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Downward Dog, Upward Productivity

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Mental health
Productivity
Stress
Wellness
Work Life

If you see a co-worker in a neighboring cubicle contorting into a strange pose, relax. She's probably not having a convulsion. Rather, it's more likely that she has embraced the latest workplace stressbuster: yoga. A pilot study published in the journal Health Education & Behavior found that 20 minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga, combined with six weekly group sessions, can lower feelings of stress by more than 10 percent in sedentary office employees. Researchers from Ohio State found that yoga and meditation combined reduced participants' stress, improved their awareness of external stressors, and helped them sleep better. In addition to 20 minutes of practice at their desks, participants attended a weekly, one-hour session during their lunch breaks. Since lowering stress can increase productivity, adding yoga to the mix can be a win-win for the workplace. Want to put this into practice in your office? Learn some simple yoga moves you can do at your desk or in your office, try a little meditation -- the approach used in the study was mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, but any type can help -- and try to attend a weekly yoga class. (image by enfad via Flickr, CC 2.0)

posted by CC Holland
October 2, 2009 @ 6:43 am

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