I think we all feel stress, in different ways, at different times. While there CAN be positive stress, when we talk about stress, we typically think about how to handle negative stress. So today's episode is packed with tips for stress management.

Topics Discussed

• Why is it important to talk about managing stress?
• Teacher stress management
• Student stress management

Resources

--> Learn more about exercise's role in managing stress here:

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/how-look-after-your-mental-health-using-exercise

--> Learn more about how coloring can help with stress management:

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/coloring-is-good-for-your-health

--> Give it a try by printing out these coloring sheets for your classroom:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Coloring-Sheets-1-Spring-Fall-Holiday-Patterned-Coloring-Pages-1519236

--> Learn more about how stress effects your heart:

Heart Health Managing Stress

https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/health-conditions/heart-health/manage-stress

--> Learn 9 more stress management strategies for teachers:

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/9-stress-management-strategies-every-teacher-needs-know1712.html

Related Episodes

You might also enjoy listening to the burnout and depression tips in this episode or the behavior plan techniques in this episode

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Mentioned in this episode:

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Brittany 0:00

Stress. How often do you feel stressed out, and what do you do when that happens? I think we all feel stress in different ways at different times. There can be positive stress, but when we talk about stress, we typically think about how to handle negative stress. Welcome to the Teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Brittany, and I'm here with my friend Ellie. In this episode, we'll share a few stress management techniques for both students and teachers.

Ellie 0:39

Sounds like a good plan. I'm glad we're doing it. Why is it important to talk about managing stress? Why is this important to us as educators and to our students? We know that stress can have negative effects on not just your mind but your body as well, especially long term stress. Long term stress can lead to things like heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression and constant stress can make it hard to concentrate, make you more irritable and angry, cause you to have trouble sleeping, make your muscles tense and give you headaches. Stress can even lead to a weakened immune system. We don't want that for our teachers or our students. Stress can also cause issues in your relationships with others. It can lead to troubles with communication, and make relationships with bosses, co workers, friends or even loved ones uneasy, strained, stressed or entirely cut off.

Brittany 1:38

So let's talk about teacher stress management. First educationsupport.org, tells us to know our priorities. Say no to things that don't align with your priorities. Sometimes this is tough at school when there are so many things you want to say no to but just can't. So try to define your top priorities. Then think ahead to what things might come up and decide what you will say yes to and what you will say no to, and then prepare yourself for how to say no to the things you can and want to say no, to take some time to think about what stresses you out and make a plan for dealing with those items when they occur.

Ellie 2:29

That's a great idea to try to stop and plan ahead, because sometimes you don't anticipate certain things and then they just come at you, and you're like, okay, yeah, I'll do that instead of thinking ahead about those kind of things. So just taking some time.

Brittany 2:45

You kind of feel off guard, because they catch you at the water cooler or something, and you're like -

Ellie 2:50

So if you're kind of planned ahead about like, I can say yes to these kinds of things, but I have to say no to these. That's helpful. Another technique to help stress management is to make time for exercise. It might be tough to squeeze it in, or you might be someone who says that they hate exercise, but it doesn't have to be a long workout. According to the Mental Health Foundation, even a brisk 10 minute walk can help increase our mental alertness, energy, and positive mood. One article we found, states that participation in regular physical activity can increase our self esteem and reduce stress and anxiety. It also plays a role in preventing the development of mental health problems, which means it's probably great for students too. Another excellent thing is to take time for hobbies - that can be helpful as well. Doing things that relax you and take your mind off the cause of your stress are great for your mind, body, and spirit. They can also help you to decompress and deal with the stress from the day or the week. And if you're like me, and exercise is one of your hobbies, you've got like a two in one thing there.

Brittany 4:01

In our burnout, doldrums, and depression episode, we discuss many different ideas to help with feeling down. So if you feel like you're in a burnout or depressed state, give that episode a listen as well. The Western Governors University has several recommendations to help teachers manage stress. Their first recommendation is to breathe properly, which they say is a four by four breathing technique that lowers the physical stress response and helps you regain control. This four by four technique is simply breathing in deeply for four seconds and then exhaling evenly for four seconds. They recommend doing this for two to three minutes. Now we know the classroom action doesn't always allow us two to three minutes to just breathe, but breathing this way at least a few times can be helpful. And if the classroom situation is really stressful, you might decide to just stop the class and do the breathing as a whole class for two to three minutes. Get everybody involved.

Ellie 5:12

Right? It's interesting when you stop and think about your breathing and think like, when was the last time I took a deep breath? You know, I did that just now. As you were talking, you were wondering, you can also learn to embrace the stress. Henry Ford once said, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And we can take that one step further. Whether you think stress is positive or you think it's negative, you're right. According to health psychologist Kelly McGonigal on her TED talk about stress, being able to view your stress in constructive ways will actually cause your body to respond to it differently and prevent long, lasting physical damage. By contrast, those who express negative attitudes towards stress face a range of negative health outcomes similar to those caused by smoking.

Brittany 6:05

Wow.

Ellie 6:05

So how do you change your outlook on stress? McGonagall suggests reframing changes in your heart rate and other stress induced physical symptoms with phrases like this is my body helping me rise to this challenge.

Brittany 6:19

Ellie 7:20

It's great to stop and think that sometimes, because it's hard.

Brittany 7:25

Yes,

Ellie 7:26

Another strategy is to work smarter, not harder. And every time I hear that phrase, I have to laugh, because my son used to say that to me all the time. Do we have to work hard in our teaching jobs? Yes, we do. There are so many tasks and responsibilities that fall on us, and it is easy to feel exhausted and burned out with doing the hard work or working through hard problems. However, there are some ways to work smarter, and we need to look for those. For example, in episode 7 of this podcast, we shared tips for grading more quickly and efficiently, working a little bit smarter. If you take some time to set up some systems and procedures, you'll find more ways you can work smarter and reduce your stress levels. You might also find ways to delegate some of your work or invest in tools or technologies that will help you. You can also ask for help. I don't know about you, but it's always been so hard for me to ask for help, but it is okay to ask for help, no matter how long you've been teaching or how excellent you are, there will be times when help will make your life easier and lower your stress. Do you need help? Maybe not, but if you want to lower that stress level, asking for help might just be a game changer for you.

Brittany 8:47

So let's switch gears and think about students now. Some of the strategies we discuss for teachers could easily be used for students as well, such as teaching students that it's okay to be imperfect, that it's okay and good to ask for help. Those are great ways to help them learn to manage stress. Breathing exercises are also excellent and quick to teach to the class.

Ellie 9:11

Yeah, I think along with that, encouraging students to get some physical exercise is really important. Some students might be involved in sports or dancing or other activities that require movement, but others might not be so teaching students how physical activity can help them with stress and anxiety can really put them on the right path with stress management. Even taking a minute during class to do jumping jacks or running in place helps them understand that even if they can't go outside to get some exercise, there are activities they can do inside to get moving.

Brittany 9:44

I used to do that with my class when they were just really squirrely and having trouble settling down. I would just be like, Okay, everybody stop, put your pencils down, stand up, run in place, go or whatever. And it would just help calm the class down, but it was also getting them some exercise. A few other suggestions for helping middle school students with stress management include things like meditation. A short meditation can help students get calm focused and feel more relaxed in their bodies. We talked about using meditation to help calm down students after lunch or recess, and as a mindfulness task in Episode 13, perhaps go back and take a listen to that episode as well. Writing or journaling is a tried and true method for stress relief, and as a bonus, you can probably use it to address your writing standards, as long as you're sensitive to the content that the students write about. If they're writing about what's stressing them out, or personal things, then you definitely want to be sensitive to that information. Short periods of quiet time where you might turn off or turn down the lights and just spend a couple minutes in quiet where students can be less directed and just think about whatever they want, can also help to reduce stress. And then there's coloring. We know about adult coloring books and how they've become popular in recent years, and studies show that coloring helps students too, particularly with stress relief. A Mayo Clinic article discusses coloring as a way to relieve stress because it calms the brain and helps the body relax. The article states that this can improve sleep and fatigue while decreasing body aches, heart rate, respiration and the feeling of depression and anxiety, so you could keep some coloring sheets handy in your classroom and give students 5 or 10 minutes here or there just to color. It's also pretty interesting how the mind seems to be more creative and open for new ideas when you just sit in color. Honestly, some of my best ideas have come when I've just been coloring.

Me too.

We both have some coloring sheets that we will link in the show notes.

One more tip for helping students with stress management is to let them have time to socialize - with guidelines and expectations of course. It gives them a little bit of time to just kind of let the stress out, just just talking can do that. For a long time I believe that having my students talk to each other in math class was really beneficial for them. I didn't have an official study to support it, but giving them a daily chance to talk about math to a partner or a small group made their participation less stressful, and math class was less stressful overall, because they were just more comfortable through that math socialization time.

Whether you're currently feeling stressed or you're stress free, way to go, take some time to think about what stress management techniques can help both you and your students. Then when those more stressful moments come up during the day, you'll have the tools in your teaching toolbox and the plan for how to tackle them.

Check out the show notes for everything mentioned in this episode, and we'll be back next week with a new topic, just for you. See you later.

Bye.