The Blood Sugar Roller Coaster: The Direct Impact on Educators & Students

Did you know that blood sugar (glucose) is your body’s main source of energy?

Ever thought about what blood sugar has to with teaching? Everything!

If educators are equipped with simple, quick strategies to limit blood sugar spikes, they are ensuring stable energy throughout the day. To effectively and meaningfully manage the day-to-day stressors of an educator’s job, stable energy is critical!  

To illustrate, think of your body's energy levels as a roller coaster—the top of a hill is a blood sugar spike and the bottom of a hill is a blood sugar crash. Your energy skyrockets, then speeds to a crash, over and over again. Truly consider how impossible it is to teach effectively in this state. Consistently causing such crashes by skipping meals, opting for soda over water, sleeping poorly, and ignoring stress will lead to irritability, mood swings, and unstable energy. This is not a fun ride to be on, nor is it conducive to inspiring students.

Considering the unpredictability of each school day, it's essential to maintain stable energy levels. How? By incorporating practical strategies throughout the school day to balance blood sugar. This is undoubtedly one of the easiest ways for educators, with little time to themselves, to take control of how they experience the day.

• Avoid skipping meals. Yes, this means avoid just coffee for breakfast!
• Create balanced meals!! Prioritize fat, fiber, and protein at every meal—especially breakfast. Start by thinking about what you already eat. Ask yourself which you need to add (fat, fiber, or protein). You might realize, for example, you are simply missing a healthy fat. This is so important during the school year for your lunch!
• Eat breakfast and hydrate before consuming coffee.
• Incorporate light movement after a meal. During the school year, go on a quick walk or do some jumping jacks with your class period that falls right after lunch. Many students, depending on what they ate for lunch, likely experience a blood sugar crash after lunch (no wonder it's hard for them to pay attention!).
• Have a “veggie starter” before any carb-heavy meal (salad before pizza). During the summer, challenge your family members to all concoct their own salad recipe! 
• Eat something sweet after a meal of fat, fiber, and protein, not before or on an empty stomach.

So, what's holding you back from trying some of these? Discover which ones work best for you in the summer and then take those into the school year! Your energy, mood, and capacity to teach will feel reinvigorated.