Burnout Syndrome on Teachers and its Relation to Nutrition: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Background: Teaching is considered as one of the most stressful professions that can lead to repercussions on physical and mental health, as well as on professional performance. Among the most common psychiatric conditions in teachers, there is Burnout Syndrome (BS) that is considered a disease of physical and mental exhaustion. One of the measures to mitigate this condition is to change eating habits, seeking an improvement in the quality of life and mental health. Therefore, the objective of this integrative review was to evaluate the relationship between the promotion of healthy eating habits and BS in teachers. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted to include articles published using Medline / Pubmed, Lilacs / Bireme and Google Scholar, and the descriptors: burnout syndrome, nutrition and food education, depression and quality of life, teacher, and mental health, with an emphasis in the last ten years. Results: Thirty-seven studies were included. These studies suggest that approaches on health nutrition habits may improve BS and mental health. Furthermore, deficient intake of magnesium, zinc, vitamins D, C, E and of the B complex, tryptophan, calcium, iron, omega 3, probiotics, and polyphenols may contribute to arousal or worsening of BS symptoms. However, no experimental studies that evaluated the association between eating patterns and BS in teachers were found. Conclusion: Although there were no experimental studies on teachers, other studies suggested a positive association between healthy nutrition habits and improvement of mental health and BS prevention and/or treatment. The behavioral approach to change eating habits can contribute to more effective outcomes.