Meditation Can Decrease Stress and Increase Productivity at Work

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Computer scientist and professor with the Information School at the University of Washington, David Levy, decided to do research on the benefits of meditation in the workplace after reading the book “The One Who Is Not Busy: Connecting to Work in a Deeply Satisfying Way,” by Darlene Cohen. What he discovered was those who trained in meditation were about to stay on task longer, felt less distracted and stress levels decreased.

He had three groups of human resources: the first had eight weeks of mindfulness-based meditation training; the second had eight weeks of body-relaxation training; and the third had meditation training after the eight weeks was over, according to a report at www.houmatoday.com.

Each person was tested on stress and multi-tasking abilities before and after the eight week trial, and researchers found the meditation group not only had lower stress levels during multitasking tests, but also were able to concentrate longer without being distracted.

Stress levels did not decrease for the other two groups, however, once the third group received the meditation training, stress did decrease.

“Meditation is a lot like doing reps at a gym. It strengthens your attention muscle,” Levy said in the report.

Meditation May Prevent Heart Disease in Teens

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New research published in “Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine,” shows meditation could decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in teens who are most at risk.

In a study of 62 African American teens with high blood pressure, those who meditated twice a day for 15 minutes had lower left ventricular mass, which is an indicator of future cardiovascular disease, according to Dr. Vernon Barnes, a physiologist in the Medical College of Georgia and the Georgia Health Sciences University Institute of Public and Preventive Health. Additionally, the left ventricular mass was measured with two-dimensional echocardiograms before and after the study and the group that meditated showed a significant decrease.

“Increased mass of the heart muscle’s left ventricle is caused by the extra workload on the heart with higher blood pressure. Some of these teens already had higher measures of left ventricular mass because of their elevated blood pressure, which they are likely to maintain into adulthood,” Barnes explained.

Half of the group was trained in transcendental meditation and asked to meditate for 15 minutes with a class and 15 minutes at home for a four-month period, while the other half was given education on how to lower blood pressure and risk for cardiovascular disease – without meditation.

Furthermore, school records also showed behavior improvements. “Transcendental meditation results in a rest for the body that is often deeper than sleep,” Barnes said. “Statistics indicate that one in every 10 black youths have high blood pressure. If practiced over time, the meditation may reduce the risk of these teens developing cardiovascular disease, in addition to other added health benefits.”

Meditators Have More Willpower and Self-Control, Study Shows

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People who practice meditation regularly are better at tasks requiring self-control because they are open to their own emotions, according to new research from the University of Toronto, Futurity.com reported.

“These results suggest that willpower or self-control may be sharpest in people who are sensitive and open to their own emotional experiences. Willpower, in other words, may relate to ‘emotional intelligence,’” Michael Inzlicht, associate professor of psychology at the University Toronto said in the report.

In a paper scheduled for publication in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, the researchers looked at Error Related Negativity (ERN), which is an electrical signal that shows up in the brain within 100 ms of an error being committed, well before the conscious mind is aware of the error, the report stated.

“It’s kind of like an ‘uh-oh’ response, or cortical alarm bell,” Rimma Teper, co-author of the paper and PhD student said.

For the study, participants were asked about experience mediating and took a test to measure how mindful they were of the present moment, and how aware and accepting they were of their emotions. They were hooked up to an electroencephalograph and given a Stroop test, which shows them the word “red” spelled in green letters, and asked to say the color of the letters. This requires them to suppress the tendency to read the word, and instead concentrate on the actual colors, the report stated.

Meditators were not only generally better at the test than non-meditators, but also had stronger ERN responses. Also, those who did the best on the test were those who scored higher on emotional acceptance.

According to the study, the ERN may have a motivational or affective component, meaning it gives a bad feeling about failing a task, motivating someone to do better. Because meditators are more in tune with their emotions, they may pick up on this feeling more quickly and improve their behavior, according to Teper.

“Meditators are attuned to their emotions. They’re also good at regulating their emotions. It fits well with our results.”

Mindfulness Meditation Leads to Concentration and Objective Self-Thought

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Practicing mindfulness meditation helps people learn to accept their feelings, emotions and states of mind without judgment or resistance. Several studies have shown it has beneficial effects on long-term emotional stability, and both anxiety and depression, and a new study shows it also contributes to better concentration and more objective self-thought, MedicalExpress.com reported.

“We studied the brains of 13 meditators with over 1,000 hours of practice and 11 beginners by analyzing functional connectivity,” said Veronica Taylor, the lead author of the study published in the journal “Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access,” in March 2012.

Functional connectivity is the synchronization between two or more brain regions that changes over time during a specific task or at rest, the report stated. “Participants remained in a CT scanner for a few minutes and were asked to do nothing,” explained Taylor. “We wanted to assess whether the effects of mindfulness meditation persisted beyond the practice.”

The resulting hypothesis is the default brain network of meditators – which is associated with daydreaming and self-thought when one is doing nothing — is structured differently, showing that these people thing about themselves more objectively.

Dr. Oz Offers Transcendental Meditation to his Production Team

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Dr. Mehmet Oz is offering Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique to his entire NY-based production team, and is already seeing changes, according to The David Lynch Foundation.

“I have been practicing Transcendental Meditation (or “TM”) for nearly three years. About six months ago, I decided to offer the technique to everyone on my team at The Dr. Oz Show,” Oz said in a recent video statement. “I had seen the extensive research documenting its benefits—and have also seen so many people who I admire and respect incorporate Transcendental Meditation into their own lives and share it with the people that they care for.”

After the first 20 people on his staff learned to meditate, he said he began getting amazing feedback via email. “The first thing I noticed was a change in the tone and the texture of the dialogue—away from dwelling on problems towards a much more thoughtful, insightful, clever way of solving problems. Instead of highlighting the issues that were separating us, my team was deriving bliss and joy from finding solutions,” he said.

He also explained the scientific research behind the meditation method, which shows the technique can reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, and that “is the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“You know as well as I do: Any business is what it is because of the people who work there. Why not take people who are working at 80 percent, 60 percent, 30 percent of their potential and take them all to 99 percent of their potential. I think that’s what true success feels like,” said Dr. Oz, explaining that is what TM can do for a company.

“It’s a powerful tool to turbo-charge the people in your organization and, I believe quite strongly, you would be very wise to give it a try.”

Meditation Improves Emotional Behavior in Teachers, Study Shows

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Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation showed they were less depressed, anxious or stressed, and more compassionate and aware of others’ feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions, a report by ScienceDaily.com stated.

The study, designed to create new techniques to reduce destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behavior, is published in the April issue of the journal “Emotion.”

“The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior,” said lead author Margaret Kemeny, PhD, director of the Health Psychology Program in UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry in the ScienceDaily.com report. “The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture.”

A total of 82 female schoolteachers between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the project and were chosen because their work is stressful and the meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives, possibly trickling down to benefit their students, according to the report.

The study began after a meeting with USCF emeritus professor and world expert in emotions, Paul Ekman, PhD, met with the Dalai Lama at his home, along with other Buddhist scholars and behavioral scientists.

The Dalai Lama to posed the question: In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions? Ekman and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace then developed a 42-hour, eight-week training program, integrating secular meditation practices with techniques learned from the scientific study of emotion.

The program incorporated concentration practices involving sustained, focused attention on a specific mental or sensory experience; mindfulness practices involving the close examination of one’s body and feelings; and directive practices designed to promote empathy and compassion toward others, according to the report.

In the randomized, controlled trial, the schoolteachers learned to better understand the relationship between emotion and cognition, and to better recognize emotions in others, along with their own emotional patterns so they could better resolve difficult problems in their relationships, the report stated.

“We wanted to test whether the intervention affected both personal well-being as well as behavior that would affect the well-being of their intimate partners,” Kemeny said in the report.