Meditation at work relieves stress

Successful businessman working inside modern office building, man meditating with eyes closed in lotus position sitting on chair.

As little as ten minutes of mindfulness meditation each day can significantly reduce work stress, say US researchers. In a randomised control trial, 1458 employees were either put through an eight week digital mindfulness meditation course or put on a waitlist (the control group). After the eight week digital course, all measures of work stress including burnout, depression, and anxiety were reduced. Improvements were also seen in work engagement and mindfulness and improvements in work stress overall were maintained four months after the trial. The research suggests that brief, mindfulness-based digital programs could be easily implemented in work-places to reduce employees’ perceptions of stress.

This study was published JAMA Network Open