8 Healthy Tips to Stay Alert At School

Whether supervising classroom activities, presenting lessons, marking assignments, or assisting with extra-curricular activities, teaching is a demanding vocation. Coffee might be the go-to for teachers looking for a pick-me-up, but caffeine is a temporary solution that can leave you feeling more tired than you felt before. Use these natural ways to stay energised and engaged at school instead.

1. Get Sufficient Sleep

Ensuring you get sufficient sleep at night can help you feel better during school hours. While most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, your level of activity might mean that you need more sleep than other adults. 

Pay attention to the amount of sleep you get each night and how your body responds. This will help you determine how much sleep you need to feel optimal. 

2. Boost Your Energy with Exercise

Regular exercise has a positive effect on cardiovascular health and raises endorphin levels, resulting in an energy boost that lasts longer than a caffeine buzz. This can also help improve the quality of your sleep, leaving you awake and refreshed for the classroom.

Make sure you do 150 minutes of moderate exercise spread across three or four days every week. This works out to 50 minutes of exercise over three days or just under 40 minutes of exercise over four days. Alternatively, try to exercise for at least 30 minutes every day from Monday to Friday. If you need to exercise in the evenings, make sure you finish a few hours before going to bed.

3. Use Deep Breathing Exercises

Most people breathe shallowly when feeling anxious, stressed, or tired, but deep breathing increases blood oxygen levels, lowers blood pressure, decreases heart rate, and improves circulation, increasing energy and cognitive performance and making you feel more alert.

Google breathing exercises or speak to a yoga teacher about them. Alternatively, perform the following exercise 10 times while sitting up straight:

• Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly, below your ribs.
• Inhale deeply through your nose until your belly pushes your hand out.
• Purse your lips and use the hand on your belly to help push the air out while exhaling.

4. Drink Plenty of Water

Dehydration can leave you feeling irritable and tired, and with the UK’s average daily water consumption being only 759ml, there’s a good chance you’re someone who doesn’t drink enough water every day. It’s recommended that men consume around 3.7 litres of fluids daily, and women 2.7 litres, but reaching that target doesn’t have to be difficult.

Start by bringing a bottle of water to school and sipping it regularly throughout the day. For a little flavour, try adding berries or slices of fruit like lemon. Prefer something warm? Opt for herbal teas that support alertness, such as green tea, ashwagandha, or peppermint. Sweeten them with a little honey if needed, and you’ll stay hydrated while giving your brain a natural boost.

5. Eat Energy-Boosting Healthy Snacks

As with caffeine, a sugary snack might boost your energy, but this is short-lived and is usually followed by lethargy. Instead of tucking into something laden with sugar or eating a couple of large meals in a day, enjoy a small energy-boosting healthy snack every four hours. This can keep you energetic and ready to keep up with your students throughout the day.

Choose nutritious tasty snacks such as a cup of edamame beans, one or two tablespoons of peanut butter spread on slices of apple, a hard-boiled egg, half a cup of roasted chickpeas, a few slices of cheese, or a cup of tuna with some avocado or a mix of roasted nuts and pumpkin seeds.

6. Get a Healthy Dose of Bright Light

Research has found that dim lighting can make you feel tired, while bright light can make you feel more alert, boost your mood, and improve your mental clarity. Make sure that the blinds in your classroom are open when possible, and keep the lights on if it’s a grey day.

Spending time outdoors is a great way to boost your mood. Sunlight helps your brain release serotonin, a hormone that promotes feelings of wellbeing. It also naturally reduces melatonin levels, which are responsible for making you feel sleepy. In addition to helping you feel more awake during your teaching day, exposure to sunlight can help regulate your sleep patterns at night.

7. Stay Active

Sitting for too long is bad for your body and your brain. You can combat this by taking a brisk walk along the corridors, around the playground, or on the sports field. A 10-minute walk helps deliver oxygen to your brain and muscles, increasing alertness, improving your mood, and reducing resting blood pressure, pain, and inflammation. 

Use the following tips if you don’t have a chance to go for a walk between lessons:

• Walk to a quiet place to eat the lunch you brought from home – don’t be tempted to spend your full lunch break in the staff room or at your desk.
• Walk to a nearby restaurant or café if buying lunch.
• Get up from your desk frequently to take short walks, even if only to the end of the corridor and back.

8. Listen to Your Favourite Music

Listening to music can increase alertness. Whether you arrive at school early to prepare for the day, have free periods, or have a gap between lessons, find a few minutes to play your favourite music and let the beat and the pulse get your feet tapping. 

If possible, dance for a few minutes. In addition to providing a few minutes of exercise, dancing can boost your motivation, improve your mood and cognition, enhance overall wellbeing, and reduce symptoms of depression. 

Swap Coffee For Alternatives To Stay Alert All Day

You don’t need to rely on endless cups of coffee to help you stay engaged, and focused while teaching. 

Boost your energy levels and stay focused in the classroom with these simple, natural methods to ensure you can manage your workload and support your students. Your body and brain will feel the difference, and you won’t suffer from the dreaded caffeine crash.