Let’s face it — we all want to lounge in the sun all day on a beach in Hawaii. But we just can’t, we have to go to work and go head to head with stressors that follow the daily grind coming from corporate America.
A survey done by the American Psychological Association found that one-third of employees experience chronic stress related to work.
Meditation is leading the way as a potent tool that could potentially help out. It’s becoming a legitimate pushup for the brain. I don’t care if you call it meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing, or chillin’ time. It works — the scientific evidence is here.
Some of the brightest minds from Harvard, Stanford, University of Wisconsin, and Yale are coming to the conclusion that meditation is an incredible tool for your health.
Here are six reasons why the practice should be embraced in corporate America.
1. It’s been shown to help people stay focused in high-stress environments.
When we get stressed, it attacks are focus, we can’t concentrate. If we can’t concentrate, we can’t get things done. This happens to everyone who experiences stress — why not give meditation a try?
2. It could lower stress.
A little stress is good for us, too much and it becomes are enemy. It’s currently wreaking havoc on corporate America — it is estimated that American business lose up to $300 billion a year because of stress, according to the American Psychological Association. There’s evidence to suggest that meditation may help lower the stress hormone cortisol.
3. It works, even when you’re not meditating.
Similar to working out at the gym, there’s evidence to suggest that meditation works even when you’re not meditating. Why not do some meditation right before you go to work? This will help you have a balanced and clear mind throughout the day.
4. It lets us know our blind spots.
We all have internal blind spots that we could work on to help improve the quality of our lives. A study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science showed how mindfulness helped people to look internally at their true selves. We can use mindfulness in a productive way to manage our emotional states.
5. It could help you become more compassionate.
Wouldn’t it be better to start your day off by working on cultivating a positive attitude? What if you went to work wishing for the people around you to be happy? This would influence not only your work life, but every area of your life. Meditation has been shown to make people more compassionate.
6. It may improve sleep quality.
A lot of times the reason we are unproductive at the workplace is because we didn’t sleep well. One meditation study is showing that it may improve our quality of sleep. Why not do some during your lunch break?
Meditation is the new American pushup for the brain, it’s a tool that helps us check in with ourselves throughout the day. It’s a practice that should be embraced by all American corporations as a way to stay calm, focused, and productive through the day.
From: The Huffington Post