Study: Mindfulness Workplace Intervention Can Reduce Stress

A new study has found that mindfulness workplace intervention can significantly lower stress levels in workers who are exposed to otherwise stressful environments.

Researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center placed members of a surgical intensive care unit in either a stress reduction intervention or control group, paying close attention to how they responded. Throughout the course of the 8-week study, participants in the mindfulness intervention program were asked to perform activities such as light stretching, yoga, meditation, and even listen to music in the workplace, whereas participants in the control group went about their normal daily work activities without any mindfulness intervention such as this. Researchers measured participants' psychological and biological stress markers one week before and one week after the study to measure the effects of mindfulness intervention.

So, what did researchers find? According to the study, researchers found that participants in the mindfulness workplace intervention group exhibited lower levels of salivary [alpha]-amylase than the control group. Technical jargon aside, this is a naturally occurring chemical in the human body that's responsive for the fight or flight response. While helpful in warding off danger, excessive levels of [alpha]-amylase can lead to severe stress and anxiety.

Workers (or people in general) who  are exposed to chronic stress are more likely to exhibit symptoms such as irritability, trouble sleeping, nervousness and anxiety, all of which can impact their decision-making abilities while subsequently increasing the risk of workplace injury.

As noted by one of the study's lead authors, work environments are inherently stressful, and that isn't going to change anytime soon. However, we can change workers' reaction to environmental stresses through practices such as mindful intervention

" What’s stressful about the work environment is never going to change. But what we were interested in changing was the nursing personnel’s reaction to those stresses. We measured salivary alpha amylase, which is a biomarker of the sympathetic nervous system activation, and that was reduced by 40 percent in the intervention group," said Maryanna Klatt, associate clinical professor in the department of Family Medicine at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center.

This study was published in the journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.