Teacher Burnout and Student Stress: The Vicious Cycle We Must Break
In the sweet midst of the honeymoon phase that extends off of summer vacation, the beginning of a new school year may seem like a strange time to bring up burnout. What better time to bring it up, though, than when you can still do something about it? And you should do something about it --certainly for yourself, but as research now shows, for your students too.
Higher amongst teachers than people of other professions, burnout is real.
The tell-tale symptoms of emotional exhaustion, alienation from activities, and reduced performance are supplemented with frustration, lack of enthusiasm, cynicism and the like. There’s not yet a singular definition of burnout, so there’s no method of clinical diagnosis …but you know when it’s got you.
When it’s got you, it’s got your students too. A new study out of The University of British Columbia showed that when teachers reported emotional exhaustion and feelings of depersonalization from their students (metrics on the Maslach Burnout Inventory), their students had higher indicators of stress responses.
If you’re curious about how the researchers measured ‘indicators of stress response’ here’s a quick neuroscience lesson:
Cortisol is a steroid hormone naturally produced in the body and released according to light/dark cycles. When in balance with other hormones, it’s part of a healthy functioning human. Levels typically rise within 45 minutes of waking up and slowly lower over the course of the day. You may know cortisol, though, as “the stress hormone.”
That’s because the body releases additional cortisol in response to stressful stimuli. The cortisol then acts on the body to make glucose more available for fight-or-flight, and puts other things like digestion and immune defense on hold for the time being. Evolutionarily speaking, this is good. When you are being chased through the woods by a wolf, you don’t want your stomach sending signals to your brain that say, “Would you slow down a bit, I’m trying to digest here!” Our modern day selves experience a different kind of stress that throws the cortisol system out of whack.
Rather than fleeting life-or-death moments, we have chronic, lower-level, nagging stress that dysregulates our cortisol functioning. When cortisol release is incessant its downstream effects on metabolism, immunity, and nervous system functioning manifest as social, emotional, and behavioral issues. All of that is to say: researchers use levels of cortisol in saliva samples from students to indicate those students’ levels of stress.
Back to the study:
Burnout was assessed in 17 teachers and then cortisol was measured in the saliva of their 406 students. The findings are in line with the theory of stress contagion. Higher levels of burnout amongst the teachers were correlated with higher morning cortisol levels (read: stress) amongst those teachers’ students. So students are vicariously experiencing their teachers’ lack of support in the workplace, lack of resources, time pressure, and challenging relationships. Then, those students’ resulting troublesome behavior feeds back into their teacher’s experience, causing a cyclical “burnout cascade”. Whether it’s the chicken (teacher burnout) or the egg (student stress) is not the issue at hand. “Preventing teacher burnout and promoting well-being among teachers by offering the necessary support, resources, and professional development opportunities” (Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016) is what the study emphasizes, and is what The Whole Teacher is here to help with.
Your own self-care can interrupt the burnout-stress cycle, regaining your emotional strength and the well-being of your classroom. Practice yoga and learn how to use essential oils to bring about balance and ward off burnout. Your students will vicariously experience your inner wellbeing, and your classroom culture will thrive.
Alica Diehl
Alica Diehl is a kitchen experimentalist, food nerd, and healthy lifestyle crusader. She appreciates how health varies from person to person, so she explores and shares many different means of healthy eating, exercise, and mental/emotional wellness. She began her career as a HealthCorps Coordinator at Patterson High School in Baltimore, and is now the Community Programs Coordinator at the Institute for Integrative Health. Throughout her career she has developed several programs and events to inspire and motivate others to foster their own personal thriving. Alica is currently pursuing a Culinary Nutrition Expert certification to expand her knowledge and illuminate new opportunities. She personally believes in the importance of local food systems and seasonal eating, the support of community, and the power of food in building relationships.
