Inside: This article discusses some easy ways to help relieve teacher stress that some may experience from their demanding profession.
Do you ever ask yourself,” How can I reduce stress or relieve it? “
Many teachers experience stress associated with the demands of the teaching profession and need ways to help.
If this is you, read on…
Let’s first discuss some of the impacts that stress can have on the body.
Negative impacts of stress
You know that the teacher life is always busy, with many deadlines and demands, and a list of jobs, as long as your arm.
No wonder teachers feel stressed.
If you experience this type of pressure every day and don’t have ways to let off steam, it can turn into what is called chronic stress, (Dr Wayne Todd, 2015).
This is when it can be very detrimental and you will need to take steps to reduce the effects on your body!
How stress affected me as a teacher:
A few years ago, chronic stress hit me like a ton of bricks.
It presented itself in various ways:
- I was experiencing major tension and upper back pain: I felt like my shoulders were rocks and nothing I did (seeing a qualified chiropractor) seemed to relieve it.
- I became hypersensitive to things like; light and sound and my sleep became very unsettled. I never felt rested and I was tired ALL. THE. TIME!
- I also felt like I had severe brain fog and couldn’t think clearly
- I was a ticking time bomb, with a short fuse and I was very intolerant to people and other annoyances.
- many other health complaints raised their heads, which I’ve continued to deal with. (things such as being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, depression and others).
These conditions severely impacted my life, both at work and at home and I was desperate to find some easy ways to relieve this stress.
How you can relieve teacher stress?
I went on a journey to discover practices that I could easily implement to either reduce stress or relieve teacher stress in some way.
I’m a big researcher, so I knew that I could find the answer to my problem.
I devoured many books and health blogs on the subject in the search for what sometimes seemed elusive stress-relieving techniques.
I also sought out some very knowledgeable health practitioners to help me with my chronic stress.
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Firstly, I found a new chiropractor who had been trained in how to help relieve stress and its effects. He became my new go-to guide for all things stress-related.
With his support, I was able to take charge of my own health.
He also directed me to an informative book called SD Protocol by Dr Wayne Todd.
Dr Todd’s book is an instructional guide to help inform about chronic stress, and then he gives practical strategies to support the reduction and relief of stress.
I would highly recommend you read this book if you are suffering stress-related conditions ( I give an overview of this great book to help sufferers of chronic stress in my post called Wellness Books I’m Reading lately).
Dr Todd clearly outlined that many of my symptoms were stress-related.
It all just made so much sense.
I started to implement the strategies from the book and slowly my health began to improve.
Finally, I got some answers that the conventional medical community was not able to give me.
Following are some easy tips that I wholeheartedly recommend, if you are seriously trying to relieve your teacher stress:
Five easy ways to relieve teacher stress explained:
1. Relaxing baths
Enjoying a beautiful warm bath using Epsom Salts and your favourite essential oil is an easy way to reduce stress.
Epsom Salts is a form of magnesium, which is known to relax muscles, (Todd, 2015).
Using a relaxing essential oil in the bath, such as lavender oil, helps to boost the relaxing effect, causing you to wind down after a hectic day. Read here to get all the details of how to enjoy the 7 Benefits of a Self-Care Bath Routine.
Having a quiet bath can also give you some time to yourself; to clear your mind and get you ready to settle and sleep more deeply.
2. Sleep, sleep and more sleep
Professionals know that sleep is necessary for the relief of stress.
I’ve learned that we need to make sleep a priority, because of the many health benefits.
Sleep is a complex topic, for more details read my article which suggests eight helpful tips from health experts to improve your sleep.
One key tip to help improve sleep, that I’ve discovered, is implementing a regular bedtime routine.
Here are some other tips that may help you with your sleep:
- Stop technology for at least an hour before bedtime (Myers, 2016)
- reduce sound and light input by wearing earplugs and eyeshades. (especially if you’re experiencing hypersensitivity to the light and sound around you).
- take a magnesium supplement every night, which helps the process of relaxation, and keeps you asleep for longer (Todd, 2015).
Read more tips in my post called 8 Tips to Get the Best Night’s Sleep for Stressed-Out Teachers.
3. The power of a cup of tea
The power of a therapeutic cup of tea can’t be understated. The calming effects of tea, especially herbal teas, helps you to relax and unwind.
I find that this time for a cuppa needs to be quiet and uninterrupted to experience the true calming and stress-relieving effects.
Try and send the kids outside to play at this time, or get dad to take them shopping.
Another way to experience your private tea ritual is to get them to bed before you sit down. Good luck with that!
4. Regular chiropractic care or massage
As I mentioned, another underestimated stress-relieving tip is the regular time with a chiropractor, someone that is trained in the skilful adjustment of your spine.
As a busy teacher, I see this as a must for me each month to ensure that my body is in alignment and then it can function optimally.
The chiropractic technique used to relieve stress on my upper back has been a godsend.
If you are interested in finding a trained professional please refer to the website: SD protocol. Also, see my Recommendation page and my post called: Books I’m reading lately, where I refer to the book SD Protocol by Dr Wayne Todd.
My post outlines some of Dr Todds, ideas from his book about chronic stress and the strategies to help. (Dr Todd’s website is also a terrific spot for some free resources on stress management).
In addition to chiropractic care, I also have found that regular massage is a wonderful stress-relieving approach.
I now have a massage every fortnight to a month and include this in my stress-relieving routine to help reduce body tension.
I would highly recommend massage as an easy approach to stress relief.
5. Deep breathing and or meditation
Another easy way to reduce the effects of stress on your body is deep breathing. I sometimes use this when I’m in bed and feeling wound up.
Using an extending breathing protocol helps to reduce your heart rate and slow your breathing enough so that you can settle and wind down to go to sleep.
Related Article: A Straight Forward Tip How to Relieve Teacher Stress (You Won’t Believe)
I have a breathing component on my Fitbit which helps teach you the necessary slow breathing pattern that is needed for stress-relief.
Positive results!
Through regular chiropractic adjustments, much of the rock-hard tension in my upper back has been calmed.
As I followed these stress-relieving techniques (like regular warm baths and the taking of magnesium), my sensitivity to light has also improved and I also started to wear earplugs at night to help cut out the noises that were keeping me awake.
My intolerance to little annoyances has also been drastically reduced. (I think my husband is very pleased about that one! haha! Obviously helping our marriage.)
Subsequently, I’m now better able to cope with my teaching demands.
The practice of these easy techniques, as well as others that are recommended in Dr Todd’s book, that I undertake on a weekly/daily basis, has worked to help relieve the teacher stress I was experiencing.
By becoming more intuitive to my own body’s needs, I have been able to identify when my stress levels from work are gaining momentum and I use a variety of relaxing practices. These help my body to release to tension and wound up feeling and balance the effects of stress on my body.
Read the following post for ideas to help you relax after a stressful day at school. Related Article: 15 Easy Relaxation Strategies to Beat Stress!
Say goodbye to the power of stress!
I hope these 5 easy tips of mine to help reduce teacher stress and make a difference in your life and stop the overwhelm from the day-to-day. And don’t forget to get the FREE Stress-Busting Tips sheet before you go!
Don’t forget to pin this for later!
Remember you are worth it!
Michelle x
References:
SD Protocol: Achieve greater health by learning to balance your physical, chemical and emotional wellbeing, (Dr Wayne Todd, 2015).
The Thyroid Connection, (Dr Amy Myers, 2016).
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