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Names: Boogren, Tina, author.
Title: 180 days of physical wellness for busy educators / Tina Boogren.
Other titles: One hundred eighty days of physical wellness for busy educators
Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Solution Tree Press
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This one goes out to my group fitness squad. Every single day, you inspire me beyond words; thank you for keeping your hands on one another’s backs and for supporting each other (and me) in such beautiful ways. When I started this group, I had no idea how essential it would be to reaching my own goals and supporting my physical wellness. I am so grateful for each and every one of you.
Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:
Tonya Alexander English Teacher (NBCT) Owego Free Academy Owego, New York
Lindsey Bingley Literacy and Numeracy Lead Foothills Academy Society Calgary, Alberta, Canada
John D. Ewald Education Consultant Frederick, Maryland
Lauren Smith Assistant Director of Elementary Learning Noblesville Schools Noblesville, Indiana
Rachel Swearengin Fifth-Grade Teacher Manchester Park Elementary Lenexa, Kansas
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness to download the free reproducibles in this book.
About the Author
CHAPTER 2
Second Nine Weeks
CHAPTER 3 Your Third Nine Weeks
CHAPTER 4 Your Fourth Nine Weeks
abouT The auThor
Tina H. Boogren, PhD, is a fierce advocate for educators and an award-winning educator, best-selling author, and highly sought-after speaker. Dr. Boogren has proudly served as a classroom teacher, mentor, instructional coach, and buildinglevel leader and presented for audiences all over the world.
Dr. Boogren is deeply committed to supporting educators so that they can support their students. She conducts highly requested and inspiring keynotes, workshops, and virtual webinars that focus on quality instruction, coaching, mentoring, and educator wellness, and she hosts a weekly podcast, Self-Care for Educators With Dr. Tina H. Boogren. Additionally, she is codirector of Solution Tree’s Wellness Solutions for Educators with Dr. Timothy D. Kanold.
Dr. Boogren was a 2007 finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year and was a recipient of her school district’s Outstanding Teacher Award eight years in a row, from 2002 to 2009. She has been recognized as number five of the Top 30 Global Gurus in Education, is a Marquis Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who of Professional Women recipient, and was recognized in The Wall Street Journal among the Who’s Who of Distinguished Leaders.
She is the author of numerous books, including In the First Few Years: Reflections of a Beginning Teacher; Supporting Beginning Teachers; The Beginning Teacher’s Field Guide: Embarking on Your First Years; 180 Days of Self-Care for Busy Educators; Take Time for You: Self-Care Action Plans for Educators, which was an Independent Publisher Book Awards’ gold winner in the Education category; and Coaching for Educator Wellness: A Guide to Supporting New and Experienced Teachers. She is coauthor of Educator Wellness: A Guide for Sustaining Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Social Well-Being with Timothy D. Kanold; The Educator Wellness Plan Book and Journal with Timothy D. Kanold and Jasmine K. Kullar; and Motivating and Inspiring Students: Strategies to Awaken the Learner with Robert J. Marzano, Darrell Scott, and Ming Lee Newcomb.
She is a contributor to Women Who Lead: Insights, Inspiration, and Guidance to Grow as an Educator, edited by Janel Keating and Jasmine K. Kullar.
Dr. Boogren holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, a master’s degree with an administrative endorsement from the University of Colorado Denver, and a doctorate in educational administration and policy studies from the University of Denver. Additionally, she is a Level 1 Certified nutrition coach and a specialist in change psychology through Precision Nutrition. She holds a women’s coaching specialist certification through Girls Gone Strong and is currently pursuing personal training certification through the National Council on Strength and Fitness.
To learn more about Dr. Boogren’s work, follow her @THBoogren on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram, join her Facebook group (www.facebook.com/ selfcareforeducators), and listen to her podcast, Self-Care for Educators With Dr. Tina H.Boogren (www.selfcareforeducators.com).
To book Tina H. Boogren for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.
Introduction
Welcome. I am so glad that you are here. If we haven’t yet met, the most important thing to know about me is that I am a fierce advocate for you . What keeps me awake at night is this nagging question: Who’s taking care of the educators? I am not worried about you taking care of students; in fact, you do that so well you’re nearing burnout (or at least feeling a bit singed at various points throughout the year). When I ask educators how they most frequently feel, emotionally, during the school year, the most common response by far is overwhelmed. Between February 2020 and May 2022, over 300,000 public school workers in the United States quit their jobs due to burnout (Craft, 2024). My greatest hope in the work that I do and the books that I write is this: helping educators not merely survive but actually thrive—for the sake of their students, their families, their colleagues, and themselves—in order to increase both student achievement and teacher retention rates. Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones who aren’t feeling burned-out or singed right now. If so, yay! Let’s work to keep you that way.
The other thing to know is that I’m walking this road beside you as your friend and colleague. I am certainly not standing at the pinnacle of some imaginary mountain, declaring I have this all figured out and you should listen to me because of that. No, no; I’m walking right beside you, with my hand gently placed on your back, trying to figure out this wellness thing day by day, strategy by strategy, and habit by habit, on good days and tough ones, too. We’re in this together. As a self-proclaimed research nerd, I continually scour the latest research, looking for the smallest, most doable data-backed strategies that could help us live our best lives without an intimidating amount of effort or change (we’re too busy as it is). I work hard to translate that research into actionable steps we can try together to see whether they work for us.
Here’s what I know for certain: self-care can’t be another thing we add to our daunting to-do lists. As educators, we know these to-do lists are typically too long already, and when we can’t cross off all the things, we feel guilt or shame, and our
sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem can take a major hit. I want to help us end this cycle. Instead, let’s think about the lowest-hanging fruit or the smallest baby step that we can take to start moving forward. Remember, forward is a pace, and it’s what can help us make lasting change.
What This Book Is About
In our book Educator Wellness: A Guide for Sustaining Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Social Well-Being, Timothy D. Kanold and I offer four distinct dimensions of wellness for educators to focus on as they design and write their own wellness stories: (1) physical, (2) mental, (3) emotional, and (4) social (Kanold & Boogren, 2022). While all four dimensions are equally essential, educators often ask us the question, “Where do I begin?” Without hesitation, both Tim and I reply that they must start with physical wellness. Why? Because when we feel better, we are better. Stated differently, when we feel better, we act better. Our physical wellness is our foundation. It’s also the first, most foundational level of Abraham Maslow’s (1943, 1954) hierarchy of needs. It’s essential that we solidify this dimension as much as we can before we move to our mental, emotional, and social wellness (while also acknowledging that this area’s needs impact those others). Additionally, this is the area where many people want to make some changes. For 2024, the top New Year’s resolutions in the United States, after saving more money (59 percent), were exercising more (50 percent), eating healthier (47 percent), and losing weight (35 percent; Fleck, 2023).
Although some weight-loss diets can help you lose weight initially, they typically don’t work over the long run; in fact, a study published in the National Library of Medicine suggests that many of the most popular diets don’t work for the majority of people (Shmerling, 2020). The truth is, there is no singular approach to our physical wellness—we are all different. What works for your best friend or partner may not work for you, and vice versa. Instead of focusing on how we look, we should aim to feel good. This text specifically focuses on our physical wellness, which includes the habits of food, hydration, movement, sleep, and rest we engage in. Since I started studying and researching self-care and
wellness strategies in 2017, I’ve learned how vital our physical wellness is as the foundation for everything else related to our personal well-being. The mind-body connection is well established in books such as The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (van der Kolk, 2014), and research is the basis:
Physical ailments can provoke or intensify mental health issues, and the reverse is also true. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart diseases, or obesity may increase susceptibility to depression and anxiety, while mental health struggles can precipitate physical problems, with stress leading the charge, causing hypertension, sleep disturbances, and immune system weakening. (Maddix, 2024)
Consider how when we are very hungry, totally exhausted, or not paying attention to our bodies and only living in our minds, we are not our best selves. We may be grouchy or angry (this is where that oh-so-relatable term hangry comes from), irritable, or quick to react (rather than thoughtfully respond), and this negatively manifests itself in the ways we interact with our students, colleagues, family members, and friends; the world around us; and even ourselves. Hence the statement I shared earlier: when we feel better, we act better. In fact, we now know that what we eat is important to more than just our physical bodies. Food also has a profound impact on our mood and mental well-being. More and more evidence points to the fact that a poor diet can contribute to anxiety, depression, and other neuropsychiatric conditions (Adan et al., 2019).
Reflect on what happens to your day when your physical wellness needs are not met. Perhaps you didn’t get enough sleep, or maybe you’re surviving on mainly caffeine and sugar. Most likely, your interactions with others aren’t as optimal as when you’re crushing your physical wellness by getting enough sleep, moving your body, and eating in ways that support your overall health and well-being. Additionally, you might not make great decisions or choices when you take poor care of your physical wellness because you’re not in the best frame of mind.
For us, as educators, physical wellness really matters. Our profession requires high energy (no matter what your specific role is). Students and colleagues need our energy, and our jobs are
demanding. Not having that wellness comes with a price, as education experts Angel Montoya and Laura Lee Summers (2021) state:
Educators who have a depleted sense of physical wellness are more susceptible to physical and mental illness, which has a direct influence on attendance, relationships, and capacity to serve students. In turn, this can have a negative impact on other educators and their ability to serve students.
This book is meant to provide a lifeline for educators as they work to take care of their own physical wellness. It might be considered a follow-up to the book 180 Days of Self-Care for Busy Educators (Boogren, 2020), which has become the best-selling, most beloved title of any that I’ve written. But this is also a totally new text; you do not need to read the previous text to understand this one.
When I ask readers about the appeal of that original text, they cite the bite-size strategies that feel manageable. They love that they only have to tackle one strategy, one week at a time, and that they can do the work completely on their own, with a partner, or with a team. They like that there’s research to support each weekly invitation— but not too much. Finally, they like that the book makes for a great companion to my podcast, Self-Care for Educators With Dr. Tina H. Boogren. In preparing to tackle this text, I listened to all these comments and worked to ensure this book follows that same format with fresh strategies and a slightly different perspective to reflect how my thinking has changed since I wrote the original.
If you read the previous book, I hope you’ll be pleased with this book’s new strategies, its updated format, and its purposeful focus on physical wellness. If you’re new to my work, this is the perfect place to start—I’m so glad you’re here!
How This Book Is Organized
This isn’t a book that you sit down to read cover to cover. Instead, this is a resource that you work through slowly, one week at a time. Over the course of 180 days (the length of a typical school year), I’m going to invite you to experiment with thirty-six different physical wellness strategies—one per week. Each week, I’ll start with a quick description or overview of the strategy, provide a brief synopsis of
the research behind the strategy, and offer up an invitation as to how you might implement the strategy for the week—including a way to dial it up (do more) or dial it down (do less), depending on how you’re feeling. And when appropriate, I provide a way to track your progress and then offer end-of-week reflection questions to help you determine if the strategy worked for you. That way, you can decide whether you want to keep going with it or you want to let it go.
When we practice small, simple actions consistently, we actually make big changes. In fact, as James Clear (2018) so brilliantly explains in the book Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, if we take action to get just 1 percent better every day for a year, we’ll be thirty-seven times better by the time the year is over. How amazing is that! And how welcoming! What most of us do is the opposite. We wait until we feel awful, and then we make a declaration that goes something like this: Starting Monday . . . Rather than taking the “1 percent better every day” approach, we think too big, making wild claims like, Starting Monday, I’m going to go to bed by 9:00 p.m. every day, give up sugar forever, and work out an hour a day, five days a week. And maybe for a few days we’re able to fulfill those claims, but invariably, they’re too much, we’re too tired, and we can’t keep all of them going, so we quit and end up feeling even worse about ourselves. This book helps us break this cycle by nudging us toward small changes. We can do this!
Our goal is progress, not perfection. This is precisely why you’ll see three options for change each week: (1) the invitation itself, (2)a way to dial it up (do more; this can be helpful if you already utilize the strategy), and (3) a way to dial it down (do less; this keeps you moving rather than stopping altogether). Embrace allor-something thinking rather than all-or-nothing thinking. Rather than giving up if we can’t do something perfectly, let’s shift to doing something, which keeps us going forward instead of stalling or getting stuck. Commit to doing something each week. Some weeks, you may do more, and other weeks, you’ll invariably need to do less, but by doing something, you’re making progress, and that’s our goal.
While it makes intuitive sense to start the book at the start of the school year, that isn’t at all necessary. You can jump into this text anytime, anywhere. Consider week one your week one. Work through the weeks until you reach summer, and then decide whether you want to keep going with new invitations or stick with
just the strategies you’ve already established. If you do pause, keep working toward the habits you’ve started; then you can jump back in where you left off when the new school year starts.
For organizational purposes, I have divided the text into four chapters—with the chapters each containing nine weeks (similar to the four quarters of a school year). Tackling just one aspect of physical wellness for nine full weeks can feel daunting. Instead, you tackle different aspects—general physical wellness strategies, food and hydration strategies, movement strategies, and sleep and rest strategies—moving from one aspect to another each week. That is because physical wellness depends on all these conditions, and this allows for a more balanced approach. Note that I am not a medical expert. While each strategy is research based, if you feel that any of them is not right for your body or mental state, you should immediately seek advice from a medical professional.
Table I.1 lists all the strategies presented in this text in relation to their physical wellness categories.
If you’re more of a go-with-the-flow type, just jump in anywhere. Let fate be your guide as you engage with whatever week you happen to land on when you open the book. The strategies are meant to stand alone, and while I tried to put them in an intuitive order (tracking your sleep comes before removing electronics from your bedroom), it is not imperative that you follow the order exactly. Additionally, you can do this completely on your own or with a team or even as an entire school or district—there’s power in each method.
The idea of playing with various strategies stems from an understanding that different strategies work for different people. We are all in different seasons of our lives, and our needs and goals change throughout our lifetimes. Consider how those with young children at home may use different skills than those who live alone or are empty nesters. This isn’t about comparing or competing. This is about considering our own limitations, experiences, and abilities in order to live our best unique lives.
Who This Book Is For
This book is for all educators—that is, anyone who works in a school setting, so teachers, administrators, counselors, paraprofessionals, office staff, district staff, and more. (This book is for
TABLE I.1: Strategies by Category
General Physical Wellness Strategies
Take a five-minute action.
Food and Hydration Strategies Movement Strategies Sleep and Rest Strategies
Take a mealtime intermission.
Identify and record how you want to feel.
Create a physical wellness vision board.
Choose and use a physical wellness slogan.
Schedule doctor visits.
Distinguish appetite from hunger at dinner.
Try food in mouth, fork on plate (FIMFOP).
Eat without distractions.
Schedule physical movement in your calendar (and do the movement).
Try a new way to move.
Track your sleep.
Create a bedtime routine.
Create and use a movement playlist.
Stay active throughout the day.
Eat only what you bring.
Use a pairing strategy.
Limit sleepaltering substances.
Tackle revenge bedtime procrastination.
Rest after work.
Find an accountability partner.
Find inspiration on social media.
Connect what you eat with how you feel.
Use the hungerfullness scale to stop eating when satisfied.
Aim for 50,000 steps this week. Take electronics out of the bedroom.
Make your movement social. Get (sunscreenprotected) sunlight.
Use a physical wellness app.
Stay hydrated. Incorporate stretching.
Take a two-minute break during the school day.
Celebrate your progress.
Add a vegetable. Strength-train. Experiment with sensory rest.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this table.
everyone, really, but my passion is supporting educators specifically, since I am one, too.)
And what do teachers’ physiologies have to say about their current wellness? In a systematic review, teachers were found at risk of many negative physical health consequences, including headaches, illnesses, high cortisol levels, and inflammation, and the “high levels of burnout in the teaching profession may be one of the reasons why this is the case” (Madigan, Kim, Glandorf, & Kavanagh, 2023). This review also uncovered that, given the strong associations between healthier dietary intake and reduced chronic disease risk (Noce, Romani, & Bernini, 2021), interventions to improve teachers’ dietary behaviors are warranted, as they may benefit both teachers’ and students’ health-related behaviors.
It’s important that I be very clear here: this is not a diet book. Nor is this a book about shame or guilt. I will not tell you what to eat or make you feel bad about your choices. You are perfect, exactly as you are.
Let me say that again: you are perfect.
You are not something to be “fixed.” My aim is to help you feel better. When we feel better, we are better—better teachers, leaders, parents, friends, and members of society—better to ourselves . I want you to feel better than you’ve ever felt before, no matter your age or your current nutrition and fitness levels. This isn’t a journey of comparison. This is a journey toward living your own best life every single day and getting there in a way that is doable, fun, and ultimately sustainable.
A Baseline Before We Begin
Take a moment to consider your current physical wellness. In figure I.1, rate how you physically feel on a scale of 1 (unwell) to 5 (well). Also, include why you chose that rating. As best you can, try to do this without judgment; no matter where you currently are is OK. If it works for you, feel my hand on your back as you take this moment to really check in with yourself.
Are you ready? Take a deep breath. Let’s do this together!
How do you physically feel right now on a scale of 1 (unwell) to 5 (well)?
What are your current wins in any of the physical wellness categories?
Food
Hydration
Movement
Sleep
Rest
What are your current challenges in any of the physical wellness categories?
Food
Hydration
Movement
Sleep
Rest
What is your greatest hope in doing this work? Where would you like to be one year from now?
FIGURE I.1: Establishing a physical wellness baseline . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Your First Nine Weeks
Welcome. This is where it all begins. Consider this your fresh start. I couldn’t be prouder of you. You’re here, and you’re ready—even if you feel a bit shaky right now. You are ready. Just turn the page and begin. That’s all you have to do. Remember, you always have the option to dial a strategy down (if you start to feel overwhelmed) or dial it up (if you’re on a roll). You’re in charge here. If you feel ready, it’s time. Let’s go!
If, however, you feel hesitant to turn the page, I see you, and I understand. In fact, the act of starting can be the hardest part. Embarking on new habits requires time, and I don’t know of many educators who feel like they have abundant extra time at their disposal throughout the year. According to the American Heart Association (2024), realities of our daily lives—work, family—can get in the way of our best intentions.
Perhaps it’s not time that’s making it hard for you to start. For many of us, there’s a mental aspect to overcome as well. Perhaps you’ve never thought of yourself as an athletic person and the term physical wellness brings back all sorts of painful gym class memories. Or maybe you feel intimidated by the term because you’ve always considered your own wellness less important than the needs of your family and students. Or maybe you tried to make changes before, but they didn’t stick, so you’re unsure if this time will really be different. Again, I see you. I want you to take a deep breath and feel my hand on your back, supporting you as you do this hard thing. I’ve got you. I’m going to be right beside you for this entire journey, nudging you toward your very best life.
The only way to fail here is not to turn the page. You can do it. Just turn the page and start—one week and one invitation at a time.
Week One: Take a Five-Minute Action
This week is all about the jump start. It’s about putting your foot on the gas pedal—but gently. Often, getting started is the hardest part. Typically, we know what we want to do, but actually doing that thing can feel impossible. So, let’s conquer that obstacle and hit Start. It’s go time.
The progress principle states, “Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work” (Amabile & Kramer, 2011). There’s no more meaningful work than your physical wellness, so let’s put this research into action— gently and quickly—five minutes at a time. The five-minute action acts as your secret weapon. This week, you’re simply going to do something related to your physical wellness (which includes your food choices, hydration, movement, sleep, and rest), and you’re only going to need five minutes of the day to do it. You’re proving to yourself that you can do this. This small start is the first step in creating lasting change (Clear, n.d.; Fogg, 2020).
This week’s invitation: Each day this workweek, take one fiveminute action related to your physical wellness. These examples can get you started.
• Prepare fresh vegetables so they’re in the fridge and ready to eat.
• Establish an evening ritual that helps prime you for restful sleep.
• Breathe or meditate.
• Take a short walk (first thing in the morning, at lunch, after school, or in the evening).
• Begin your day by drinking a cup of warm lemon water.
• Take your supplements and medications as prescribed.
• Fill up your water bottle, drink from it, and then keep doing that throughout the day.
• Work out. (Think push-ups, triceps dips, or squats.)
• Stretch, use a foam roller, or practice yoga.
• Begin a gratitude journal, and in it, write five things about your physical self that you are grateful for at the start or end of your day.
• Sit in silence.
• Step outside and get some fresh air.
• Have a healthy snack.
• Dance.
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Do two or three five-minute actions in one day; extend the five minutes to ten minutes (or longer); or extend this invitation to the weekend as well as the workweek.
• Dial it down: Reduce the number of days that you try this strategy (just a few days this week rather than every day) or opt for two minutes rather than five.
Record each action you took and any notes or thoughts you want to remember in figure 1.1 (page 14). What did you do? How long did it take?
MONDAY TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
FIGURE 1.1: Week one accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you incorporate a five-minute action this week? If not, why not?
If you tried more than one five-minute action, which was your favorite and why?
How did taking a five-minute action make you feel? What difference did you notice in your body?
Did you extend the time spent on an action once you began? If so, why?
Do you plan to continue to take five-minute actions? Why? What actions will you take, and how will you incorporate them into your daily routine?
Week Two: Take a Mealtime Intermission
How often do you scarf down your food while doing other things—answering emails, grading papers, making copies, or driving, for example? Most of us do this often, if not the majority of the time.
Howard E. LeWine (2013), chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing, points out that when we multitask while eating, we tend to eat more than we need. When we instead take a mealtime intermission, we’re better able to recognize when we’re satisfied (LeWine, 2013). It takes about twenty minutes or so for our brain to get the signal that we’ve had enough to eat (Zelman, n.d.), so the mealtime intermission helps us stay connected to our body rather than eating in record time without enjoying or noticing our meal.
This week’s invitation: Slow down while eating one meal this week.
Most likely, you’ve heard the advice to slow down while eating, but how exactly do you do that? Well, a mealtime intermission is exactly what it sounds like and helps you slow down. When you’re about halfway done with your meal, simply stop for at least one minute (longer, if you can) before you start eating again. You may not be at the twenty-minute mark exactly, but you’re at least allowing yourself time to pause and thus slowing down your mealtime. Doing this allows you to stay connected to your body so you can feel whether you are satisfied and can stop eating or if you want to continue with the second half. Many of us spend our days only in our heads and may forget that we even have a body. When we slow down and pause for a minute or longer, we can shift our attention to how our body feels in that moment. For example, we can start to consider if our stomach feels full. Has our body registered that we’ve eaten something? Do we feel satisfied enough to stop eating, or are we still hungry enough to keep going? It can take time to get back into our body and out of our head, but this gets easier with practice.
For one meal of your day, after you sit down to eat, make a mental note of the halfway point in your food. When you reach
that point, put down your utensils (or the food) and simply pause for one full minute (longer, if you’d like). Don’t do anything else during this time (don’t read or watch anything). Simply sit and take stock of how you’re feeling in your body and whether your hunger is satisfied and you want to stop eating or you’re ready for more.
To remember to do this, give yourself a visual cue. For example, you can organize your food on your plate with some empty space down the middle, or you can even use multiple plates (make your side salad in a separate bowl, for example) so you’re cued to pause between plates.
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Do this for every meal and every snack each day, even when you’re eating with others or out at a restaurant; extend this strategy to the weekend. You might also consider what you thought about during each intermission you took, how many times you chose to stop eating halfway through a meal (or before you cleaned your plate), and if you are eating enough to stay satisfied until your next meal.
• Dial it down: It may feel more doable to do this at lunch or dinner, or perhaps at every meal but only one or two days this week rather than every day.
Use figure 1.2 (page 18) to keep track of how many times you took a mealtime intermission each day this week.
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
Breakfast Intermission Total Lunch Intermission Total Snack Intermission Total Dinner Intermission Total
FIGURE 1.2: Week two accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you incorporate the mealtime intermission this week? If not, why not?
How did you help yourself remember to take a mealtime intermission?
How did taking a mealtime intermission make you feel? What difference did you notice in your body?
Do you plan to continue to take a mealtime intermission? If so, how will you keep yourself accountable?
Week Three: Schedule Physical Movement in Your Calendar (and
Do the
Movement)
Physical movement is pivotal to our overall health—physical and mental. Consider the simplest connections that “depression and anxiety appear to be influenced by physical exercise” and that “physical activity [is] shown to help with sleep” (Mahindru, Patil, & Agrawal, 2023), which is another cornerstone of wellness.
If something is important, it goes on our calendar. Things like doctor appointments, games, matches, performances, vacations, and meetings are important items that typically make the calendar because, if they’re not there, we can easily miss them. Physical movement is as important as our other obligations, so we’re going to schedule it. This signals to our brain that it is a priority. If we wait until we have the time for physical movement, we may never actually find that time. Instead, when we schedule our movement, we force ourselves to make the time.
By scheduling your movement, you’re setting yourself up for consistency and, thus, working toward establishing a new habit of incorporating movement into your week on a consistent basis. Making an exercise schedule is an excellent way to jump-start your movement and make it last. The general recommendation for exercise—movement—is at least 150 minutes per week (Semeco, 2023), which breaks down to about twenty minutes each day of the week. The good news here is that you can make this work for you. If twenty minutes a day feels good, do that; if longer sessions on the weekends feels better, do that. Remember, you can always dial this up or down as needed.
This week’s invitation: Grab your calendar and start scheduling your movement for the week.
Decide three things: (1) when you will start, (2) when you will end (aim for 150 minutes per week), and (3) what you will do during that time. You can get specific—identify a specific class you will take, for example—or keep it general—decide on stretching, cardio, strength training, or the like.
Stretching can include something formal, like doing yoga, or informal, like getting down on your living room floor and slowly reaching for your toes. Cardiovascular work can include a formal Zumba class or an informal jog around your neighborhood. Strength training can include formal workouts on machines with a personal trainer or informal weight work with small dumbbells on your patio. Exercises such as Pilates or barre work can include all three of those focuses.
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Aim for more than 150 minutes if you’re already engaged in a movement routine and are ready to kick it up a notch. You might also plan each type of movement you’ll do, how long you’ll do it, and what type of movement each session will include.
• Dial it down: Just do this for one day this week, or simply mark off a ten-, twenty-, or thirty-minute block of time, even if you don’t know what your movement will be. While the recommendation is for 150 minutes per week, it’s OK to build up to this. Start where you are and build up minutes slowly.
Use figure 1.3 (page 22) to keep track of how many times you scheduled and completed your movement each day this week. Put a check mark in the Planned Movement column for the days that you planned to move your body this week. If you did your planned movement, place a check mark in the Executed Movement column. Record any notes you have and need to consider, especially if you’re dialing it up this week, in the Thoughts column.
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
FIGURE 1.3: Week three accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you schedule physical movement in your calendar this week? If not, why not? Did you follow through with your scheduled movement? If not, why not?
Did you encounter any obstacles or challenges in following through with your scheduled movement? If so, how did you overcome them?
What difference did you notice in your body if you followed through with your scheduled movement?
Do you plan to use this strategy in the future? If so, why, how, and when?
Week Four: Track Your Sleep
Sleep is an essential component of our physical wellness. Consider, for example, that insufficient sleep can lead to “heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression” (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2022). On a smaller scale, we recognize how different we feel when we get a good night’s sleep versus when we don’t. Sleep impacts not only how we feel physically but also our mood and emotions. That is why it’s extremely important that we work on our sleep habits.
Yet sleep is often one of the most challenging choices to tackle. So many factors can impact the ability to sleep—including technology, disruptions, blue light, anxiety, temperature, and inconsistent schedules. Before you can make improvements, it helps to know what your baseline is. Are you getting the recommended seven to nine hours each night (WebMD Editorial Contributors, 2022)? This week, we’re going to find out. We need to know where we currently stand before adjusting or improving our sleep habits.
This week’s invitation: Record what time you go to bed and what time you wake up.
This is actual sleep time—not time spent reading or scrolling on your device while in bed. Keep a notebook by your bed. When you’re ready to close your eyes, jot down the time. In the morning, record what time you wake up in order to see how much time you’re actually sleeping each night this week. If you’re awake for longer than fifteen minutes, note it. If you have a wearable fitness device, pay attention to the data.
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Keep track of your sleep on the weekend, too, and also make a note of when and how your sleep gets interrupted and for how long.
• Dial it down: Just track one or two nights of sleep this week.
Use figure 1.4 to record what time you went to sleep and what time you woke up each day this week. You might also record notes as needed. For example, if you woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep, make a note of it.
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
FIGURE 1.4: Week four accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you track your sleep this week? If not, why not?
Were you surprised by the number of hours you slept each night? If so, how so?
Did you encounter any obstacles or challenges in tracking your sleep this week? If so, how did you overcome them?
How did it feel to track your sleep? How did it feel to reflect on your baseline sleep data?
If you got more sleep this week, what difference did you notice in your body?
Do you plan to continue tracking your sleep in the future? If so, why, how, and when?
Week Five: Identify and Record How You Want to Feel
When it comes to physical wellness, we often think about how we look. We may focus on the number on the scale or our clothing size, but this can leave us feeling defeated or frustrated, and not help us cultivate or sustain healthy habits. And that’s not the goal of this work or this text, and it isn’t what we want to focus on right now. For us, physical wellness is about how we feel. I’m not here to tell you what to eat, or to present a specific workout plan; I’m here to help you feel amazing. Trust me when I say this is a powerful change in mindset. When I made this shift myself, everything changed for the better. Rather than letting the number on the scale dictate my mood or constantly chasing a number, I got intentional about how I wanted to feel and made decisions to support those desired feelings. I encourage you to actually write down how you want to feel, since when you write something, you have a much better chance of remembering and acting on it (Murphy, 2018).
This week’s invitation: Identify and record how you want to feel.
This week is a bit different from our previous weeks, which should feel like a nice break. Rather than tracking your progress on a specific task, you’re going to spend this week getting really clear on how exactly you want to feel.
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Perhaps you wish to consider how you want to feel in various places—at work, at home, in the gym, and so on. You might record how you want to feel on sticky notes and place the notes in locations to remind yourself of your intentions. You might also take a bit of time to consider why you want to feel this way and why you might have different goals for different areas of your life.
• Dial it down: Just do this—take one minute to look at figure 1.5 (page 29) and choose the word that feels the most suitable to you. Do it right now, record it here, and be done with it.
You might use figure 1.5 to get clarity on how you want to feel when it comes to your physical wellness—simply circle the word or words that feel right for you and your journey. Once you’ve identified how you want to feel, record why you want to feel this way.
FIGURE
Reflect on the Week
Did you identify how you want to feel this week? If not, why not?
Was it challenging to shift your focus from how you look to how you feel? If so, how so?
Did you encounter any obstacles or challenges in identifying how you want to feel? If so, how did you overcome them?
What differences did you notice in your body as you began to focus on how you want to feel?
Do you plan to keep these feelings in the forefront of your mind as you move through the rest of this book? If so, how will you do this?
Week
Six:
Distinguish Appetite From Hunger at Dinner
Appetite and hunger are not the same thing, but most of us don’t realize this. Appetite is wanting to eat; hunger is needing to eat. Our appetite gets stimulated when we smell food or see it, even though we may not truly be hungry. For example, when doughnuts suddenly appear in the staff lounge, our appetite kicks in, even though we just had breakfast and aren’t actually hungry. Or when we walk past the cinnamon roll place at the airport or the mall, that delicious smell tricks us into thinking we must have one even though we’re not hungry.
Hunger, on the other hand, is about needing food. We might feel our stomach start to growl or feel a headache coming on, or we might even get shaky and lightheaded—these are all physical signs that our body needs food.
Hunger is the sensation we feel when we need to consume food, while appetite is the desire to eat certain foods (Northwestern Medicine, 2021). To decipher between appetite and hunger, you must tune in to your body to recognize the signals your body sends when you need to eat versus when you simply want to eat, and that’s exactly what we’re going to tackle this week.
This week’s invitation: Try to eat dinner (or one of your meals) only when you’re truly hungry.
Use the following scale to pay attention to your hunger (Borrelli & Wong-Shing, 2022). Aim to eat when you’re between level 1 (hungry) and level 2 (mildly hungry).
• 0: Too hungry—You’re experiencing hunger pangs, salivation, irritability, and lack of concentration.
• 1: Hungry—Your stomach starts rumbling, and the urge to eat becomes too strong to ignore.
• 2: Mildly hungry—Thoughts about food start to creep in, and the body starts giving signals that it needs food.
• 3: Satisfied—Your stomach feels full, and the body starts signaling that it doesn’t need more food.
• 4: Full—Your stomach feels stretched, indicating you ate too much.
• 5: Overfull—Your stomach starts to ache, and you feel uncomfortable, heavy, tired, and bloated.
To enjoy your food and eat comfortably, aim to have your meal when you are between 1 and 2 on this scale, and stop as soon as you reach level 3. For many of us, recognizing where we are on the scale will take time; we may have spent years disconnecting from our own bodies and instead passed the majority of our days in our minds. Begin by paying attention to how your body feels when you’re truly hungry. For me, my stomach starts growling, a headache starts coming on, and my mood begins to plummet. You may discover that you have difficulty focusing or feel shaky when you’re truly hungry (Penn Medicine, 2020).
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Do this for every meal or snack, including during the weekend, or work to consistently stop at level 3, when you’re satisfied, for most meals this week.
• Dial it down: Just try this one day, one time.
Use figure 1.6 to record your level of hunger prior to eating dinner (or whatever meal you chose) and any physical sensations you noticed, and make note of anything you found interesting or want to remember.
Level of Hunger Prior to Eating Physical Sensations Thoughts MONDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
FIGURE 1.6: Week six accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you eat dinner (or whatever meal you chose) when you were actually hungry this week? If not, why not?
Was it challenging to identify your hunger level before, while, and after eating? If so, how so?
Did you encounter any obstacles or challenges in eating dinner when you were at a level 1 or 2? If so, how did you overcome them?
Do you plan to keep working on eating only or mainly when you’re hungry? If so, how?
How often were you able to stop eating when you were satisfied, at level 3? What was different about the days or times when you were able to stop when satisfied instead of eating more than you needed?
What difference did you notice in your body as you focused on your hunger level?
Week Seven:
Try a New Way to Move
We tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to movement. We go the same route on our evening walk or take the same cycling class each week. There is comfort in the familiar, yet it’s sometimes good to shake things up. In fact, if you do the same activity over and over again, your body gets used to it and becomes very efficient, which means that you burn fewer calories even though you’re doing the same amount of exercise (Wadyka, 2018). When we push ourselves out of our comfort zone, we may discover something new and wonderful—a new park to walk to, a new fitness instructor who motivates us in new ways, or maybe even an entirely new activity or sport. (Hello, pickleball!) We won’t know if we like something unless we give it a shot. That’s what this week’s invitation is all about.
This week’s invitation: Mix things up with your activity.
Maybe this is the nudge you need to try a spin or yoga class (most studios offer new members a free class) or to push yourself to jog for a few minutes during your evening walk (which research shows can help prevent diabetes, since it regulates blood sugar; Moghetti et al., 2020).
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Try two or more activities this week— maybe even a different activity each day this week!
• Dial it down: If you typically engage in an activity like walking, running, or biking, consider how you might tweak your typical routine. For example, do you usually walk or run only on the treadmill? Do it outside this week. Do you always ride the same route on your bike? Try a new one this week or go the opposite way.
Use figure 1.7 (page 36) to record how you mixed things up this week. What did you do? Did you enjoy it? Would you do it again?
What I Did
MONDAY TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
I Liked It (Yes or No)
I Would Do It Again (Yes or No)
FIGURE 1.7: Week seven accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you try a new way to move this week? If not, why not?
How did it feel to mix things up? What difference did you notice in your body?
Did you encounter any obstacles or challenges in trying something new? If so, how did you overcome them?
Do you plan to keep trying new ways to move? Why or why not?
Week Eight: Create a Bedtime Routine
A bedtime routine is essential for ensuring a good night’s sleep. Most of us already have a bedtime routine, but it may not be resulting in the quality, consistent sleep we need. What we do in the half hour to hour before we close our eyes matters immensely, as this is when we signal to our brain that it’s time to get ready to sleep (Pacheco & Rosen, 2023).
If you have children or spend time with children outside of school, you know how vital a bedtime routine is for them, as it calms them down, keeps their schedule consistent, and ensures a smooth transition to sleep. For all those same reasons, we, too, need a bedtime routine. A nighttime routine might include habits like turning off screens, reading a book, taking a warm bath, stretching, meditating, or journaling during the hour or so before going to sleep.
This week’s invitation: Review your current sleep routine and experiment with different strategies.
Start by reflecting on your current routine—note what exactly you do between eating dinner and going to sleep, and then consider how you might tweak your bedtime routine this week to set yourself up for quality sleep.
Some ideas for consideration follow.
• Decide on a bedtime, and begin your bedtime routine between thirty minutes and an hour before that time (Cooper, n.d.). Set an alarm to help you remember this.
• Set the thermostat between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit (National Sleep Foundation, 2022).
• Charge your phone in a room other than your bedroom.
• Don’t use anything with a screen at least one hour before bed (Cooper, n.d.).
• Try a sleep story (essentially a bedtime story meant to help you fall asleep) or a meditation app to relax your mind before bed.
• Slow down on drinking water a couple of hours before bed to limit the chances of having your sleep interrupted (Deirdre Conroy, as cited in Livingston, 2022).
• Journal or write out tomorrow’s to-do list.
• Turn off overhead lights, and use ambient light lamps instead.
• Try to go to bed at the same time every night (yes, even on Friday and Saturday).
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Work on your bedtime routine by incorporating two or more of the suggested strategies each night this week (including Friday and Saturday).
• Dial it down: From the list of suggestions, choose one or two strategies to try at least one night this week.
First, what does your current routine look like? Use figure 1.8 (page 40) to record what strategies you tried, whether they seemed to work, and any other thoughts you want to remember.
Action or Strategy
It Helped Me Sleep Better or Longer (Yes or No)
Thoughts
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY (optional)
SUNDAY (optional)
FIGURE 1.8: Week eight accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you focus on creating a bedtime routine this week? If not, why not?
Which strategy or strategies seemed to work best for you?
Did you notice a difference in how you felt during the day after getting a good night’s sleep? If so, what was different?
Do you plan to stay committed to your bedtime routine? If so, how will you hold yourself accountable?
Week Nine: Create a Physical Wellness Vision Board
Before you skip this week, stick with me for a minute. I know that the term vision board turns some people off, but a vision board is a very powerful tool. In practice, a vision board is a collection of images that visually represent your personal physical wellness vision statement. At their core, vision boards are a way to set goals, and according to a 2015 study, 70 percent of people who write down their goals succeed in reaching them, while 35 percent of people who simply imagine such outcomes reach their goals (Gardner & Albee, 2015).
Traditionally, a vision board is a tangible piece, but creating one doesn’t necessarily mean you will use glue sticks and pictures cut out of magazines (although you can, and that leads to my favorite type; figure 1.9 is an example). You can design a beautiful vision board on your computer, tablet, or phone. The powerful part of this activity is that we’re identifying exactly who we want to be and how we want to feel using images. Without a clear vision of what we’re working toward, it can be difficult to make progress. Vision boards are about setting intentions and are a great tool for reminding us of our intentions for our physical wellness.
FIGURE 1.9: Example of a physical wellness vision board
This week’s invitation: Create your own physical wellness vision board.
Perhaps you tackle this in one day, or maybe you work on it a bit each day—it’s up to you. But the goal for the end of the week is to have a physical or digital product that represents your physical wellness goals and intentions, and to put it somewhere you can see it regularly to keep those goals and intentions in the forefront of your mind as you move forward on your physical wellness journey. To get started, consider incorporating these steps (Balk, 2024).
1. Take time to get clear on your physical wellness vision. How do you want to feel? What’s most important to you?
2. Gather your materials. For a physical vision board, these could include magazines, poster board, glue, and scissors. For a digital vision board, find a platform such as Canva (https://canva.com).
3. Find images that represent your physical wellness vision. When doing so, consider all the following areas: your general health, food, hydration, movement, sleep, and rest.
4. Create your vision board. Have fun, get creative, and give yourself time to play!
5. Keep your board where you’ll see it often (near your desk or as your screen saver, for example).
You can ramp up or cut back your efforts if you want or need to.
• Dial it up: Go big and ensure you have images that represent each aspect of physical wellness, or create a separate board for each area (food, hydration, movement, sleep, and rest).
• Dial it down: Find one image that represents one aspect of physical wellness for yourself, and place that image somewhere you will see it often.
Use figure 1.10 (page 44) to brainstorm how you want to feel and what images you’re looking for.
FIGURE 1.10 : Week nine accountability chart . Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Reflect on the Week
Did you create a physical wellness vision board this week? If not, why not?
What images were you most drawn to? Why do you think that is?
Where did you decide to keep your vision board so that you’ll see it often? How do you think this will help you stay committed to your physical wellness goals and intentions?
Do you plan to update your physical wellness vision board? How often will you update it?
“180 Days of Physical Wellness for Busy Educators is a must-read for all teachers wanting to gain more control over their wellness journey while balancing the demands of work, home, and daily life. This book’s challenges are easy to implement and adapt to any lifestyle and can have a profound impact on your overall wellness. I recommend you use this book to focus on your health and wellness as an individual in order to boost your performance as the amazing teacher you are.”
—KARA YOUNG
National Board Certified Teacher; Health/PE Teacher, duPont Manual High School, Louisville, Kentucky;
2024 SHAPE America National Health Education Teacher of the Year
“As an educator, Boogren understands the importance of accessible and actionable steps for educators to enhance physical wellness, which impacts all dimensions of health and helps educators avoid burnout. She embraces the ‘all-or-something’ approach to making progress toward feeling better and acknowledges that starting is the most difficult step, but this book makes it easy to take small steps toward big changes.”
—JEANIE ALTER Executive Director,
American
School Health Association
Eating, hydrating, moving, sleeping, and resting—these are basic parts of life. Yet many educators lack the bandwidth to manage these aspects in ways that make them feel well. By helping readers focus on how they want to feel (instead of what they “should be doing”) and providing accountability tools and reflections, Tina H. Boogren gives K–12 teachers and administrators the structure and ideas they need in 180 Days of Physical Wellness for Busy Educators. Those familiar with Boogren’s partnership approach— she’s interacting with readers, not dictating to them—are familiar with invitations. Here, she invites readers to engage in a new series of activities centered on the aspects of physical wellness for the thirty-six weeks of a school year. They have options to dial up an activity if they feel like they are excelling, or dial it down if they need some respite. In sum, this book helps educators take care of themselves.
READERS WILL:
• Determine how they want to feel physically
• Get ideas for pairing tasks to help them form healthy habits
• Learn to tell the difference between hunger and appetite
• Discover sensory rest and various ways to indulge in it
• Address revenge bedtime procrastination head-on
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/educatorwellness to download the free reproducibles in this book.
