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Ed Yeates ReportingNew studies funded by the National Institutes of Health say meditation is good business. New data suggests the practice may pay off in board rooms and executive offices as a way to lower blood pressure and stress.
We visited the office of Scott Shields. He's part of a highly competitive insurance business that brings in about 40 million dollars in premiums per year. He's one of three partners who started this business. What he makes depends not on salary, but commissions alone.
Scott Shields, Universal Business Insurance: "I experience a pretty fair degree of anxiety and worry with regard to am I going to be able to continue to make a livelihood."
But Scott has something going for him now that the American Journal of Cardiology says may help him live longer. In the morning and at night at home, and again during the day at work, he takes twenty minutes out to meditate.
Scott Shields: "If I didn't have this practice of meditation to relieve the stress, twice a day, it would be a whole different ballgame. Close the eyes, wait a half minute or something, start the simple mental technique. The mind settles down and you just kind of subjectively going oh yes."
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health found meditation helped reduce not only stress, but high blood pressure and the need to use anti-hypertensive drugs. Scott believes his meditation pays off in multiple ways.
Scott Shields: “No kidding, I'm just like I'm starting my day. I'm fresh. I'm clear. I'm friendly. I'm ready to engage with enthusiasm."
The NIH hypertension study was the first of its kind, but not the first to show the benefits of meditation.
