Most employees in the workplace perform while mostly sitting. Prolonged sitting and lack of exercise lead to a number of negative physical and psychological consequences that can be successfully prevented with increased physical activity. To determine the impact of physical activity on some psychological dimensions of employees, we used the methodology "Feldenkrais for Business"™, which treats the body and mind as an inseparable whole.
With this master's thesis, we wanted to find out how regular implementation of the "Feldenkrais for Business"™ method, affects the improvement of cognitive abilities of employees and their ability to cope with stress. Both are the basis for satisfactory and productive work in the company, as well as necessary, to reduce the problem of absenteeism.
The survey included 96 employees from a Slovenian pharmaceutical company called Lek. We used anonymous questionnaires that contained basic information about employees. To determine stress levels and stress responses, we used a questionnaire (Tušak and Kovač, 2014), on the basis of which we prepared the psychological dimensions of coping with stress before and after the implementation of the exercise program "Feldenkrais for Business"™. The effect of exercise on the change in cognitive abilities was measured by two neuropsychological tests: The Stroop color-word test (TST) and the Trail-making test (TMT). Data were statistically processed using the statistical program SPSS 21 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).
We found that practicing the exercise program “Feldenkrais for Business”™ proved to be an effective deterrent against the negative symptoms of burnout in the workplace, but not stress and anxiety. A comparison of the analysis of questionnaires on stress responses showed a statistical increase in self-confidence, general well-being and life satisfaction, and thus an increase in productivity at the workplace. The results also showed a positive impact of the exercise program on the improvement of cognitive abilities, which is reflected in greater concentration, better communication and self-satisfaction.
|
