Do work deadlines stress you out? Are your co-workers driving you crazy? Is your work load overwhelming? If so transcendental meditation might help.
A study on meditation
Researchers at the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education recently performed a randomized controlled trial to see if transcendental meditation could help alleviate the symptoms of workplace overload.
The nonprofit worked with 96 participants over four months and had them practice transcendental meditation‑which involves repeating a mantra—to see if it alleviated any of their concerns.
Using the Perceived Stress Cale and the Emotional Quotient Inventory, participants self-assessed their concerns and worry/anxiety levels, which provided “before” and “after” outcomes to measure the results.
The results, which were published in The Permanente Journal, showed that participants who had practiced the technique reported less perceived stress and improved emotional intelligence when compared to the control group.
Transcendental meditation and EQ
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, has been linked to a person’s mental and physical health. Past research has indicated that people with high EQ may be better at managing their emotions.
This recent study indicates that people who use transcendental meditation have higher EQs. In addition, they show improvements in up to give of the six traits of emotional intelligence: adaptability, stress management, general mood, reality testing and intrapersonal awareness.
Frequent meditation in this trial was linked to higher EQ and lower perceived worry than peers who meditated less often.
Laurent Valosek, lead author of the study and executive director of the CWAE, explains, “Workers, especially in our school districts, are under a growing amount of stress and asked every day to find solutions to increasingly complex problems. And with a growing body of research on the value of emotional intelligence and harmful effects of psychological stress, organizations are looking to give their employees tools for reducing stress and developing EQ competencies like centeredness self-awareness and empathy.”
