Mindfulness improves sleep quality. This helps to better manage stress, especially at work.
- Mindfulness contributes to better quality sleep.
- This could be linked to its action on our management of emotions, both negative and positive.
- It could be used to help overcome work-related stress.
Work can be stressful. For some people, this can lead to insomnia. A study from the University of South Florida suggests that practicing mindfulness meditation could help. According to the findings, published in the journal Health Psychologymindfulness can reduce stress and improve sleep quality. This state is defined like paying attention to the present moment.”It’s about being fully in touch with the present moment rather than reliving the past or anticipating the future.”specifies theLaval University in Canada. It can be practiced in different ways: in sitting meditation or walking meditation, during a yoga session but also in everyday activities. In the latter case, it involves accomplishing tasks by focusing on the moment and the activity itself.
Sleep and mindfulness: a study conducted with nurses
For this work, the researchers recruited 144 nurses. They specify that the profession interested them because of the “long and irregular hours” and of ““the very stressful work environment”which often lead to sleep problems. For two weeks, they monitored their health, their ability to stay focused on their current action, and the frequency of negative thoughts, including through questionnaires, completed three times a day. The participants also provided information on the quality of their sleep.We know that good sleep regenerates us physically and psychologically, and makes us happier, safer and even more efficient at work.says Claire Smith, study author and assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Florida. We wanted to explore which aspects of sleep are influenced by mindfulness and why.“
Analysis of the responses and data shows that mindfulness helps nurses experience fewer negative emotions.The findings highlight the link between mindfulness and emotion regulation, as well as how people cope with stressful situations, such as a challenge at work,” observes the author of the study.
Stress and sleep: how to improve health at work?
“Mindfulness is a hot topic, but we need to understand why it workssays Claire Smith. Our research involves going back to the drawing board to understand the reasons behind the benefits of mindfulness at work.” For the scientist, these results could “help employers make better decisions about implementing strategies to improve the health of their workers”.
She cites in particular the implementation of programs in companies, based on yoga or mindfulness meditation. The scientist and her team recommend continuing work on these subjects to “explore the best methods to reduce work-related stress and how they apply to different professions, including more traditional office environments outside of healthcare”.
