Educators Under Pressure: Lifestyle Changes, Stress, and Anxiety During COVID-19

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to rapidly adapt to remote teaching, profoundly affecting their professional and personal lives. These abrupt changes disrupted daily routines, heightened stress, and raised concerns about long-term well-being. Understanding how teachers’ lifestyles and mental health were impacted is crucial for designing effective support strategies during crises.

Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 105 teachers using an online questionnaire. Data collected included sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle habits (Fantastic Lifestyle Questionnaire), and psychological indicators (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—EADS-21). The intervention component focused on promoting healthy eating behaviors.

Results: Most participants were female (88.6%), over 51 years of age (60%), and had more than 15 years of teaching experience (86.7%). Remote teaching required 93.3% of respondents to reorganize work schedules, while 89.5% reported modifying lifestyle and family routines. Over half expressed dissatisfaction with teleworking. Results from the EADS-21 revealed that stress showed the highest mean score (0.98), indicating a considerable burden compared with depression and anxiety. These findings suggest that lifestyle disruptions and professional pressures contributed to increased stress levels among teachers.

Conclusions: Educators experienced significant lifestyle changes, high stress, and dissatisfaction with telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results highlight the urgent need for targeted health promotion programs, particularly those addressing stress management and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Future research should focus on the long-term effects of such interventions on teachers’ mental health, resilience, and professional performance.