It’s always great to hit the reset button. And what better time to do it than the holiday season? A time to unwind and recharge, with the added bonus of spending time with your loved ones.
With more than 91% of teachers reporting that their job adversely affects their mental health, it seems the perfect time to take a step back and revitalise yourself with a healthy body and mind for the start of the new school term.
Here are some of our tips and ideas to get you back on track over the Christmas period:
Eating and drinking well
How well you eat and drink can determine everything from your energy, your mood, your skin, to your personality. Maintaining that balance between what you need and what you have can be a tricky process for a lot of people, and everyone is different when it comes to their individual intake requirements. However, following some of the generally understood guidelines can help reenergise your body and mind.
Here are a few thoughts:
Is water good for you? – Most experts generally recommend that you drink about 2 litres of water a day. While this may need to increase depending on factors like your level of activity, where you live, the season, and individual requirements, this is the considered minimum that we should be drinking to maintain a healthy body for the day ahead.
Why you should have regular meals
Within the school day, this can be difficult to maintain, especially with homework marking, exam times and the occasional lunchtime detentions to deal with. However, during the times of peace and respite of the holidays, sticking to mealtimes can improve our natural body clocks and increase our metabolisms.
Eating the right things
Everyone has different routines, schedules, preferences, and thoughts when it comes to eating the right things. But making sure you match up what you eat with what you’re doing can also be an important factor in your energy and food intake. Following simple guidelines for healthy eating can ensure that your body is getting the right nutrients for the right activities.
Teaching yourself something new.
You spend all day throughout the week, teaching a new generation, guiding them through the key skills they need in life, but when was the last time you taught yourself something new? Something that interests you, something to renew the vigour of your mind. And it could also be a fun activity to do with the family.
Here’s some inspiration about the kinds of things you could learn over the holidays:
Learning a language
Whether you choose a language you’ve studied before or want one that will challenge you, learning a language can be a way of taking time for yourself while also feeling productive. Looking at case studies like this gives you an idea of how it can help with your own wellbeing. Finding materials from your school’s languages department and speaking to your colleagues is a great place to start.
Arts and crafts for wellbeing
The repetitive action of learning can give you a sense of freedom and disconnect from the every day. Taking the time to create something you have never done before can be a very satisfying venture. Making things for other people is always great, seeing other people enjoying and admiring something you’ve created. Here’s a few ways that crafting can boost your mental health.
The benefits of gardening
Gardening not only improves physical health, but it can also reduce levels of stress and anxiety and increase confidence. Spending time in the open air and in a natural surrounding can be very beneficial. Watching even the easiest plants and herbs growing can be rewarding, especially if you get to use them later.
Improving mental health
Your mental wellbeing needs to be running as smoothly as it can for your body to be able to follow. Staying positive and motivated can help you live a happy life. Some of our thoughts on keeping a health mind include:
Keeping up with your physical fitness
While this is often seen as being solely for your body’s wellbeing, the routines and mental disciplines that come with fitness are often as important to your mental health as your physical health. Walking, jogging, yoga, and other physical exercises can focus your mind or clear your thoughts.
Practicing medication
The art of meditation has been practiced for centuries, helping you let go of stress and feel more calm and peaceful. Centring your thoughts and finding the calm and mindfulness of the present can help ease your mind and maintain a balance between physical and mental.
Finding support for mental wellbeing
There are many charities that deal with mental health and stress-related issues, such as Mind, Young Minds, and the Mental Health Foundation all of which offer support and resources. With the development of technology also comes other solutions, such as Wysa, a mental health chatbot offering evidence-based CBT to offer high quality mental support.
There are many more ways to unwind and refuel your mind and body. What are your best ways of resetting? What will you be getting up to in the holidays? Comment below and share your favourites.
