How Teachers Can Unwind from the Pressures of Teaching All Year

Most educators know the importance of rest and relaxation after a hectic school season. This article looks into how teachers can unwind from the pressures of teaching all year.

Start sleeping seven to eight hours

According to the Guardian, a study that showed people who were only getting 4 ½ hours of sleep a night felt stressed and mentally exhausted. When they went back to sleeping seven to nine hours, they felt so much better during the day.

Reduce mental tension by keeping your mind in the present

An article by WikiHow called “How to Get Out of Your Head” states that it often comes as a surprise to those who are new on the mindfulness path as to how much time is spent going back and forth between the past and future in their minds. Many people, in fact, think it’s constructive. However, in reality, all it really does is consume unnecessary mental energy with little being accomplished.

A great way that a person can begin living more in the present is to start using a mindfulness mantra, such as “Aum,” when completing tasks and activities. Aum is an ancient word and sound that refers to the primordial energy of the universe.

Meditation where you’re sitting down is not the only type that’s effective, the article says. It can be equally powerful for a person to train his or her mind to stay in the present while cooking, cleaning or washing clothes, all of which can help greatly in feeling more relaxed in life.

The nonprofit organization Teach for America says the key to unwinding is to work it out

Whether you get your heart pounding on your bike, by running or at the gym, there’s no better way to release stress than through an intense workout and breaking a sweat.

Once teachers are back in the classroom again, recharged and ready to go, finding educational programs that support ELL students’ first language, such as The Latino Family Literacy Project, can make an enormous difference on their overall academic and language acquisition success.