Mindfulness Training

Work got you down? 

Colleagues and managers getting on your nerves? 

Slow down.

Anxiety at work can cause depression, exhaustion, high blood pressure, even high cholesterol.

But as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports in today's Health Minute, taking a breath and easing the mind can make work a less stressful place to be.

FOR LILLIAN WAUGH, MUSIC SOOTHES AFTER A STRESSFUL DAY.

BUT A FEW YEARS AGO, LILLIAN WAS SO STRESSED OUT FROM HER JOB AS AN UNIVERSITY HISTORIAN,  IT STARTED TO AFFECT HER HEALTH.

I was in the middle of chronic back pain I had for almost a decade.

SO, WHEN WEST VIRGINIA  UNIVERSITY BEGAN A STUDY ON HOW TO HANDLE STRESS IN THE  WORKPLACE, LILLIAN SIGNED UP.

ACCORDING TO LEAD INVESTIGATOR, KIMBERLY WILLIAMS, SOME OF THE 103 PARTICIPANTS WERE  GIVEN WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS ON HANDLING STRESS AT WORK.

OTHERS SUCH AS LILLIAN, WERE TAUGHT MINDFULNESS EXERCISES, LIKE YOGA, BREATHING TECHNIQUES, STRETCHES AND MEDITATION, ALL DESIGNED TO HELP THEM COPE WITH TOO MANY E-MAILS, RINGING PHONES AND AN OCCASIONAL NASTY BOSS.

we taught them how to recognize sources of stress,  how stress impacts them, and then what they could do to come out of the vicious cycle of stress reactivity.

AFTER 3 MONTHS, RESEARCHERS FOUND THE GROUP THAT PRACTICED MINDFULNESS EXERCISES IMPROVED THEIR HEALTH.

They had significantly less daily hassles, psychological distress and
significantly fewer medical symptoms.

LILLIAN CONTINUES TO PRACTICE THE METHODS.

NO LONGER IN PAIN, SHE SAYS HAVING CONTROL OVER HER ATTITUDE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN HER HEALTH AND HER OUTLOOK.

FOR TODAY'S HEALTH MINUTE I'M DR. SANJAY GUPTA.