Stress is one of the biggest challenges that billions of individuals face. Stress can be devastating to mental health. It can cause major differences in mood, even leading to depression and anxiety; these are two psychological conditions people should not underestimate the influence on one's life.
Employees with higher stress levels are more likely to make mistakes, be absent from work, and perform poorly in their responsibilities. Meditation has been found to decrease stress levels by lowering cortisol levels in the body.
Meditation has proven useful for physical ailments like pain, anxiety, and hypertension. In the same way, mediation can also be useful in lessening stress levels at work.
In a study concluding that meditation does not have to follow any particular religious or spiritual belief, it was found that meditation is an effective method in lowering stress levels because of a reduction in cortisol levels. The results of this study also show that meditation not only provides stress reduction but also has a positive impact on mood and anxiety.
>>To measure this, cortisol samples were collected from the saliva of participants who went through an eight-week mindfulness-based meditation program. Participants then compared their pre and post meditation results to determine whether or not any changes occurred in their levels of stress.
Interestingly enough, the cortisol samples were collected three times throughout the eight-week period of meditation, once before the participants began their training, in between weeks four to six, and finally at week seven or eight. This was done in order to see whether stress levels would continuously drop if an individual meditated during his or her free time, and not just during the training program.
What was found was that cortisol levels significantly decreased after participants completed their mindfulness-based meditation course. What's more, the data showed that although stress reduction did occur in week four to six, it dropped even lower at week seven or eight. The results proved that practicing meditation consistently will give more benefits than practicing it sporadically.
It was also found that the degree of stress reduction highly depended on how committed participants were to their mindfulness-based meditation training. To put it simply, those individuals who meditated more regularly experienced deeper levels of stress reduction. For instance, cortisol levels dropped by 13 percent for those who meditated around four times a week, while levels fell by 26 percent for those who meditated around six times per week.
This study proves that stress reduction can occur naturally without the use of drugs. Getting an adequate amount of sleep and practicing meditation are two activities that not only provide immense health benefits but also help reduce stress levels in the body.
So if you are looking for reduce the stress of your team members and improve their productivity , meditation is the best low cost method you can adopt.
Additional Sources:
https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/how-meditation-helps-to-reduce-stress-increases-productivity-1886792 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih
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