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.