Meditation might reduce workplace stress

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Regular doses of meditation might prevent work-related stress and burnout, a small U.S. study suggests. Teachers and support staff working at a school for children with behavior problems felt less stressed after practicing 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation (TM) twice a day for four months. But participants “reported feeling less stressed and more energetic within a few days,” said the study’s senior author Sanford Nidich, of Maharishi University’s Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention in Fairfield, Iowa. Starting stress levels among the participants had averaged 39 on a 40-point scale and fell 5 points by the end of the study period.