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According to a study by the Canadian Mental Health association, stress in the workplace is a serious contributor to job dissatisfaction, employee turnover, reduced efficiency, illness and even death. absenteeism, illness, alcoholism, petty internal politics, bad decisions, poor judgment, indifference and apathy, lack of motivation or creativity are all by-products of an overstressed workplace. to meet these work-related challenges, many innovative companies such as Google, General Mills, Procter and Gamble, Etna, are successfully integrating in-house mindfulnessbased programs into the workplace. these initiatives are in response to the unequivocal research in the past fifteen years that link participation in mindfulness-based practices to a significant decrease in stress-related ailments resulting in major reductions in health care costs and increased productivity. these pioneering companies are setting the stage for health care and educational organizations to take a leadership role in developing and integrating mindfulness based-programs.
An article published in Personnel Today (2012), documents a mindfulness program called "ride the Wave" launched at transport london in the UK. From 2009 to 2012, 600 employees participated in a six-week mindfulness-based program. Qualitative evaluation indicated the following:
* Employees, who attended the course, saw a significant decrease in their number of days off attributed to stress and depression: days off fell by 71% over the following three years.
* Absences for all conditions dropped by 50%.
* 80% of the participants reported an improvement in their relationships.
* 79% improved their ability to relax.
* 64% indicated an improvement in sleep patterns.
* 53% reported an improvement in happiness at work.
"On average, not only is there a significant improvement in the first year, but there are further slight improvements in years two and three, sustained much beyond intervention," says alison dunn, head of treatment services, transport for london.
In another study, eight U.S. Marine infantry platoons participated in an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Mind and Fitness training. (MMFt) Marines who had first received MMFt, which can affect brain structures integral to the body's response to stress, experienced quicker heart rate and breathing rate recovery, improved sleep quality, and lower levels of neuropeptide Y after stressful combat training than a comparison group without the intervention.
Research confirms that participating in mindfulness-based practices actually changes the brain. in fact, individuals who complete a...