We talk all the time about the mental, emotional, and perhaps especially financial toll that the teaching profession takes on educators. But amidst those more obvious impacts are a whole set of others that often go unseen and unspoken — the way the job impacts their physical health.
Kelsie Marks is a content creator, former teacher, and co-founder of EducatedExitwhich helps schoolteachers find jobs and careers outside the teaching field, an often daunting task for a group of professionals with such a specialized skillset.
“One thing that myself and the EducatedExit team (have) seen is that teachers are really sticking it out truly as long as they can, and then getting to a breaking point where they say, I can’t do this anymore,” she said in a recent video.
But while the pay and mental health struggles are a frequent reason her clients give for leaving, she said an increasing number of people are citing the physical impacts as their breaking point. “That is not something that is talked about enough,” she said.
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“Teachers, school counselors, school psychologists … are required to be on all day, and while they’re on, they are putting their needs second to their students,” Marks said. That’s part of the job, of course, and a desire to give back is the main reason most educators go into the profession.
But teachers these days are stretched so thin that this “giving” often goes way too far. Not only does it exhaust their energy and their ability to be present in their personal lives, but Marks said teachers often don’t have enough time to eat meals or even to use the bathroom.
Most of the United States is suffering a teacher shortage that is only getting worse, and both class sizes and schedules are becoming ever more untenable. This means teachers’ time is so increasingly monopolized that they don’t even have time for bathroom breaks. It’s such a problem that teachers’ unions have begun fighting on teachers’ behalf about it.
Waiting too long to use the restroom can cause all kinds of health problems, from infections to actual incontinence. It also amplifies the extraordinary stress that teachers are under. And this is only the tip of the iceberg of what teachers are facing.
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Chronic stress causes inflammation, and inflammation can cause myriad ailments, including autoimmune disorders. Unsurprisingly, given the stress levels of the job, teachers have been found to have a disproportionate incidence and mortality from these kinds of diseases due to “occupational exposure.”
A UK study found also found that the excessive levels of stress and burnout among teachers are highly cor with an array of physical health problems that include musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal diseases, somatic issues like headaches, and perhaps most bracing, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis (or HPA axis) dysregulation — the scientific name for the out-of-whack cortisol levels that result from chronic stress and trauma.
HPA axis dysregulation and the dysfunctional levels of cortisol that come with it have been linked to everything from increased risk of heart disease and stroke, immune dysfunction and mental health conditions, to metabolic disorders and an inability to manage weight. Even voice disorders are common.
Essentially, the rigors of the job, the lack of support, and the constant scapegoating and political attacks against teachers are rapidly degrading their bodies along with their mental health. No wonder, then, that teachers are resigning in droves — and 80% are doing so for reasons other than retirement.
As Marks put it, “When we ask an entire profession to put someone else’s needs before their own every single day, and then we pay them poorly … and treat them with disrespect, it should not be a surprise that those individuals are leaving the profession.” Sounds like Marks herself won’t be out of a job any time soon.
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John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
