Want to stress less? Try practicing mindfulness!

July 24th is Stress Down Day, an initiative designed to raise awareness around stress in the workplace, and an opportunity to raise vital funds for Lifeline Australia.

If you want to stress less, practising mindfulness can help. Mindfulness is "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally to things as they are" (Williams, Segal & Teasdale, 2007, p. 47). Many rigorous studies conducted over the last forty years confirm the stress-reduction effect of this learnable skill.

So, how does mindfulness, practised as meditation, lead to stress reduction? To answer that question, let's start by understanding stress. Stress is a healthy response to any situation when a person encounters a challenge and has to mobilise their psychological, physical and social resources to address it. Some stress is good because challenges allow personal and professional growth and development. They provide the stimulation necessary to satisfy our psychological needs. The type of stress that has negative consequences for well-being emerges when we perceive that we lack resources to meet the challenge(s), and this situation persists. Perception is a complex subjective process. As Stephen Covey famously said, "We see the world, not as it is, but as we are – or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect, describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms." This explains the role of perception in triggering stress - it is not unusual to overestimate a challenge or underestimate one's resources to either engage with a stressor or remove ourselves from it.

Practising mindfulness changes some processes in the brain that relate to how we perceive what is happening and what actions we choose to take as a result. After eight weeks of even short (12-13 minutes) but regular daily practice, several brain areas implicated in the experience of stress undergo a change resulting in enhanced control over directing and focusing one's attention, improved emotion regulation and increased self-awareness.

Suggestions for individuals:

You can start your mindfulness practice by training attention to focus on the present moment. Guided meditations (eg: Headspace app), yoga practice, and martial arts are good options. Alternatively, you can choose a simple daily activity (eg: cooking, eating, having a cup of tea/coffee, playing with your child, walking), and for a few minutes, immerse yourself in it completely, engaging as many senses (smell, taste, hearing, touch, vision) as you can. The exercise involves noticing when the mind wanders somewhere else and returning it to the activity.

People with a history of generalised anxiety disorder, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder should limit meditation sessions to 10-12 minutes unless they practice under professional supervision. Certain types of meditation may not be suitable.

Suggestions for organisations:

Organisations can offer employees a mindfulness app subscription, which is a cost-effective solution. Another option is a mindfulness training program that allows for deeper skill learning and creating a peer support community, among other benefits. Although there are numerous programs on the market, the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction methodology stands out due to the rigorous peer-reviewed evaluation of its effectiveness and adaptability to the specific needs of participants and their organisational context.  
While mindfulness training can reduce stress and increase employees' well-being, it will have a limited impact on moderating chronic workplace stress caused by an imbalance between job resources and job demands. This problem requires a systemic organisational solution.