c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ On Labor Day, millions of Americans will take a break from the daily grind: They will sleep in, catch a matinee, hike the outdoors or join family and friends at the last barbecue of summer.

A national holiday that began in 1882, Labor Day celebrates the efforts of the country’s unheralded workers. But, according to an unlikely consortium of medical doctors and business consultants, American workers need much more than the occasional day off _ they need time off every day, perhaps even every hour.”The recent phenomenon in Japan of death from overwork,”said Dr. Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of”Timeshifting”(Doubleday),”is becoming more predominant throughout our society.” Sleep-deprived from working longer hours, disoriented by fast-paced changes in the workplace, and jangled by the rapid electronic pulse of beepers, fax machines and cell phones, employees are suffering an epidemic of what Rechtschaffen calls”hurry sickness”: the feeling of being constantly rushed.

To illustrate, Rechtschaffen, who is also the founder of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, N.Y., tells the story of a computer consultant who came to him for advice concerning his health.”He continually felt he had to go as fast as he could,”Rechtschaffen said.”He had become addicted to the speed of the computer, and only felt gratified if he was going nonstop. Whenever he started to slow down, he began to feel uncomfortable, because he associated that with being unproductive. While he was successful at work, he was constantly stressed out and his relationship with his children was strained.” His patient, Rechtschaffen said, is no different from many other Americans, who find themselves in workplaces inattentive to life’s natural biorhythms of rest and activity.

Indeed, just as new guidelines on religious expression in the federal workplace have been announced _ allowing, among other things, employees to take off for religious holidays and to keep their scriptures on their desks _ experts are pointing to the need to recover the healthy”body/mind”wisdom embodied in the rituals, prayers and customs that once served to gracefully separate the sacred from the profane.”There is considerable evidence to indicate that we benefit from a period of quiet relaxation or contemplation at least once each day,”said Dr. Leo Galland, author of”The Four Pillars of Healing”(Random House).”When people are given the opportunity for this, their blood pressure is lower and stress reactivity _ levels of hormones _ is less.” Management consultant Krista Kurth agrees.”Not enough attention is being paid in the workplace to the need which is answered by prayer,”she said.”The Muslim call to prayer five times a day, for instance, is a wonderful way to take a break and reconnect.” Kurth, a George Washington University alumni who is one of the first in the country to receive a graduate degree in the area of spirituality in the workplace, said she finds most employees are overwhelmed by the changes companies are instituting in order to stay competitive.

As a consultant, Kurth says, her challenge”is to help people maintain their center in the midst of all the craziness going on around them.”Among other things, Kurth implements spiritual principles in the workplace by teaching employees the value of a moment of silence.

She herself begins each meeting and lecture with a deep pause, she said, and recommends it as a useful tool when meetings”get heated up and people are unsure where to go.” More secular forms of”relaxation breaks”ease tension, as well, Kurth said.”Fun breaks, creative breaks and humor breaks”all balance out-of-control rhythms.

For example, companies would do well to implement longer lunch breaks for employees, during which they can exercise, meditate or socialize, said Galland, a practicing physician in New York.

He said such a period of quiet relaxation was an integral part of older cultures and is still a custom in southern Europe,”where people go home at midday to rest and have a sitdown meal with their family. That’s never been a part of the American work ethic.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Taking breaks _ especially long ones _ may seem dramatically unproductive to employers accustomed to the mechanistic”timeclock”approach to work that characterized most of the industrial era.

Partly as a result of today’s rapidly shrinking global economy, however, Kurth says that such entrenched attitudes toward time are changing. “There’s much more of a move toward companies wanting their employees to be innovative. They are starting to realize that people can’t just punch a clock and turn on the creativity, and that taking a break and stopping the mind can actually give a person more energy and inspiration.” Among the latest trends in some companies, Kurth adds, is a room set aside specifically for creativity and meditation.

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Is there a danger in harnessing spiritual techniques of centering and relaxation to achieve financial and professional success?

Kurth thinks so.”Tying spirituality to the bottom line _ if you do this you will be more productive _ is sacrilegious. Then you’re using what I think is the highest purpose in life to achieve a material end. This is especially true in the management field, where there are so many quick fixes and fads.” MJP END PEAY