Absences due to workplace stress are estimated to cost about $3.5 billion per year, according to one estimate from The Canadian Policy Research Networks. However, when employers take steps to balance workload, environment, control, reward, fairness and values they can help improve employee wellness and boost productivity.
Dr. Michael Leiter, co-author of The Truth About Burnout, outlines on his website Workengagement.com
Happiness at home may equal happiness at work, according to a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
Assistant professor Nathan Bowling at Wright State University and a team of researchers analyzed 223 studies that were completed between 1967 and 2008, all of which looked at the correlation between general contentedness and happiness at work. They found that people who had a positive outlook on life in general also enjoyed their jobs more than those who felt negatively about life.
Bowling said the results may not bode well for those seeking happiness through their careers. He and his team found stronger links between a general positivity and a subsequent satisfaction in the workplace than job satisfaction and a subsequent overall happiness.
“These results suggest that if people are, or are predisposed to be, happy and satisfied in life generally, then they will be likely to be happy and satisfied in their work,” said Bowling. “However, the flipside of this finding could be that those people who are dissatisfied generally and who seek happiness through their work, may not find job satisfaction. Nor might they increase their levels of overall happiness by pursuing it.”
While a job may not have the power to instill overall happiness, workplace stress can certainly have an impact on general well-being. As a result, companies that make efforts to reduce their workers’ stress levels tend to also boost employee performance.
Anger can be defined in many ways: from a loss of calmness, displeasure or irritation, to hostility or rage. When anger takes control, it is nearly impossible to focus on anything except that which has made us angry. Feelings of anger might dissipate after a few moments, linger for a day or take hold for months or years. Sadly, many people lead lives of one volatile encounter after another and don’t know why or how to overcome anger.
“When you have a long history with anger, when you’ve put a lot of emotional energy into that anger, you’ve imprinted a pattern in your brain that’s hard to break.”
Anger often starts off as something small and builds. You’re impatient, irritation grows, judgment leads to blame and now you’re angry. Justified or not, the anger causes incoherence in your heart rhythms that activates stress hormones. Research has shown one five-minute episode of anger is so stressful it impairs your immune system for more than six hours.
Eliminating anger and the longstanding habits that allow anger to trigger can be hard at first. The good news is HeartMath techniques have been proven effective in breaking the cycle of anger and all of its consequences. The techniques are very easy to learn and are based on extensive scientific research that has revealed how the heart and the brain communicate.
“Search your heart,” the saying goes, for therein lies the answer. Heart intelligence, we now know, is a resource that not only can help us overcome anger, but can guide us in transforming our entire lives as well and the process can be scientifically monitored.
“In recent years, neuroscientists have made an exciting discovery. They’ve found that the heart has its own independent nervous system – a complex system referred to as ‘the brain in the heart.’ The heart’s intrinsic brain and nervous system relay information back to the brain in the cranium, creating a two-way communication system between heart and brain.”
Transforming Anger: The HeartMath® Solution for Letting Go of Rage, Frustration, and Irritation Childre, Rozman, 2003
If you feel you can’t control your anger, this book offers you hope as well as practical tools to help you succeed. You’ll learn what researchers and scientists have learned: The human heart has intelligence all its own that you can tap into to overcome anger, stress and much more. Also includes complete details of the Go to Neutral Tool.
The moment a feeling of anger starts to arise is the time to employ this simple exercise adapted from the HeartMath Go to Neutral Tool.
“The relationship between anger, heart attacks and other adverse health effects is well documented. You can learn how to not only defuse this deadly emotion, but how you can transform it into positive feelings.”
I live in the UK with my husband and 2 beautiful young sons Sam and Alex. Alex turned 2 in January and has for many months now been waking 4 or 5 times a night, and more recently ending up in bed with me in a bid that we would all get back to sleep. This indeed was only serving to reduce his ability to sleep on his own. I was feeling constantly exhausted. It was becoming more and more difficult to tackle the sleeping issue because of my exhaustion and I was becoming more and more stressed every day.
I acquired my emWave in February having received heart resilence training through one of your excellent partners in the UK (EI World), and was lucky zach spacer enough to enjoy a large amount of input from Bruce Cryer, President of HeartMath LLC at that training. I’ve used the emWave as often as two young children have allowed since then, and my husband has been helping to deal with Alex on alternate nights so that I’ve had more regular nights of less disturbed sleep.
One night last week I decided to crack the poor sleeping habit that my son has developed and when he woke at 12:30am crying for me I took him to my office where we’d laid out a tempoary cot so that his frantic screaming was less likely to disturb the rest of the household. I placed him in his cot and sat in my office chair so that he knew he was safe and I was there. I was determined not to comfort him because this pattern has led to more of the same behaviour, so I let him cry. As a mother this is incredibly hard to do because our natural instinct is to comfort. He screamed and screamed for 50 mins calling my name, and asking to come into my bed. Normally this would have wrenched at my heart and I would have given in. However, I attached the emWave to my ear and breathed slowly, visualising my heart swelling with love and compassion. The light went green and I can honestly say that for about 80% of the time the light stayed green. I was able to enjoy the view from the window of my office as the night sky twinkled over the sleeping town where I live. For the first time I could recognise my two year olds cries were his way of testing boundaries. Finally, he fell asleep on his own for the rest of the night and I went to bed beautifully peaceful and content.
Since that night my son has woken only towards late morning rather than every couple of hours throughout the night. I am now more watchful for the times in the day when he tests his boundaries and am able to calmly deal with his tantrums in an assertive and loving way. I shall continue to use the emWave and the techniques of care and compassion for myself, and for my family and look forward to transversing the stages of childhood in a much less stressful way.
Cardiologist, Stephen Jennison and his multidisciplinary team, which includes his wife Becky Aud-Jennison, a licensed clinical professional counselor, treat cardiac patients and specialize in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services of congestive heart failure. They teach patients about the connection between stress, anxiety, depression and heart disease and use techniques that help their patients handle the emotional challenges associated with heart disease. Dr. Jennison and Becky Aud-Jennison share how they have integrated HeartMath techniques and the emWave technology into their patient lifestyle management program along with a brief description of the research study they’re conducting using HeartMath techniques and technologies with their patients.
For years they were at war with each other. They would avoid communicating with each other at all costs because it was inevitable that it would end in a screaming match. They met with a psychologist to talk about divorce as a solution. Instead the psychologist introduced Tammy and Reynir to HeartMath. Through HeartMath tools and emWave practice they soon learned that while they thought they were listening, they had never really heard each other. The years of stacked feelings of hurt, frustration and judgments were blocking their ability to really hear the other person. They used HeartMath tools and the emWave PSR as a method that allowed them to take individual responsibility for what they brought to their conversations. Through simple daily practices they learned how to really hear the other and how to talk with each other from a place of care and compassion, and at times even disagree with each other but without the drama. The experience has brought them closer together. Tammy says, “Reynir and I have fallen in love all over again.”
John is a 57 year old male with reversed congestive heart failure and reversed diabetes type 2. John has had 6 heart attacks, five angioplasties, and a double CABG bypass. John’s cardiologist introduced him to HeartMath® and John learned how to use HeartMath’s Freeze Frame® technique to stop any stressful emotions that would otherwise exacerbate his physical challenges. He uses the emWave frequently and says that this has played a great part in his ability to change his unhealthy habits and keep him focused. John says he never would have believed the effects possible had he not tried it. John is now free of his air tank most of the time. He has also lost over 70 pounds and continues to lose. He now walks 2 miles a day on his treadmill, and he does 4 miles a day on a recumbent bike, 100 sit-ups, 60 squats, and 50 calf extensions. John is a walking miracle and we’re so glad he’s here to share his story.
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