Increasing levels of teacher stress have contributed to poor health and an increased desire to leave the
profession. A variety of occupational stressors have been previously identified to worsen teacher stress in
the ordinary context of the profession. However, in March 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
hit the United Kingdom (UK), forcing the country into a lockdown that included the closure of schools and
transition to remote learning. The novelty of this global health crisis means that there is insufficient
research into the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on teacher stress and lifestyle behaviour adoption. An
online questionnaire was distributed to secondary school teachers (n = 54) from 12 English counties to
measure levels of perceived stress and frequency of lifestyle behaviour adoption during four key time
periods over the pandemic; from pre-covid through to the second national lockdown. Key findings included
a change in the weighting of significance of stressors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and gender
differences in both stress perception and lifestyle behaviour adoption were identified and explored. The
findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly influenced levels of teacher stress and
lifestyle behaviour adoption. Although this was primarily due to home isolation and the transition to remote
learning, consideration was also made of the effects of restrictions imposed on the general population.