The Best Self-Care Habit for End-of-School-Year Stress, According to Experts

Medically reviewed by Katey Davidson, M.Sc.FN, RD, CPT

Key Points

• Walking outdoors reduces stress by lowering cortisol and promoting relaxation.

• Layer walking into your routine, like during school pickup, for easy self-care.

• Pair walking with better sleep, setting boundaries and self-compassion to help ease burnout.

For parents, the last weeks of the school year can feel like an obstacle course. Between field trips, recitals, end-of-year projects, volunteer tasks and the sheer mental load of lining up summer camps before the current season has even ended, parents often hit late spring running on fumes. And that’s on top of regular work and household responsibilities.

Self-care advice abounds this time of year, but a lot of it feels out of touch with reality when your calendar is full and your patience is short. To figure out what actually helps, we asked two mental health experts to weigh in on the one habit they consistently recommend to parents facing end-of-school-year burnout. Their answer was the same, and it’s probably simpler than you’d expect.

Why Walking Outdoors Is Great for Self-Care

Walking outdoors topped the list for both experts we spoke with, and the reasons are both practical and physiological. For starters, you can do it almost anywhere, wearing whatever you want, for any amount of time.

“Walking outdoors has a low barrier to entry because it requires no equipment, no membership, no learned skill and no dedicated space,” says Sarah Kipnes, LCSW, PPSC, a licensed clinical social worker. “Self-care outside of the home removes a parent from being surrounded by the responsibilities and stimulation that are causing their stress.”

There’s a biological case for getting outside, too. Walking, particularly in natural light, helps shift the body out of its stress response. “When someone takes a walk outside, it can activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This signals that the body is in a ‘rest and digest’ state, which lowers cortisol and promotes relaxation,” says Angela Chen, M.P.H., Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist.

Lowering cortisol can ease the keyed-up feeling that often comes with burnout, and over time, regular outdoor movement is linked to improvements in mood, sleep and overall stress resilience.

Simple Ways to Make This Habit Stick

The biggest challenge with any new wellness habit is the perception that you need to find extra time for it. Both of the experts we chatted with emphasize that you don’t. Here are some realistic ways to fit walking into a calendar that’s already overflowing.

Start Small & Stay Consistent

You don’t need to walk for an hour, or even half that, to feel a difference. “A walk as short as 10 minutes can produce meaningful reductions in anxiety and improved mood, so the threshold for it ‘counting’ is much lower than most people assume,” Kipnes says.

Frequency matters more than duration, especially in the beginning. Aim to walk on more days than not, and let the length naturally increase as the habit takes hold.

Stack It with Something You’re Already Doing

Habit stacking, or attaching a new behavior to one you already do automatically, is one of the easier ways to make walking stick when your schedule is full. Chen suggests starting with small swaps.

“Take the stairs instead of the elevator, or park farther away from the grocery store than usual when grocery shopping,” Chen says. Once that feels routine, look for natural transition points in your day where a short walk could fit, like the few minutes between finishing work and heading to school pickup.

Kipnes echoes this sentiment. “Stop thinking of walking as something you carve time out for and start treating it as something you layer onto what you’re already doing,” she says. School pickup is a built-in opportunity. Arriving 10 minutes early and walking the surrounding block turns a passive waiting period into outdoor movement without changing your overall schedule.

Find the Time That Works Best for You

Different times of day offer slightly different benefits. A short morning walk, even 10 minutes before the rest of the household is up, can set a calmer tone for the day. A midday walk works for parents with flexibility around lunch, offering a mental reset between morning and afternoon demands. An after-dinner walk can help the body wind down and may support better sleep.

“The beauty of outdoor walking is that it’s accessible and can be as short or long as parents want or are able to fit into their schedules,” Chen says. That said, she notes that morning walks tend to be more successful, and parents who set out before the workday and school rush begin are more likely to actually follow through than those who push the walk to later when unexpected things can come up.

Treat It Like an Appointment

If you tend to let your own needs slide once the day gets going, put walking on the calendar. “Add it to your calendar like you would a doctor’s appointment,” Kipnes says. Even a recurring 15-minute block is a low-stakes way to protect the time, and seeing it scheduled makes it feel less optional.

Additional Ways to Support Your Mental Well-Being

Walking is the foundation, but a few other small shifts can reinforce the benefits during this busy season and beyond.

• Prioritize Sleep. Kipnes recommends moving your bedtime up by 30 minutes if you can. Chronic sleep deprivation accelerates emotional reactivity and makes everyday stressors feel bigger than they are.

• Set One Boundary. “The act of saying no to even one nonessential request creates a psychological experience of agency that helps counter the potential of burnout,” Kipnes says. Identify one school-season obligation in the final weeks you can decline or delegate.

• Name What You’re Feeling. Burnout can feel isolating, but it’s a common parenting experience, especially this time of year. “Name and normalize this feeling as a pathway to provide self-compassion,” Chen says. “Parents have a hard job and they are in good company.”

Our Expert Take

End-of-school-year burnout is real, and the answer isn’t a complete overhaul of your routine. Outdoor walking checks every box: It’s free, it’s flexible, it lowers cortisol and it gets you out of the environment driving your stress in the first place. Pair it with a few extra minutes of sleep, one well-placed “no” and a little self-compassion, and you have a realistic toolkit for getting through these last weeks.

“Stop waiting to feel better before you start taking care of yourself,” says Kipnes. “You don’t need a full hour, a perfect plan or a day when you’re less busy. You need five minutes outside today, and then five minutes again tomorrow.”

Read the original article on EatingWell