“The bottom line is that you have to live with your body for the rest of your life. Spend time and care for your students, but remember that they come and go. You only get one body so make sure you take care of it.” – @lovedrummin
The #MusEdChat participants on 9/20/10 discussed how music teachers can stay healthy throughout the year and what some tricks are for not getting sick especially during the first few weeks of school.
Ways to Avoid Getting Sick
The #MusEdChat participants started the chat by talking about ways to avoid getting sick. In general you need to make sure to take care of yourself and know your body so you can avoid getting extremely sick. Below are some ways to help keep your body healthy especially during the stressful first few weeks of school.
- Lower your stress- stress is the number one thing that lowers your resistance
- Wash your hands frequently
- Drink plenty of water
- Get plenty of sleep- 8 to 9 hours a night
- Eat healthy
- Plan ahead- make meals ahead of time and freeze them for the first weeks of school. This saves a lot of time and stress when you get home from school everynight.
- Set aside time for exercising- helps both your physical and mental health
- Use hand sanitizer
- Have tissues and disinfectant wipes readily available in your classroom
- Good time management- this helps to lower stress levels
- Learn to say no- we bring on a lot of stress on ourselves by not sharing responsibilites
- Remember to laugh
Causes of Stress
Since stress is usually the main cause of teachers getting sick the #MusEdChat participants disucssed their biggest cause of stress. Below are some of the biggest causes of stress that we face daily as music educators.
- Paperwork-this is often one of the biggest causes of stress because it takes tons of time and and often is useless
- Number of students- as music teachers we have a lot of students and teach many different types of classes which can be very hard to keep track of causing stress
- Extra duties- often music teachers are given extra duties such as study halls, hall duty, lunch duty etc., which takes away from our prep time
- Back to back schedules- not getting anytime in between classes and ensembles
- Meetings- music teachers often have to attend faculty meetings, IEP meetings, booster meetings etc.
- Time- @thomasjwest says we need to work on letting go of our to do list when the clock says to
Ways to De-stress
In order for music teachers to stay healthy they need to find ways to relax and de-stress. Below are some of the ways that the #MusEdChat participants de-stress after a long day of teaching.
- Playing or singing in ensembles outside of school
- Play music that you can relax to at the end of the day
- Find a quiet place each day to spend 15-20 minutes away from everything else
- Eat lunch by yourself on days you are feeling stressed out
- Find time to talk with colleagues
- Find a balance between school and family- make sure to set aside time for family and relationships
- Make your classroom an environment that promotes de-stressing and healthy living
- Find a hobby you enjoy doing to help you relax in the evenings or on weekends
- Have friends, hobbies, and relationships that are not music or school related
Take Care of Yourself
The chat ended with the #MusEdChat participants sharing some final advice for being less stressed and staying healthy. @thomasjwest reminded music teachers to schedule time for authentic rest if you do feel like you are getting sick. @girlfromPBO said “Don’t wait until you’re hospitalized to take a sick day.” We all need time to realx and de-stress, so when you are sick don’t be afraid to take a day off. It is also very important to keep a good attitude because your attitude affects everything in your life including your body and health. One suggestion for helping to keep a positive attitude is to take a few minutes each day to keep a journal and write down the positive things that happened that day. It is also crucial that we cut ourselves a break. Often our standards for ourself are far higher than the standards that anyone else expects of us causing more stress on ourselves. @MiamiFlute summed up the chat by syaing “Taking time for you and not always putting yourself last is one of the best ways to stay healthy.” Teachers are always more worried about everyone else, but it is necessary that sometimes we step back and take care of ourselves.
About Elizabeth Heist
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