Is mindfulness the antidote to burnout?

By Isobel Williams via SWNS

Practicing mindfulness at work can protect against stress, anxiety, and burnout, according to a new study.

New research suggests that being mindful is an important part of a healthy working life in the 21st century, where most employees are moving to a digital workplace.

Mindfulness is defined as a state of consciousness that involves paying attention in the present moment intentionally and non-judgementally.

The study showed that employees who were more mindful were less exposed to adverse impacts of the dark side of the digital workplace.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham analyzed survey data from 142 employees.

The participants in the study were surveyed about their experiences of the dark side effects of the digital workplace which were identified as; stress, overload, anxiety, fear of missing out and addiction and how these affected their health.

The results, published in PLOS ONE, showed that more digitally confident workers were less likely to experience digital workplace anxiety, while those with higher mindfulness were better protected against the dark side effects.

PhD student Elizabeth Marsh from the School of Psychology said: “As work is increasingly mediated by digital technology, we wanted to find out the impact this is having on people’s health and whether there are ways to mitigate this.

“We found that being mindfully and confidently digital should be considered important elements of living a healthy digital working life in the 21st century.”

Data from 14 interviews also indicated ways that digital mindfulness can help protect well-being.

Associate professor Alexa Spence added: “Digital workplace technologies like e-mail, instant messaging and mobile devices have been shown to contribute to perceptions of stress by employees and employees may experience stress when having to adapt to a constantly evolving digital workplace which can lead to burnout and poorer health.”

The team hopes that their findings will encourage more people to work on their mindfulness, and in turn, improve their mental health.

Professor Elvira Perez Vallejos said: “The research shows that organisations need to consider how to manage digital workplace hazards alongside other psychosocial and physical risks in the workplace.

“Helping employees foster mindful awareness when working digitally could really help overall well-being.”