April/May 2018 57
FROM TOP: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/BENEDIKT VON LOEBELL; COURTESY OF DR. LUCAS CAMPOS
basis of treating depression via meditation. “With meditation
and mindfulness, you can achieve a state of ‘quieting the brain’ of
its negative thoughts and avoid overthinking without the use of
synthetic drugs.” That, she adds, “is often the goal of antidepressants.”
She credits mindful meditation with keeping her mind
focused despite her own hyper-paced research schedule. “Taking
a few minutes to center myself before I head into work
helps me see beyond the constant distraction and hone
in on breakthroughs in the lab.”
Campos, who treats many overstimulated techies,
also prefers prescribing a regimen of mindful meditation
over meds, specially in his anxiety-ridden millennial
patient population. “I encourage my patients
to take the time to tune into their thoughts in order
to calm their minds, practice prioritizing quiet time
and tune out information overload, a steady trigger of
anxious thoughts.”
Mindfulness Makes Money
Tech giants with campuses that offer every amenity
under the sun may seem like cradles of innovation, but
these “never need to leave” environments can put unrealistic
expectations on employees who are subject to
burnout before the notion of slowing down ever occurs
to them. Dr. Campos has found that steering frazzled,
24-hour-work-cycle patients away from medication
reduces costs for them and, as a result, their employers.
Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Joel
Goh estimates that workplace stress is responsible for
up to 8 percent of national spending on health care and
contributes to 120,000 deaths a year.
“But traditionally in the U.S., we have
not placed a lot of emphasis on the role
of workplace stress in the high cost of
health care.”
Which, of course, is why a healthier
work-life balance that incorporates
mindfulness makes dollars and sense.
According to a study cited by the American
Psychological Association, workers
who reported high levels of stress were
estimated to incur nearly 50 percent
more in health care expenditures.
Mere Minutes A Day
“Mindfulness Meditation practice begins
with just one breath,” says Chade-
Meng Tan, Google’s now-retired personal
and spiritual development guru. Meng
was one of Google’s earliest employees. He is renowned as the
engineer who helped build Google’s first mobile search service,
and headed the team that managed the company’s search quality.
But today his official title was “Jolly Good Fellow (which nobody
can deny).” The merry moniker was actually on his business card.
As Meng likes to put it, he’s engineered a way to create the “con-
JON KABAT-ZINN
TEACHING
MINDFULNESS
MEDITATION
In theory, mindfulness could
not be simpler. It describes
the mind-body state of being
fully present in the moment.
DR. LUCAS
CAMPOS