Achieving a feeling of true wellbeing can sometimes feel like an uphill battle when you work in education. When you're working in a stressful environment, it's sometimes easier to focus on the task at hand rather than how you're feeling.
If it feels as though your wellness has taken a backseat to everything else in your life, then it may help to take a step back. Focusing on the foundations of your own wellbeing acts as an excellent starting point for improving your work environment.
The foundations of wellbeing are focused on looking after yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. The latest RAND Corporation State of the American Teacher Survey suggests that staff wellbeing is a concern in school districts across the nation. Among teachers, 58% said that their job caused stress either 'often' or 'always.' Another 52% of teachers agreed that they were not as enthusiastic about their jobs as they had been when they started teaching. While getting the foundations of wellbeing right won't remove the stressors associated with teaching, it will certainly give you a stronger basis for tackling them.
The cornerstones of wellbeing are sleep, exercise, nutrition, and a manageable mental load. When you get those right, moving on to more refined strategies becomes easier.
When you're endlessly spending your days modelling good habits for your students, it's sometimes easy to forget to take care of yourself. Practicing what you preach is the best way to achieve better wellbeing in school.
Creating positive habits ensures you have enough energy to get the best out of each day. This applies to both work and home. Positive habits can also boost wellbeing by giving you the mental resilience required to deal with everyday challenges. As a teacher, having that mental fortitude can make all the difference when those challenges arise.
Great teacher wellbeing really does hinge on getting the basics right. So, while some of these may seem obvious, it never hurts to have a refresher and remind yourself of their importance.
One of the main reasons school staff anxiety is so high is that everyone has a lot on their plate. Meeting performance targets, managing behavior, and completing duties that often feel as though they're outside of your role can all take their toll.
While exercise may often be the last thing on your mind, it's an essential tool when it comes to improving staff wellbeing. You don't need to strive for athlete-level targets to see the benefits either. If you're not usually active, hitting just 20 minutes per day is enough to boost the neurotransmitters that make life easier, including dopamine and serotonin. Regular movement also helps manage stress hormones such as cortisol, allowing you to feel a positive release.
Try factoring exercise into your morning start, commute, or break times. The phrase "brisk walk" may feel a little overused, but if you take one each day it will genuinely make a world of difference. If necessary, break your walk down into smaller chunks so it becomes more manageable.
While dietary changes alone won't improve mental health in schools, making positive adaptations is important at an individual level. Although it's tempting to grab snacks on the go and refuel purely for the sake of satisfying hunger, doing so means you're denying yourself an opportunity to thrive.
Rather than focusing on a complete dietary overhaul, target a couple of areas and build from there. Omega-3s and antioxidant-rich fruits are excellent starting points. Omega-3 fatty acids are excellent for teacher wellbeing as scientific evidence shows they reduce the risk of depression. Similarly, antioxidants can reduce anxiety by removing free radicals from your body.
Educator anxiety can skyrocket when you're not getting enough sleep. Not sleeping enough increases your cortisol levels, which then induces or worsens anxiety. On a long-term basis, sleep problems may harm your immune system.
When you're working in a busy role, it's easy to spend most of your time away from school resting. Although rest is crucial, you can achieve better wellbeing in school by making some time for your hobbies too.
Engaging in the activities you love can generate a much-needed mood boost. Not only does focusing on your hobbies improve your mood, but it also improves your perception of your physical function and lowers your resting blood pressure.
Try to set time aside each week to focus on things you enjoy so that you can take a step away from work. Knowing that you have something separate to do from your career gives you an escape to look forward to. It also makes stress feel less all-encompassing and easier to manage.
Creating the building blocks for better teacher wellbeing might feel daunting. Rather than seeing it as a challenge, try to frame it as an opportunity. When you take small steps towards improving your exercise, nutrition, sleep, and personal fulfillment, striving for greater wellness goals becomes easier.
At Welbee, we offer a free toolkit that makes improving staff wellbeing easier. Once you sign up, you'll find lots of free tips and resources that can elevate your personal wellbeing. Using our guidance, you can improve your mental health and reduce your stress levels, step by step.Almost half of US K-12 teachers feel burned out at work, according to a 2022 Gallup Poll on occupational burnout, with 44% of them report feeling burned out often or always, but what can leaders do to help prevent workplace...
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