A Meditation Solution for Nurses

 

This week’s post starts out with the results of a study, focusing on the methods used, etc. If you’re not into research that much, the take-away here is that you don’t need to invest tons of time learning how to meditate just to get some benefit. That’s really important! Most people won’t even start because they’re already stressed out about time. ***PLUS – how you could benefit from an easy online course in meditation. Read on…

 

Not Enough Time to Meditate?

 

Don’t have time for a meditation class? There may be a solution for you!

What if you could take a class just once, and with practice, attain a degree of meditative skill that would positively benefit you?

Well, that’s what researchers at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota attempted to do using a meditative technique called Paced Breathing Meditation.

In an article published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (2011 May-Jun;17(3):46-9), researchers concluded that from a single-session meditating training, followed by a four-week practice schedule of 5, 15 or 30 minutes, participants experienced a significant improvement from baseline in scores on Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), (3) Linear Analogue Self-Assessment (LASA), and the (4) Smith Anxiety Scale (SAS).

The participants were healthy employees of a tertiary healthcare facility. Additionally, all participants were female; median age was 48 years (range 33-60 yrs). The 5-minute meditation session was practiced by 14 participants a total of 137 times during the 4-week trial period, the 15-minute session by 16 participants a total of 223 times, and the 30-minute session by 13 participants 71 times. The median number of days practiced was 25 (range 10-28 d); the average total time practiced was 394 minutes (range 55-850 min).

After the four-week period, scores on the PSS, LASA and SAS improved. The researchers concluded that 15-minutes once or twice a day was the most feasible amount of time to practice.

 

Short-Duration Meditation Classes Work!

 

These results are consistent with a previous study, Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks, in which researcher Sara Lazar and her colleagues at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital showed that in as little as 8 weeks, practicing for 27-minutes a day, participants were able to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

What both of these studies remind us is that real observable change in how you feel, how you respond to stress, even how your brain works is easily accessible to you if you make the effort. And these results can have real, positive and beneficial effects on your life and on the lives of those who you live, work and interact with.

 

Why Meditate?

If you need a reason to meditate, I’ve got…about a hundred!!

Okay, so we know that meditation works. And, we also know that meditation can be learned over a short period of time and have positive effects even after a single session of training.

Can working as a nurse be stressful? What, am I kidding you? Okay, that was a joke. Let me ask you a few things:

    • Do you ever feel stuck thinking of new ways to deal with stress?
    • Even though you know that stress is harmful to your body, do you find yourself struggling to “keep it together” at work?
    • Would you like an easy-to-use way to deal with stress so that it doesn’t burn you out?
    • Would you like to have more energy and focus at work?
    • Would you like to know that your patients are safe, and that the care that you’re delivering is the very best?

Science has repeatedly proven that mindfulness and meditation practices can antidote the negative effects of stress, even helping you to experience stressful situations differently.

If I were to tell you that it’s a fact that learning how to meditate will DEFINITELY reduce the impact that stress has on you, would you say – “Great, where do I sign up?” Yes! Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to provide you with.

 

A Short LIVE Online Course on Meditation Just for You!

In response to hundreds of emails that I’ve received asking me whether I’ll be offering (“short,” “concise,” “easy to use,” “inexpensive”) online courses on how to relieve stress through meditation, I’m creating a pilot program to see whether a LIVE online program would work and what would be the best format for such a program.

In a few weeks, if you’re a subscriber on this site, you’ll be receiving an email from me with details. Keep your eyes open for that email. (Shhh, it’s not public yet…)

Until then, here are some tools to get you started:

 

Do You Need Something More Than This?

I encourage you to look through the HUNDREDS of articles that I’ve written and especially check out my weekly meditation tips and other useful meditation materials provided for your health and well being. And please let me know if you’d like to discuss anything with me, have any questions or need clarification regarding anything that I’ve written about.