Employees who used nondirective meditation experienced significant benefits in the workplace.
These included reduced muscular pain, reduced sleep problems, fewer worries, and less nervousness and mental distress. Stress reduction made it easier for active, working professionals to cope with pressure at work. Acem Meditation—a nondirective technique—may prevent negative health reactions due to stress.
This systematic study of Acem Meditation in real-life contexts encompassed six large Norwegian companies, and was the first study of its kind. The study compared the effects of learning and practicing a stress management technique with just listening to a lecture about stress reactions and stress management (Hersoug, Wærsted & Lau, 2018).
Two previous pilot studies on Acem Meditation in Scandinavian companies have been undertaken. The first study was part of a stress management program for locomotive engineers. The findings showed nondirective meditation to have a significant stress-reduction effect, whereas neither progressive relaxation nor “not learning any technique” had such effects (Westlund & Holen, 2008). The second study investigated the effects of a stress reduction program for elderly employees, with significantly better results in the meditation group than the control group, regarding worries, sleep problems, and coping with pressure (Hersoug, Smeby, Wærsted & Holen, 2008).
In addition, two early studies investigated the effects of other nondirective meditation methods among working professionals. Peters, Benson, and Porter (1977) found significant differences between the group who learned the Relaxation Response and the control group. Carrington et al. (1980) compared the effects of three techniques in a stress-reduction program in industry, two of them nondirective and one directive. The participants who practiced nondirective meditation obtained a significantly greater reduction of stress symptoms than did the others. According to Carrington, “the safe and inexpensive semi-automated meditation training has considerable value for stress-management programs in organizational settings.” Both studies are described in more detail in chapter 6.
In companies with high demands regarding achievement and productivity, a central aspect of employees’ competence is their capability to manage challenges and stressful situations. A recent study found that meditation practice positively influenced job performance, job satisfaction, and work engagement (Shiba, Nishimoto, Sugimoto & Ishikawa, 2015).
The recent study of Acem Meditation explored its effects on stress reactions in working professionals without prior meditation experience. The aim was to find out more about the difference systematic practice of meditation would make. The areas that were investigated represent common complaints, where experience suggests that meditation could be expected to have an effect. Although the expectation was that the practice of a nondirective meditation technique would yield a greater effect than simply listening to a lecture on stress reactions and stress management, it was an open question as to how great the difference would be. The participants were employees in one of six large Norwegian companies. They were healthy and wanted stress reduction with a relaxation technique, but were not looking for medical treatment of any particular ailment.
The study investigated the most common kinds of daily hassles that have the potential to reduce the quality of life in periods of stress: bodily pain, sleep problems, mental distress, worries, and nervousness. The questions regarding mental distress measured differences over the previous two weeks regarding such issues as, e.g., “enjoy[ing] normal activities,” “[being] capable of making decisions,” “fac[ing] up to problems,” or “losing confidence.” The questions regarding worries and nervousness measured whether or not these were characteristic for the person, e.g.: “Do you ever feel ‘just miserable’ for no reason?” “Would you call yourself a nervous person?” “Are you a worrier?” “Do you worry too long after an embarrassing experience?”
At the outset, the participants in both groups attended the same lecture on stress reactions and stress management. After this, the meditation group learned Acem Meditation and started practicing the technique. The control group only attended the lecture, and did not learn any relaxation technique. Both groups filled out the same questionnaires during the study period. The questionnaires were standardized, widely-used international scales that measure various stress reactions: General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Neuroticism subscale (EPQ–N), Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS), and Musculoskeletal pain. The questionnaires were completed at the outset and again after two months, three months, and six months. There were 73 participants in the meditation group and 43 in the control group. The age range was 29–59 years. Since randomization was not possible in this study, further research with a randomized controlled design is warranted.
The expectations were met; Acem Meditation contributed to significant positive bodily effects as well as psychological benefits for those who learned the technique. After two months, the participants had less muscular pain (-28%), fewer sleep problems (-23%), less nervousness and fewer worries (-33%), and less mental distress (-14%) (see Figure 8.1). The obtained effects remained stable throughout the study period of six months. While the meditators obtained substantial positive effects from their practice, the control group had increased muscle pain and nonsignificant reductions in the three other scores.
Figure 8.1. Improvements in the meditation group. The figure compares sleep problems, nervousness, mental distress, and muscle pain before and after the course. The turquoise columns show the scores in stress-related complaints prior to learning Acem Meditation. The yellow columns show the scores after two months of practice. The improvements were statistically significant for all four measures. The columns illustrate the changes in the meditation group for the participants who completed the questionnaires—with the mean score and error bars that indicate the standard error of the mean.
Worries and mental distress make us repeatedly go over a thought or problem without coming to a resolution (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000), a mental activity often referred to as rumination. This repetitive mindset may be broken in nondirective meditation, where a myriad of spontaneous thoughts and feelings emerge in consciousness. As the mind becomes more open to all kinds of spontaneous activity, rumination will no longer dominate.
The study showed that Acem Meditation contributes to personal change in the form of less worrying and nervousness. Each meditation session represents training in stress tolerance, with an impact at work as well as in daily life. The changes that take place during meditation contribute to loosening up fixed patterns of reactions.
A personal style characterized by worries and nervousness is associated with emotional vulnerability (“Are your feelings easily hurt?”), negative affect (“Are you an irritable person?”) or neuroticism (“Do you suffer from ‘nerves’?”) (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1969). The meditation group obtained significant reduction of this style (EPQ–N), suggesting that the experience of stress may change with meditation. How we perceive a stressful situation determines whether or not we feel capable of coping with it (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Not surprisingly, acquired knowledge of stress alone, without practicing a relaxation technique, made no significant difference. The magnitude of the difference between the two groups was, however, striking. Acem Meditation used as a stress management technique was shown to be a positive supplement to other measures a company puts forward, both to reduce negative health impacts of stress and to improve the capacity to cope with stressors at work and in daily life. The method is self-administered and may easily be used for regular relaxation and to reduce current stress. The study showed that working professionals with stressful demands may be helped by the relaxation technique in that they may manage their jobs more easily, recover from accumulated stress, and prevent future stress from accumulating. The key seems to be to let the body and mind relax in between the tasks of daily life and recover more quickly when there is a high level of stress.
Carrington, P., Collings, G. H., Benson, H., Robinson, H., Wood, L. W., Lehrer, P. M., Woolfolk, R. L. & Cole, J. W. (1980). The use of meditation: Relaxation techiniques for the management of stress in a working population. Journal of Occupational Medicine 22, pp. 221–231.
Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1969). Personality structure and measurement. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Hersoug, A. G., Wærsted, M. & Lau, B. (2018): Nondirective meditation used in stress management, Nordic Psychology, 70(4), pp. 290–303. DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2018.1443278
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Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(3), pp. 504–511.
Peters, R. K., Benson, H. & Porter, D. (1977). Daily relaxation response breaks in a working population: I. Effects on self-reported measures of health, performance, and well-being. American Journal of Public Health 67(10), pp. 946–953.
Shiba, K., Nishimoto, M., Sugimoto, M. & Ishikawa, Y. (2015). The association between meditation practice and job performance: A cross-sectional study. PLOS One, 10(5), e0128287. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128287
Westlund, P. & Holen, A. (2008). Sleep, alertness and quality of life. In S. Davanger, H. Eifring & A. G. Hersoug (Eds.), Fighting stress: Reviews of meditation research (pp. 129–139). Oslo: Acem Publishing.