How Meditation Combats The Impact Of A Stressful Job
“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody, and they meet at the bar.” – Drew Carey, actor and comedian
I come across many people working in London who are struggling to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance. There’s no denying that the relentless pressure of commuting plus a demanding job can lead to acute stress and much unhappiness.
Recent research has uncovered that one in three Londoners hate their job, while 30% of Londoners hardly ever look forward to going to work in the morning. The tech sector has the lowest happiness rating, with 46% of employees feeling that they are unheard and disempowered.
Young Londoners have lower job satisfaction than their peers anywhere else in the country, and the capital has the worst job security. Therefore, it’s no surprise that stressed London professionals are looking for a sustainable and self-sufficient way to help them deal with the daily grind and get some perspective. Working without regular breaks, running only on adrenaline and too many shots of espresso, will have a massive, long term impact on both mental and physical health.
When we’re stressed, adrenaline floods our system giving us some short-term energy. But that energy comes at the expense of digestion, cellular repair, and clear-headedness. Only highly trained individuals can work both quickly and accurately when stressed. Most people can only do one of these, not both.
Vedic Meditation, the technique I have practiced for many years and now teach at MindMojo, has been shown to increase our capacity to work both quickly and accurately when stressed. Over time and with regular meditation practice, new neural pathways are developed, allowing us to think and behave in different and more efficient ways. Our thinking becomes sharper, our mind feels less cluttered, and we are able to enhance and maintain focus. All great benefits not only for the workplace, but in our personal lives too.
Poor sleep also often comes with high stress, as we lie awake processing all that’s happened during the working day and mentally running through our to do list for the morning. This leads to poor workplace performance as we struggle to focus through our exhaustion.
Recent research by Mathew Walker published in his book, Why We Sleep, shows that just one bad night’s sleep can reduce the efficiency of the immune system by up to 70%. On top of that, there are more car accidents on a Monday morning than on any other day of the week.
There is an antidote to this though. I’ve written before about how Vedic Mediation helps you sleep and why that’s important, but I’ll re-cap here. Vedic Meditation allows your body to rest deeply, allowing your mind to settle and become calm. In fact, your body can rest up to 2-5 times more deeply in a meditation then when sleeping.
However, it’s important to emphasise that meditation is not a substitute for sleep, simply a support. You should be aiming to regularly get those eight hours a night. With regular twice daily meditations, sleep becomes easier as you take the time to process the stresses of the day that would usually keep you up at night.
If you want to find out more about Vedic Meditation, join me for a FREE, sixty-minute introductory talk. This is the best way to find out all about the MindMojo meditation course, and ask any questions. There's no obligation to sign up after attending an introduction. Book online here.
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