Have you ever come home from work exhausted? It might not have been a particularly hard day at work, but your feeling drained?
There may be hidden stressors at work that you might not be fully aware that you’re holding onto translating phsyically.
You might feel it throughout the day, and it’s weighing you down at work, and at home, but unsure
It could be coming from your coworkers or boss, unintentionally from a conversation that you had with your coworker who is experiencing something personally difficult. It could also be a big project that the team is launching, and everyone is under pressure to get it done, and feeling stressed out.
Many workplaces understand how stressors affect the workforce, and have instituted perks that help with workday stress like free massages, or chiropractic sessions.
The World Federation for Mental Health has also created a holiday, Mental Health Day held on October 10th to promote awareness around mental health.
A Meditation Practice Can Help Reduce Stress
There have been numerous studies done that show mediation can reduce the effects of stress, and anxiety.
The Harvard Health Journal highlighted a study on October 3, 2017, conducted by John’s Hopkins University where they reviewed nearly 18,000 studies on the effects of meditation, selecting only 47 trials that met their criteria. The results showed that participants who meditated, experienced a decrease in stress, and anxiety.
The David Lynch Foundation also conducted a study focusing on workplace stress with 40 high school teachers to look at effects of meditation on stress and anxiety levels. The results from this study showed similar findings on meditation as a method to reduce work place stress.
So, when you come home from your workday, and you’re exhausted, and may not know why, taking a moment in your day to scan your thoughts and body may be a good way to determine what might be holding onto.
By taking even five minutes to yourself to meditate you can see what comes up during your mediation may not be as direct, but simply noticing is a good way to create space and distance from whatever is going on.
If we can create space this is one way we can contribute to a stress free environment is understanding how we feel, and clear any unfriendly emotions before we bring it to work or home.
After all like anything, things pass, it’s just when we are in the middle of tornado of feelings, where it can be difficult to process.
By taking that time, we can become more productive, happier, possibly lose the stress weight, and hopefully thrive.