Mindfulness versus Physical Exercise: Effects of Two Recovery Strategies on Mental Health, Stress and Immunoglobulin A during Lunch Breaks. A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

This research analyses the effects of mindfulness meditation (MM) and physical exercise (PE), practised as daily recovery activities during lunch breaks, on perceived stress, general mental health, and immunoglobin A (IgA). A three-armed randomized controlled trial with 94 employees was conducted for five weeks including two follow-up sessions after one and six months. Daily practice lasted 30 min maximum. Perceived stress and general mental health questionnaires and saliva samples were used. There were significant differences in time factor comparing pre-and post-test of Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) both for PE [Mdiff = 0.10, SE = 0.03, p = 0.03], and for MM [Mdiff = 0.09, SE = 0.03, p = 0.03]. Moreover, there were significant differences of interaction factor when comparing MM vs. PE in total score at pre-post [F = −2.62 (6, 168.84), p = 0.02, ω 2 = 0.09], favoring PE with medium and high effect sizes. Regarding General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) variable, practicing MM showed significant effects in time factor compared to pre-Fup2. No significant differences were found for IgA. Thus, practicing both MM and PE as recovery strategies during lunch breaks could reduce perceived stress after five weeks of practice, with better results for PE. Moreover, practicing MM could improve mental health with effects for 6 months.for conducting research on immune function [15][16][17]. Nevertheless, the relationship between sIgA responses and stressors is not linear, since sIgA increases as a response to both relaxation and stressors [18,19]. Therefore, it has been proposed that acute stress may potentially enhance the immune system as an adaptive response [20], while chronic stress produces a decline in immune functioning, associated with high susceptibility to infectious diseases [21,22].Work and workplace-related issues are common sources of stress [23]. Work-related stress is associated with a decrease in productivity, increased absenteeism, accidents and injuries, mental illness, increased errors and poor performance, conflictive relations, somatic symptom disorders and even alcohol and drug abuse [24]. According to the International Labour Organization (2016) [25], stress is responsible for 30% of all work-related disorders. In the European Union, workplace stress has a negative impact on the wellbeing of 22% of the total labour force [26] and these data are expected to rise in the future [27,28].All this implies significant financial costs to society. In the European Union, the cost of work-related depression is estimated at € 617 billion a year, including costs to employers resulting from absenteeism and presenteeism (€ 272 billion), loss of productivity (€ 242 billion), health care costs (€ 63 billion) and social welfare costs due to disability benefit payments (€ 39 billion) [29].In this context, it seems crucial to find effective solutions. Sometimes, employees seek help to develop stress management strategies through psychotherapy, training courses, effective communication techniques, social support and re...

How Do Teleworkers and Organizations Manage the COVID-19 Crisis in Brazil? The Role of Flexibility I-Deals and Work Recovery in Maintaining Sustainable Well-Being at Work

“…We could interpret that one year of the COVID-19 pandemic increased the quantitative and qualitative demands, and even Mastery and Control drained in the long run, harming exhausted people who needed to protect their scarce resources [ 51 , 58 , 80 ]; this interpretation is aligned with the COR theory [ 51 ]. He relaxation experience, which shows no effect on the Meaning of Work clusters, reveals an essential and protective experience for positive emotions, replicating previous results [ 60 ]. These results provide a new nuance of the recovery experience repercussions.…”

“…Hence, happy and productive employees recover by choosing their leisure activities and carrying out challenging leisure experiences. These results align with a study that found that old teachers benefited more from control and mastery during the off-job time [ 21 ], but did not support previous research in recovery related to relaxation experience [ 60 ].…”

“…Second, we showed how teleworkers develop individual resources that self-aid their recovery. For instance, upon the scarcity of resources due to the fear of viral infection (e.g., no social contact or going to public places), the use of relaxation-orientation activities through mindfulness [ 60 ] helps manage the stressful demands of work and the uncertain environment, which is in line with COR theory [ 51 , 58 ].…”

“…On the one hand, having work demands and facing stressful events leads to a stress spiral that may result in burnout, which has many consequences for work outputs and health [ 59 ]. On the other hand, increasing internal resources such as energy (physical exercise [ 60 ], self-efficacy employing experiences of mastery and control [ 61 ], or positive mood [ 62 ]) will additionally help to restore threatened resources [ 63 ]. This long-term perspective was the reason to conduct this research at the two peak times of outbreak death cases in Brazil; we tested the same model in both.…”

Sport and physical activity participation in the workplace: the role of employees' self-perception

“…A five-month workplace SPA program, including endurance, stretching and resistance exercises, showed small significant effects in improving cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance for tertiary employees (Genin et al, 2017). Lunchtime PA could also promote employees' well-being by reducing perceived stress and improving recovery from cognitive workload (D ıaz-Silveira et al, 2020). A 12-week static stretching program (progressive muscle lengthening and holding for 20-30 s) improved the quality of life of employees (Holzgreve et al, 2020).…”