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Does the workplace damage your brain?
Mon 12 Sep 2005 09:37 am CST
IOWA (myDNA News)
To learn more visit myDNA's Mental Health Center Read More
Everyone is aware of the damage job stress can do to the heart - consider the
elevated risks of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.
But what can stress do to the brain - to vital executive functions, such as
planning, decision-making and problem-solving abilities, even moral reasoning?
On Friday, September 30, a panel of medical researchers and business leaders
will
participate in the first annual national brain conference for business,
entitled,
"Is the Workplace Bad for Your Brain?"
The conference, which will be webcast nationally, will explore the impact of job
stress on the brain - and will present new research showing the effects of
Transcendental Meditation on executive brain functioning.
Stressful experiences lead to dysfunctions of the prefrontal cortex
According to conference panelist Dr. Gary Kaplan, a Long Island neurologist and
clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine, the
high
stress, long hours, bad diet, and substance abuse that permeate the workplace
can
take a terrible toll on the brain.
"Stressful experiences lead to dysfunctions of the prefrontal cortex - the
so-called
'CEO' of the brain - which regulates critical areas governing judgment,
planning,
decision making, moral reasoning, and sense of self. Over time, this can lead to
impulsive, short-sighted, even violent behavior; increased anxiety; depression;
alcohol and drug abuse; memory loss; and an increase of other stress-related
diseases," Dr. Kaplan said.
Reversing the debilitating effects of job stress
To counter the damage of stress, more and more business people are turning to
effective non-medicinal antidotes, such as Transcendental Meditation, which
research
shows produces a state of "restful alertness" in the brain - the opposite of the
stressful 'fight-or-flight' response.
"The experience of restful alertness gained during TM reverses the debilitating
effects of stress on the prefrontal cortex. It integrates frontal lobe
functioning
and the connections of frontal areas to the rest of the brain - the basis of
sound
judgment and therefore good leadership," says neuroscientist Fred Travis,
director
of the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition at Maharishi University of
Management, and one of the world's most published researchers in the field of
meditation and brain functioning.
Conference panelist Jeffrey Abramson, partner in the Tower Companies, a
prominent
Washington, D.C.-based commercial development company, will speak during the
conference on his company's use of the new "EEG Stress Test and Brain
Integration
Score Card" to assess the impact of job stress on the brain functioning of
meditating employees.
In addition, Dr. Travis will measure the brain wave coherence of a meditating
executive to demonstrate unique EEG changes experienced during TM practice.
Over $20 million in NIH-funded research
Research on the effects of Transcendental Meditation on brain functioning is
coming
to the forefront after nearly two decades of research on cardiovascular
disease. The
CVD research, which has been funded by over $20 million in grants from the
National
Institutes of Health, has found the TM technique reduces high blood pressure,
heart
disease, stroke, and the use of antihypertensive medication - as well as
decreases
death rate by 23 percent.
Transcendental Meditation was introduced to the world 50 years ago by Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi. The technique is now practiced by six million people of all ages,
religions, and nationalities.
Special guest: Film director David Lynch to address business conference
Award-winning film director David Lynch, who last month established a new
foundation
to bring the benefits of Transcendental Meditation to America's stressed-out
schools, will address the business conference. Mr. Lynch is also speaking at
NYU's
Cantor Film Center on "Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain" on Thursday,
September 29, 7 p.m., an event sponsored by the NYU Directors' Series.
The business conference proceedings will be webcast live, nationally, from 1
p.m. to
3 p.m. (Eastern) at www.businessbrain.mum.edu.
To learn more visit myDNA's Mental Health Center Read More
------------------------------------------------------------------------Reviewed:
September 12, 2005 Rick Nauert PhD
Source:
Maharishi University of Management
Copyright: ©Maharishi University of Management
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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