10 Habits for Healthy Teachers + Free Printable

Inside: Find some new habits for healthy teachers to foster in their day-to-day lives. Includes free Healthy Habit Tracker if you sign up.

Do you want to change your bad habits?

Sometimes as a teacher, you might have some habits that pull you down or keep you negative or even stressed. This can keep you feeling really dissatisfied with your life.

Habit can be both positive and negative.

The bad habits, can form bad habits over time and these are the ones you’ll need to work on to change and to train yourself out of them. But it’s not a process that happens overnight.

Developing good habits or more healthy ones will make you feel much more positive and energized in your daily life.

How can you change a habit?

Habits are formed even when you don’t realize it. The more you do things, the more they get stuck with you.

You know what it’s like; when you come home from a busy day at school, you’re exhausted and your body aches. Before you realize it, you’ve grabbed for a packet of Doritos and watching the new Stranger Things.

Or you’re savouring your second glass of wine before you remember you told yourself you weren’t drinking this week. Doh!

Change takes time. I’m sure you’ve probably heard it takes 21 days to form a habit?

I don’t necessarily agree with this. I think it’s more about consistency – doing something the same, even just a few days in a row, to begin with, to help cement this habit into your routine.

Like setting up a habit to drink a glass of water when you wake up in the morning. You know it’s healthy… but you’ve firstly got want to do this.. then you need to remember to fill a glass the night before and also place it beside your bed.

This takes a decision – like making a mental switch before you can form a new habit and following through with the little things to make it happen.

You’ve got to want to create change in your life!

But what about changing the old habits?

Changing bad habits into good ones

Changing bad habits can be difficult. But you still need to start by making the decision to change. Turn the mental switch on.

It’s like this…

Change comes from THINKING, FEELING and then DOING on a consistent daily basis.

Change really only happens in the mind.

Are you thinking, “I want to change, but I don’t know how?” Well…you are in the right place!

To make the changes needed it’ll also take some organisation and preparation.

YOU NEED TO HAVE A PLAN!

I’ll explain what I mean:

If you want to stop snacking on the wrong foods after school – plan some healthy alternatives – like carrot sticks and salsa or cheese and olives. If these are ready in the fridge, it will make it much easier to stay healthier when snacking. Also, make sure to remove junk foods like Doritos from your home!
If you want to start walking, have your runners at the door, then put them on before you even think about sitting down to watch Netflix (I’m talking to myself here!)
If you want to stop wasting time chatting to colleagues before or after school, make the switch and set a deadline for yourself. Instead of chatting for 30 minutes or more, make it only 10 minutes.
If you like debriefing about your day with teaching colleagues as wellbeing support, but it often turns negative or gossipy — make the personal switch and refuse to winge.

Good changes happen when we PLAN for them!

You’ll notice the suggestions involved positive switches. Fostering good habits often takes replacing the bad with a healthier option.

Here are some suggested healthy habits that might turn your teaching life around.

Healthy Habits for teachers

1. Positive Communication

Positive communication is needed in the teaching profession among all stakeholders.

Make sure your communication is positive, clear and open at all times. I find if you use a variety of ways to keep the channels of communication open, it helps reduce the stress of possible miscommunication.

Use email, have a communication book or the obvious face to face chat is best, but do what you can with the time you have. This can be with your teaching partner, your principal or even with parents.

2. Healthy Snacks and Water

In the teaching profession, it’s important to keep up your strength and energy to tackle your teaching workload.

Make sure you eat foods that are good for your body and provide the necessary nutrients needed for your health. (Need some healthy snack ideas? Read my post to add some quick options into your day.)

Water is also a key requirement too. Drinking water regularly is often undervalued for its health properties.

It’s a well-known fact that water is required to help support your voice health, stop dehydration and keep it lubricated — important in your profession when you use your voice everyday! (If you are interested to find out some tips for teacher voice-care, read my post for some helpful suggestions).

Don’t forget to regularly sip on water throughout the day!

I also discuss the value of water and how to incorporate it in your day in this post called 8 Simple Habits of Self-care for Teachers.

3. Collegial Chats

For your wellbeing, I believe that teachers need to regularly debrief with your colleagues. As in this famous quote:

“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
Robert John Meehan

It might be just a quick chat or it may be a full-on download about behaviour management or curriculum delivery, but it’s needed for you to feel supported and sane.

My healthy habit suggestion is to find someone in your school that is on your side and supports you, and talk with them regularly. It’s also fun to do this off-campus and catch up for a coffee. A great option for self-care too!

4. Show Gratitude

Start the day with a positive mindset and give thanks for all that you have in your life.

You can foster your gratitude mindset by documenting all you are grateful for into a Gratitude List or writing these in detail; commonly known as Gratitude Journaling. Something I’ve been having great success with.

Journaling activities help focus your mind on the positives for the day and improve your psychological and physical health as well as building self-esteem (Amy Morin, 2014). A great way to start the day!

5. Goal Setting

I’m a natural goal-setter and I must tell you that I find goal-setting a huge benefit in my life.

It’s a great positive habit to get into, as it helps move you beyond the ‘here and now’ and look forward to enjoyable things in your future.

It is so good for your wellbeing, particularly if your weeks are a bit of drudge.

Even if it is planning a new trip or a party, the benefits of preparing for these goals, work wonders to build healthy habits for you as a teacher.

6. Set Boundaries

Setting boundaries can be a hard switch to flip.

Often teachers continue to take on more and more. It can be hard to set the boundaries that you need to really get balance in your life.

If you continue to load yourself up with too much work, unfortunately, you might find out too late when the impacts of burnout may hit (Dr Matthew Allen, 2013, Self-Care for Teachers). Don’t get to that stage!

Start by saying ‘No’ more often, especially if you have ‘enough on your plate.’ Know what your own personal limits are and stick to them.

7. Take time to Decompress and Destress

Stress management is difficult for many teachers and often it doesn’t come naturally.

I think teaching has become so highly stressed that the impacts on the body can become chronic very quickly.

Often the worst way to find that you have taken on too much and that stress is affecting your life is when burnout strikes and you then need to take stress leave.

Dr Allen from the book, Self-Care for Teachers, says it’s important to distinguish between ‘normal’ stress and the acute stress associated with burnout. Overwhelming stress, if left untreated, can lead to insomnia and panic attacks, which can become a crippling disease.

If you are interested in some easy stress relievers, read my post about my story to reduce stress with some actionable tips.

Act now and build stress relief into your good healthy habits.

Related Article: Stress Management Tips Every Teacher Should Know

8. Exercise

Many teachers intuitively use exercise to help manage their stress but unfortunately, it isn’t a favourite activity of mine.

I think it’s probably a habit that many people need to implement into their lives for improving health.

Planning for exercise has got to be the key.

Get organised. Have gym clothes, runners and keys close to your bed and put them on the first thing in the morning. Once you’re wearing them, it becomes easier to actually go out for your walk. Plus, remember to start out small. There is not much point slogging it out for 10 km on the first occasion and doing yourself an injury. (You’ll never want to walk again!) Read here if you need help to get a beginner walking habit going.

Use the free Healthy Habits Tracker to help you get started on your new habits:

9. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Many a night I have spent tossing and turning because I can’t switch my mind off from my day at school. I know this affects many other teachers too.

To get a good night’s sleep, I suggest having a bedtime routine to help wind down and turn that overactive brain off.

Read my post that discusses the secrets to a structured bedtime routine, as well as practical tips from sleep experts, to help you get the best night’s sleep.

These suggestions have done wonders for me, as well as improving my health and reduce the effects of stress.

Good quality sleep is such a great healthy habit to foster for us as busy teachers.

Related Article: 8 Expert Tips to Get the Best Night’s Sleep + Free Printable cheatsheet

10. Include self-care in your day

Self-care is a topical subject for many teachers at the moment.

Do you know why?

Because many educators don’t take care of themselves as you should. Caring for others is who we are.

But by putting everyone first, you do yourself a disservice, which will eventually take its toll on your health.

Change that habit.

Commit to spending a short amount of time (15 – 30 mins) of ‘me’ time per day to focus on caring for yourself.

Flip the switch and start to think of yourself by adding self-care to your day. Develop a self-care routine to build a more balanced life.

It might just be remembering to drink water or sitting down to eat your lunch; it all can help to balance the scales to show self-love.

Read my article about 8 Simple Habits of Self-care for Teachers for some practical tips to incorporate in your day.

Find your free Healthy Habit Tracker here:

If you are looking to make some changes and build healthy habits in your life, I have a FREE printable habit tracker for you.

It will help you with your planning, preparation, implementation and also tracking your new and healthy habits in your life. Give the Doritos the flick!

Get your FREE Healthy Habits Tracker here:

Ultimately, to change Your habits you need a strategy, a plan or a step by step process to help you 1) know what you want, 2) what steps you are willing to take to move towards your goal and 3) the readiness to problem solve any obstacles that may challenge us along the way. Good luck with your changes!

Remember you’re worth it!

Michelle x

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10 Habits for Healthy Teachers + Free Printable

How can you change a habit?

Changing bad habits into good ones