. It’s quite a spectacle. However, having an oversized teacher bag filled to the brim with “to-dos” can actually be hurting your health. Think of all the weight you’re throwing over your shoulder while you’re trying to overcompensate for the unbalance by leaning to the side. That’s hurting your back (and we all know everything is connected, so prepare for more pain elsewhere in return). You’re also setting yourself up for additional stress by bringing home work that should be staying at school. How often do you really attack that stack of papers that you lugged home? It’ll still be there tomorrow, so if you’re not on a strict deadline, it can wait, and it can wait for you at school.

Technology Use

Remember how I said no Candy Crush before bed? Well, you may need to eliminate more than just Candy Crush from your daily routine. Studies have shown that social media like Facebook can actually make you feel more depressed about your life because of your constant need to compare your life to those who are posting about theirs. Unplug more and enjoy better sleep, more family time, and exercise time.

In closing, we hope you found these health and wellness tips for teachers helpful. As with any habit, these will take time to become a part of your daily life. Your health is worth the struggle and frustration that you’ll have in the beginning as you try to change some of your ways to develop these healthier habits. Just like with everything else in life, we “keep moving forward” (Walt Disney). If you found this post helpful, we recommend checking out these other related posts:

• Teacher Meal Prep Ideas for Fast, Quick, and Healthy Meals
• How to Prevent Teacher Burnout this School Year
• 7 Relaxation Ideas for Reducing Stress

The post Health and Wellness Tips for Teachers that are Easy Enough to Actually Do in 2024 appeared first on Clutter-Free Classroom | by Jodi Durgin.

When we get home from a ten hour day at school (sometimes longer), we’re in dire need of relaxation time. Our bodies tell us to take a break and relax. However, we have that stack of papers calling us from the bag we just toted home. We also have a hungry family that wants a home-cooked meal. We must listen to our bodies when they tell us to take a break and relax! It is so important to find time for yourself to just unwind and recharge. Not only is your stress level affecting your mental and physical health, it’s also going to affect your job performance.

One of the great benefits of being a teacher is the breaks that we are given during the year (and summer of course). These times allow us to recharge. Unfortunately, we don’t always time our through-the-roof stress levels around the breaks. As a result, we need to have ways to relax and reenergize ourselves during the workweek. Squeeze out some time for yourself in the evenings to do one or more of the strategies listed below to help keep your stress level in check. Read below for 7 strategies for how to reduce stress as a teacher below!

7 Tips for How to Reduce Stress as a Teacher

Below are 7 teacher relaxation ideas to choose from. Find which one works best for you!

1. Music Therapy

The first tip on the list of ways to reduce stress as a teacher is music therapy. I love music! Depending on my mood, I could be listening to anything from pop hits to country to punk. It doesn’t matter what your taste in music is. Any bit of music can help remove some of that stress that’s weighing you down. Pop in your favorite CD and just dance around the room. Go onto YouTube and find a music video by your favorite artist to watch. Play your favorite classic Disney songs and sing along! If none of those sound like you and you’re musically talented, pull out your instrument. Play a couple of songs (or make up your own).

2. Yoga

You don’t have to have a gym membership or be the most athletic person to do yoga. There are DVDs, video games, or even online videos you can find that will walk you through a yoga session. Yoga is about finding your inner peace and calmness. You did this through breath control and meditation all while stretching your body and burning calories. Put on your favorite workout pants, light some candles, and stretch through the stress!

3. Mindfulness

The third tip on the list of ways to reduce stress as a teacher is to practice mindfulness. It is so hard to turn off the teacher part of our brains and focus elsewhere. But, we must do it! Put all of your focus on things that are important to you, like family. Be aware of what’s going on around you and not what you’re worried about teaching next week. Have those coffee dates with friends. Intently watch your child score a home run at their game. Enjoy a real conversation with your significant other. No matter the task or environment around you, focus on it. Your school stuff will still be there tomorrow, but the opportunities in front of you right now might not be.

4. Coloring

Another great way to reduce teacher stress is to color. We’ve all seen the coloring book trend come back in style in the past few years. You know you’ve looked at a few of those “adult coloring books” while in line at the store. So, why not get one? Coloring can be so relaxing! There are thousands of coloring book themes to choose from. You’re bound to find one you like (anywhere from Harry Potter themed, to mandalas, to flowers). You can choose to color with crayons, colored pencils, markers, or fancy gel pens.  Find a comfy chair and get lost in an artistic creation of your own!

5. Journaling

Sometimes we have so many thoughts and ideas going through our heads that we feel like we couldn’t possibly fit anymore in there. This is where keeping a journal can be beneficial. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winning author to keep a journal either. Writing out your thoughts can help release the pressure of remembering everything you’ve been thinking about all day. It helps de-escalate your stress level. You can be honest and real about what’s going on in your head when you keep a journal.

6. Spending Time Outdoors

I don’t know about you, but I do not have a green thumb! I’ve tried growing my own little garden of vegetables before and I just can’t do it. Ok, it was a radish in a cup in 4th grade for the county fair, but it still counts. If you have the gift of growing plants, gardening may be your relaxation outlet. You could plant some beautiful flowers outside your house. You could start an herb garden that you’ll use in your cooking in a few months. If gardening isn’t your thing, take a walk through a park. If you’re lucky enough to live close to a state park, then head there. You don’t have to be an avid hiker to enjoy the fresh air, warm sun, and beautiful trees. Take your stress and release it into the outdoors! This is my favorite way to reduce stress as a teacher.

7. Meditation

The final way to reduce stress as a teacher is to practice meditation. Like yoga, meditation focuses on calming yourself and finding your inner peace with controlled breathing. However, it doesn’t require you to be actively moving or stretching. Play a CD of classical music or use a sound machine with nature sounds. Choose whatever relaxes you. Find a spot to sit that you will be uninterrupted. Focus on deep breaths in and out and the sounds of the music or sound machine. Some people also find it soothing to have a candle or essential oils burning as well. And don’t worry, you don’t need to sit in the lotus position to fully benefit from meditation.

I hope you found these ideas for how to reduce stress as a teacher helpful! No matter what method you try to help relieve some of your stress that comes with teaching, just do something that benefits you! Stress will always be there (as will those extra tasks), so we need to be creative in finding ways to keep ourselves in tip-top-shape mentally. Our students depend on us to be the best teacher we can be and decreasing our stress levels through various effective relaxation methods is one way to help us get closer to that.

If you found this post about how to reduce stress as a teacher helpful and interesting, then you may also be interested in these other posts:

• 5 Financial Tips for Teachers
• The Best Advice for Preventing Teacher Burnout
• How to Declutter Your Elementary Classroom

The post How to Reduce Stress as a Teacher: 7 Relaxation Ideas for 2024 appeared first on Clutter-Free Classroom | by Jodi Durgin.

To help combat teacher stress and burnout and get you relaxed and recharged so you can go back and be a classroom rockstar again next year, I’ve compiled 5 things for you to do throughout the summer.

The good news is you get to stop writing things like, “plan guided math lesson” or “copy spiral review homework” on that list and start writing fun alternatives like “go to the beach” or “see a movie with a friend.” I would love to see you add at least a few of these to that list as well.

It is time to destress, start building healthy habits and use the extra time to lay the foundation for a stress-free new (school) year.

5 Ways to De-Stress During the Coming Months

Below are 5 ways to reduce teacher stress this summer.

1. Get active.

The first way to reduce teacher stress is to get active. Consider the following:

• Begin each morning with a walk. 
• Attend the daytime sessions at a local gym that take place when you are normally at school.
• Swim in pools, lakes and oceans. 
• Take a class to try something new, like paddle boarding or kayaking. 
• Go for a bike ride. 
• Start doing yoga. 

2. Read books just for fun. 

The second way to reduce teacher stress is to read. Consider the following:

• Do not worry about identifying the main idea and supporting details. 
• Don’t think about how to construct an open response based on events in the text. 
• Simply pick a book you want to read, find a comfy place to curl up with the book and enjoy. 
• Bonus points if you read a real book made of actual paper.

3. Get creative. 

There isn’t much time to explore creative outlets during the school year. Consider trying the following this summer:

• Draw, scrapbook, or simply color. 
• Adult coloring books are insanely popular right now. Just grab some pencils and shade the day away. 
• Buy a set of watercolors and paint outside. 

4. Spend at least one entire day on the couch. 

This might be my favorite! Consider the following:

• Binge watch a TV series.
• See what Chip and Joanna are up to.
• Watch reruns of your favorite childhood shows.

5. Connect with one old friend each week.

The final way to reduce teacher stress on this list is to connect with friends. Consider the following:

• Make a lunch date.
• Plan a weekend trip together.
• Have a long talk on the phone.
• Get together for coffee (iced coffee…it’s summer).
• Send a good old-fashioned snail mail letter or greeting card.

We hope this post about how to reduce teacher stress this summer was helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in these posts:

• 5 Things You Need to Do Now to Prepare for the End of the School Year
• 7 Tips for How to Reduce Stress as a Teacher
• 5 Health and Wellness Tips for Teachers to Prevent Burnout

The post Reduce Teacher Stress Using these 5 Strategies this Summer – 2024 appeared first on Clutter-Free Classroom | by Jodi Durgin.