Teacher exhaustion: what to know and what to do

Teaching can involve long periods of concentration, emotional demands, irregular preparation time, and limited recovery between working days. Fatigue may improve after rest, but persistent exhaustion can also accompany burnout, anaemia, dehydration, COVID-19, coeliac disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, or alcohol use disorder. These conditions differ, so the pattern matters: note when tiredness began, whether sleep refreshes you, and any weight change, breathlessness, fever, pain, thirst, bowel symptoms, or mood changes.

For several days, keep a simple record of sleep, work demands, meals, fluids, medicines, caffeine, and symptoms. Protect a regular sleep window, eat consistently, drink to thirst, and build short pauses into marking or classroom preparation. Share workload concerns with a trusted colleague or manager where possible. Avoid using alcohol as a sleep aid. Arrange a primary-care appointment if exhaustion persists, affects teaching or driving, or keeps returning; take your symptom record and a list of medicines.

Seek urgent help for exhaustion with chest pain, severe breathlessness, fainting, new confusion, sudden weakness, or thoughts of self-harm. Contact a clinician promptly for unexplained weight loss, persistent fever, marked thirst or urination, black stools, or worsening symptoms. A clinician may ask about sleep, mood, diet, bleeding, infections, and work stress, then decide whether examination or blood tests are appropriate.

Could my symptoms fit burnout, anaemia, dehydration, or another condition? Which symptoms should I monitor? Do my medicines, sleep pattern, or menstrual bleeding matter? What assessment is suitable if this continues?