Self-Care Tips for Teachers: How To Unwind & Relax

Teaching is one of the most rewarding careers, but equally one of the most demanding. Long hours, heavy workloads and the emotional responsibility of supporting students can leave many teachers feeling drained.

After more than twenty years working in schools, I’ve learned that it’s when you’re at your busiest that the idea of ‘self-care’ seems most unattainable. Yet those are often the times when you need it most.

Research consistently shows the toll the classroom takes. According to the Teacher Wellbeing Index (opens in a new tab), work-related stress and burnout are common in the teaching profession, with 76% of education staff reporting experiencing work-related stress.

That’s why self-care is not a luxury for teachers. It’s actually an essential part of maintaining your wellbeing, sustaining your energy in the classroom and continuing your vital work of guiding your students’ futures.

In this guide, we’ll explore practical self-care strategies that can help teachers unwind and relax, protect their mental health and avoid burnout.

Key Takeaways

• Teaching can be emotionally and physically demanding, so self-care is essential for long-term wellbeing.

• Small daily habits, such as setting boundaries and taking short breaks, can help reduce stress.

• Teachers can support their mental health through strategies such as mindfulness, connection with colleagues, and developing realistic work routines.

• Many organisations offer specialist wellbeing support and resources for teachers.

Why Self-Care Matters for Teachers

The Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025 (opens in a new tab), published by the charity Education Support (opens in a new tab), relayed some startling statistics. It found that 76% of education staff report experiencing work-related stress. 

The report also highlights wider mental health concerns. For example, 36% of education staff recorded wellbeing scores indicating probable clinical depression, while more than half reported symptoms associated with acute stress.

Workplace culture can also influence wellbeing. Nearly half of staff (48%) said their organisation’s culture negatively affects staff mental health and wellbeing.

These findings highlight why self-care is so essential for teachers. Looking after your wellbeing can help you:

• manage stress more effectively

• maintain focus and patience in the classroom

• avoid long-term burnout

• continue supporting students in a positive and sustainable way

Put simply, when teachers protect their own wellbeing, they are better able to support their students’ learning and wellbeing.

Signs You Need To Focus on Self-Care

When stress builds over time, it can start to affect both your health and your performance at work. However, in such an emotionally and physically demanding profession, the symptoms often creep up unnoticed.

Recognising the early warning signs can help you take steps to protect your wellbeing before burnout develops. 

Common signs that you may need to prioritise self-care include:

• Feeling constantly exhausted, even after rest

• Difficulty switching off from work, especially in the evenings or at weekends

• Increased irritability or frustration with students, colleagues or everyday situations

• Feeling overwhelmed by workload or responsibilities

• Trouble concentrating during lessons or planning

• Loss of motivation or enjoyment in teaching

You might also notice physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches, poor sleep or tension in your body.

Occasionally experiencing these signs is normal during busy school periods. However, if they become frequent or begin affecting your daily life, it may be a sign that you need to prioritise self-care or seek additional support.

Guidance from organisations such as the NHS (opens in a new tab) and Education Support (opens in a new tab) notes that ongoing low mood, fatigue, irritability and withdrawal from normal activities can also indicate developing stress or depression.

Daily Self-Care Habits for Teachers

Self-care doesn’t require major lifestyle changes. For teachers, small daily habits can help you create moments of recovery, even during the busiest school days.

Here are five practical habits that will help.

Take One Proper Break During the School Day

Many teachers skip breaks altogether, with duties and preparation for the next lesson taking priority. However, taking even a short pause can help to reduce stress and restore your focus.

Make it a daily habit to step away from work for at least one proper break. This might mean eating lunch away from your desk, going outside for fresh air, or simply sitting quietly for a few minutes. 

One music teacher, whose lunchtimes are filled with activities such as choir and band rehearsals, told me: “For the first five minutes of lunchtime, I sit at my desk and eat my lunch. During this time, I ask students to come back if they need me. Then we can get on with our practice.”

These short breaks are essential to allow your mind to reset and can make the rest of the day feel more manageable. 

Practise a Two-Minute Breathing Reset

A short breathing exercise can help calm your nervous system and improve focus. Try a simple breathing reset: breathe in slowly for three seconds, hold briefly, then breathe out for five seconds. Repeat once or twice.

Take a moment to practise this between lessons or after a difficult moment in the classroom to help restore a sense of calm.

Talk to Someone About Something Other Than School

Teaching can easily dominate your thoughts and conversations, even outside the classroom. Making space for chats that are not about work can help you switch off mentally.

Try to have at least one conversation each day that is not about school. This might be chatting with a colleague about shared interests or calling a friend or family member.

These supportive relationships are crucial to your wellbeing and can help you keep perspective: there’s life outside work!

Build a Small Decompression Routine After Work

Many teachers go straight from their busy school day to their home responsibilities. Without a transition, it can be difficult to switch off mentally from work.

Creating a small decompression routine after school can help your mind shift out of “teacher mode”. For example, you might:

• take a short walk

• walk the dog

• sit quietly with a cup of tea

• listen to music or a podcast on the journey home

These small routines signal that the working day has ended. They help you mentally separate school life from home life and can prevent work stress from following you into the evening.

Set a Clear End to Your Working Day

Teaching can easily spill into evenings and weekends. Planning, marking and emails expand to fill every available moment.

Try setting a clear finishing point for the day. This might mean closing your laptop at a specific time, leaving school by a certain hour, or deciding not to check emails after your evening meal. It gives your brain a chance to rest and recharge properly.

Self-Care During Term Time

During the school term, lessons, marking, planning, meetings and pastoral responsibilities all give you little time to recover. It can feel relentless.

For teachers, self-care during term time is all about managing your workload realistically and protecting your energy as much as possible.

These strategies can help make demanding terms seem more manageable.

Focus on Progress Rather Than Perfection

Teachers often feel pressure to deliver perfect lessons and complete every task to the highest possible standard. During busy terms, this expectation can quickly become exhausting.

Instead of aiming for perfection in every area, focus on progress and impact. A well-structured lesson that supports student learning is far more important than a perfectly designed worksheet or presentation.

Allowing yourself to prioritise what truly matters can reduce pressure and help make your workload more sustainable.

Share Resources and Ideas With Colleagues

Teaching becomes much easier when staff support each other. Many teachers reduce workload by collaborating on planning, sharing lesson resources, and discussing teaching strategies. 

For help with your exam classes, online revision websites such as Save My Exams provide reliable, expert-created revision resources matched exactly to your syllabus to make planning lessons and generating class tests much easier.

Even informal staffroom chats can provide reassurance and practical solutions. Working collaboratively also helps remind you that you’re not the only one facing the challenges of the term/Year 8/Ofsted*.

(* delete as applicable)

Plan One Thing Each Week That Is Just for You

Because it’s easy for work to fill every evening and weekend, planning one activity each week unrelated to school can help maintain work-life balance. This might be meeting a friend, exercising, pursuing a hobby, or simply spending time outdoors.

Having something to look forward to outside work can help to energise you and remind you that you’re a person beyond your job, even during the most demanding weeks.

Keep Perspective During Busy Periods

Certain times of the school year are inevitably more stressful. Start of year, exam preparation time, report deadlines, parents’ evenings: all can increase pressure and workload.

It can help to remind yourself that these intense weeks are temporary. Be kind to yourself at these times. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to be perfect. Focus on simply getting through busy periods, one lesson at a time.

Accepting that some weeks will simply be harder than others is an important part of maintaining long-term wellbeing in teaching. 

Self-Care During School Holidays

School holidays offer an important opportunity for staff to rest and recover. However, many teachers find it difficult to switch off from work fully.

While it can be tempting to spend the entire break catching up on planning or preparation, holidays are also essential for restoring energy and protecting long-term wellbeing.

Allow Yourself Time to Rest

After a busy term, your body and mind may need time to slow down. It’s normal to feel tired during the first few days of a school holiday.

Allowing yourself time to rest without feeling guilty is an important part of your recovery from the sustained demands of the school term. This might mean sleeping more, spending quiet time at home or simply taking a break from school bells and structured routines.

Spend Time on Activities That Recharge You

Once you’ve recovered, your holiday time is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with activities that bring you enjoyment outside teaching. For some teachers, this might involve travel, exercise or hobbies. For others, it may simply mean spending more time with friends and family.

Doing activities you enjoy will help you relax and recharge, restoring your energy and motivation for your return to work.

Avoid Filling the Entire Break With Work

Some preparation during the holidays can help reduce stress when the new term begins. However, avoid letting work dominate the entire break.

Many teachers find it useful to set a small, defined window for work tasks, such as preparing a few lessons or organising resources, while keeping the majority of the holiday free.

This balance allows you to feel prepared for the next term, while still getting the rest you need.

Reset for the Next Term

Towards the end of the holiday, you may find it helpful to reintroduce small planning tasks or organisational activities gradually. This might include reviewing lesson plans or preparing resources for the first week back.

Taking a little time to prepare yourself can actually help make the transition back to ‘school mode’ feel less stressful.

Mental Health Self-Care Strategies

Teaching places significant emotional demands on staff. Supporting students, managing behaviour, communicating with parents and balancing workload can all create ongoing pressure.

Looking after your mental wellbeing is therefore an important part of maintaining resilience in the profession. Alongside daily self-care habits, there are also specific strategies that can help teachers manage stress and protect their wellbeing.

Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindfulness techniques can help reduce stress by encouraging you to focus on the present moment rather than worrying about past events or future pressures.

Even short practices can calm the body’s stress response. Simple breathing exercises, guided meditations or brief periods of quiet reflection can help restore focus during demanding days. They can also help you get to sleep. 

Many teachers practise mindfulness for just a few minutes at a time, such as during a break, after school or before going to sleep. Over time, these techniques can improve emotional regulation and reduce feelings of overwhelm.

Try using an app such as Calm (opens in a new tab) or Headspace (opens in a new tab) to guide you.

Setting Boundaries

Because teaching involves significant responsibility, it can be easy to feel that you must always be available to students, colleagues or parents. Setting healthy boundaries is therefore an important part of protecting your mental wellbeing.

A helpful way to think about this comes from the well-known Five Balls of Life (opens in a new tab) story, told by Brian Dyson, former CEO of Coca-Cola. Dyson compared life to juggling five balls: work, family, health, friends and personal growth. Work, he said, is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The others are made of glass. If they fall, they may be damaged permanently.

For teachers, the message is a useful reminder. Your work matters deeply, but it should not come at the cost of your health, relationships or personal life. Setting boundaries helps protect the parts of your life that cannot simply bounce back.

Seeking Professional Support

Sometimes stress or emotional exhaustion can become overwhelming. When this happens, it’s important to seek help. Reach out to family, friends, and trusted colleagues. The people who love you want to support and care for you. 

It’s important to seek professional support, too. Speaking to a GP, counsellor or mental health professional can provide practical strategies for managing stress.

At school, speak to your line manager if you feel comfortable in doing so. Many schools provide access to wellbeing support through occupational health services. External organisations also offer confidential support specifically for teachers and education staff. Find further details later in this article.

Remember that seeking support is not a sign of weakness. In fact, recognising when help is needed is essential for protecting your mental health and ultimately maintaining a sustainable teaching career.

Social Self Care and Connection

Teaching can sometimes feel isolating. Long hours, workload pressures and emotional demands can make it difficult to maintain social connections outside work.

However, supportive relationships play an important role in protecting your wellbeing. Talking with others and maintaining connections beyond the classroom can help reduce stress and provide perspective.

Maintain Supportive Relationships at Work

Colleagues often understand the unique challenges of teaching better than anyone else. Informal conversations in the staffroom, sharing ideas, or simply checking in with one another can help create a supportive working environment.

A positive ethos among school staff makes those difficult days easier to manage, and reminds you that you’re not alone. The pressures of teaching are shared.

Stay Connected With Friends and Family

When your workload increases, your social plans are often the first thing to be cancelled. However, maintaining connections with friends and family can help protect your mental wellbeing.

Spending time with people outside the school environment can provide a valuable sense of balance and help you switch off from work.

Self-Care Resources for Teachers

Several organisations provide guidance and support specifically for teacher wellbeing, including practical advice and mental health support.

If you are looking for additional help, the following organisations and resources may be useful.

Education Support

Education Support (opens in a new tab) is a UK charity dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff. They provide confidential support, practical guidance and research into teacher wellbeing.

Their resources include guides on managing stress, recognising signs of burnout and building healthier work habits. They also publish the Teacher Wellbeing Index (opens in a new tab), an annual report that highlights the pressures teachers face and the importance of supporting staff wellbeing.

Mental Health Foundation Teacher Resources

The Mental Health Foundation (opens in a new tab) provides practical wellbeing guidance for teachers, including resources on stress management and maintaining healthy work habits.

Their guide Make It Count: A Guide for Teachers (opens in a new tab) explores ways educators can protect their mental health while supporting students. The resource includes practical strategies for maintaining wellbeing both inside and outside the classroom.

Union and Professional Support Services

Teaching unions and professional organisations also provide advice and support services for teachers experiencing stress or mental health challenges.

For example:

• NAHT (opens in a new tab), the School Leaders’ Union, offers counselling information and a support helpline for school leaders.

• NASUWT (opens in a new tab) provides a range of wellbeing tools for teachers, including a mental health and work-related stress toolkit (opens in a new tab)

• The National Education Union (opens in a new tab) (NEU) provides guidance on workplace wellbeing, mental health and teacher workload.

School-Based Support

Many schools now provide wellbeing initiatives and support services for staff. These may include employee assistance programmes, counselling services or staff wellbeing policies.

If you are struggling with workload or stress, speaking with a trusted colleague, line manager or wellbeing lead within your school can be an important first step in accessing support.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can teachers practise self-care when they're so busy?

Self-care doesn’t need to take large amounts of time. Small habits built into your daily routine can make a meaningful difference.

For example, taking a proper lunch break, practising a short breathing exercise, setting a clear end to your working day or spending time talking with colleagues can all help reduce stress during busy periods.

How do I stop feeling guilty about taking time for self-care?

Many teachers feel guilty about prioritising their own wellbeing, especially when they care deeply about their students.

However, self-care is not selfish. Looking after your mental and physical health helps you maintain the energy, patience and focus needed to teach effectively over the long term.

What should I do if self-care strategies aren't helping my stress?

If stress or emotional exhaustion continues despite trying self care strategies, it may be helpful to seek additional support.

Speaking to a trusted colleague, school leader or wellbeing coordinator can be a good starting point. Many schools also provide access to employee assistance programmes or counselling services.

External organisations, such as Education Support, offer confidential advice and support for teachers experiencing stress or mental health difficulties. Speaking with a GP or mental health professional may also help you access appropriate support.

Prioritising Your Wellbeing as a Teacher

Teaching is a profession built on care, dedication and commitment to supporting students. However, the demands of the role can sometimes make it difficult for teachers to prioritise their own wellbeing.

Adopting small daily habits, maintaining supportive relationships, and setting realistic expectations can all help teachers protect their wellbeing during busy school terms. Making space for rest and recovery during holidays and seeking support when needed can also help sustain a long-term career in education.

Every teacher’s situation is different, and self-care will look different for each person. What matters most is recognising that your wellbeing matters too. Taking time for self-care is not selfish. You need to care for yourself just as much as you care for your students. It helps you maintain the energy, patience and resilience needed to support them effectively.

References:

• Education Support | Teacher Wellbeing Index (opens in a new tab)

• Education Support, supporting teachers and education staff (opens in a new tab)

• Overview - Depression in adults - NHS (opens in a new tab)

• Education Support | Depression: spotting symptoms and what to do next (opens in a new tab)

• Calm (opens in a new tab)

• Headspace (opens in a new tab)

• The Five Balls of Life: A Very Short Story about Balance | Sloww (opens in a new tab)

• Mental Health Foundation (opens in a new tab)

• Guide for teachers | Mental Health Foundation (opens in a new tab)

• NAHT | Education Support (opens in a new tab)

• NASUWT | Wellbeing Tools for Teachers (opens in a new tab)

• NASUWT | Mental Health and Work-related Stress Toolkit (opens in a new tab)

• National Education Union | Mental health and wellbeing (opens in a new tab)