Stress is inevitable in our lives. The fact that we are always looking to achieve more be it moving into a new house, buying a better car or even getting a new iPhone, we place ourselves in the line of stress. Additionally, stress is prevalent in the workplace. The Office for National Statistics noted that in the UK, 131 million days were lost following an absence from work as a result of sickness. Of these, 15 million days went down the drain because of mental illness in the form of depression, anxiety or stress. Additionally, according to the Center of Mental Health, employers lost 26 billion pounds following reduced productivity, recruitment costs and absence due to sickness. All these may have been attributed, directly or indirectly, to mental illness.
What is Stress?
Stress is the imbalance or subjective impression that remains in the physiology. It comes about after the interpretation and response to challenging events. When reacting to challenging events, our bodies produce stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which temporarily change how the whole body functions. This results in stored glucose and fats being released to produce energy, the increase in the heart rate, blood pressure rising, muscles tensing and oxygen consumption increasing. As for the processes that are not required at the moment such as cellular repair and digestion, they become suppressed.
When our bodies become exposed to prolonged levels of stress without time for recovery or rest, the temporary imbalances may prolong and sustain. This, in turn, leads to a negative effect on our health, functioning of the body and well-being.
Many health hazards are caused by stress. These include high blood pressure, heart failure, peptic ulcers due to an imbalance of stomach acids as well as skin disorders.
Meditation as a Remedy
Mindfulness techniques are being adopted in workplaces and among people to help deal with stress. In these techniques, one’s mind is trained to concentrate on the present as opposed to dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
For those looking for more significant experience, they progress on to Transcendental Meditation.
There are many benefits to meditation in the workplace. One, TM has been noted to improve relationships between co-workers and supervisors. Two, it leads to increased job satisfaction, productivity and performance. The employees also experience less job-related tension and worry, and this improves their decision making.
Adopting Transcendental Meditation at your workplace will save you both time and money that would otherwise be lost due to employee absence following stress-related problems.
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