QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #43

Teaching and stress

A recent survey by Optum Research, a Minnesota-based company that studies work-related health risks, found that 88 percent of teachers experience moderate to high levels of stress.

"We've documented at least 50 common symptoms of stress," says Paul J. Rosch, M.D., president of the American Institute of Stress. Headaches, back pain, frequent colds, heartburn, anger, depression, overeating or undereating, and insomnia--all are just a few of the signs that surface before full-blown illnesses like heart disease and hypertension develop.

So can you avoid stress? Sorry, no. But you can manage it. "The most important thing to learn about stress," says Rosch, "is that it's often not the external events that are stressful, but how you perceive them. And perception is entirely under your control."

-------------from http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0401/stressed.html

http://www.scre.ac.uk/resreport/rr109/summary.html

This site gives just a brief overview of the causes and effects of stress in teaching.

http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/0-9/4health/stress/saw_teachers.html

A rather more in-depth look at stress among teachers is offered by this website, along with useful tips for managing stress and a number of updated resources on the topic.

http://www.isma.org.uk/stressnw/teachstress1.htm

This article takes a look at the research on teacher stress, and offers a list of references for further exploration.

http://www.untrammelled.co.uk/teacherstress/index.shtml

This was the most comprehensive site I was able to find, with detailed sections devoted to symptoms of teacher stress, ways of coping, a discussion forum, as well as first-person accounts from teachers describing their own challenges and strategies.