Nursing is a very stressful job. But a new intervention grounded in relaxation could substantially reduce stress levels for nurses and other employees exposed to a highly stressful occupational environment.

Researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center found that a workplace mindfulness-based intervention reduced stress levels of employees exposed to a highly stressful occupational environment by 40 percent.

For the study, 32 nurses who worked in a surgical intensive care unit at the large academic medical center were randomized to a stress-reduction intervention or a control group, The Nursing Times reported.

The eight-week intervention included mindfulness, gentle stretching, yoga, meditation and music conducted in the workplace. Psychological and biological markers of stress were measured one week before and one week after the intervention to see if these coping strategies would help reduce stress and burnout among participants.

The control group showed no changes, but they found that levels of salivary [alpha]-amylase, an index of sympathetic activation of the nervous system - also known as the fight or flight response - were significantly decreased from the first to second assessments in the intervention group.

"Our study shows that this type of mindfulness-based intervention in the workplace could decrease stress levels and the risk of burnout," Maryanna Klatt, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement. "What's stressful about the work environment is never going to change. But what we were interested in changing was the nursing personnel's reaction to those stresses. We measured salivary alpha amylase, which is a biomarker of the sympathetic nervous system activation, and that was reduced by 40 percent in the intervention group."

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.