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Taking a page from the MyPlate national guidelines, Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, executive director of the Mindsight Institute and clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, has created the Healthy Mind Platter to illustrate the crucial factors necessary for keeping your mind balanced and healthy.
Normally, when we think of strengthening our brain, we’re thinking of our brain as a muscle. This makes the brain seem like an isolated element within us, separate from the rest of our bodies as well as the rest of the world.
Dr. Siegel describes the brain as a relational node. A node is a point in which everything intersects. The brain not only connects within itself, but also within the body, between people, and between the environment at large.
A healthy mind — a healthy node — needs to be integrated with all these elements. We often think of a lack of connection between people, but a lack of connection can exist within yourself or even with nature.
Dr. Siegel describes 7 essential mental ingredients to keep the mind integrated:
- Focus time: this involves a goal-oriented approach to tasks. There’s a link between goal setting positive emotion. This may be due to a sense of purpose in life or the dopamine burst of successful achievement. Goals also help us to cultivate a growth mindset, so that we see obstacles as temporary setbacks instead of personal failures.
- Playtime: Play is associated with joy, novelty, creativity, and spontaneity. And being a kid. Playtime is important for adults too. Not only does play make life more fun, but it improves social relationships too. While you’re having all this fun, you’re also helping the brain grow new connections.
- Connecting time: this may be connecting with other people or communing with nature. Being social doesn’t just boost your mood and lower your stress levels. Social connection is thought to have protective benefits against cognitive decline. Nature is not just an aesthetic pleasure. It’s another stress blaster that improves your ability to focus, your creativity, and your mood. Perhaps even your relationships.
- Physical time: Exercise improves the brain’s plasticity, stimulates connections between brain cells, and makes growing new neural connections easier. The plasticity of the brain (or neuroplasticity) not only aids in memory and learning but is a key factor in the way the brain heals itself, which has implications for recovery from ailments such as depression or stroke.
- Time in: this involves self-reflection. Self-reflection is the time where your brain can organize your life’s goings-on and create meaning. A sense of meaning promotes positive well being through a feeling of purpose. Organizing your thoughts also leads to more focus, which sets you up for reaching your goals.
- Down time: Recharge your brain. Do nothing. Relax. Turning off all distractions and getting into a quiet space not only helps relieve burnout but gives “space for your subconscious to expand.” This can lead to lower stress, increased creativity, and may even make you a kinder person.
- Sleep time: Sleep is often one of the most neglected elements of health, but sleep is when the brain consolidates both learning and memory. Lack of sleep doesn’t just cause stress and the inability to focus. It also keeps our neurons from functioning properly.
Currently, there’s not enough research to show the optimum breakdown of a perfectly balanced day of mental activities.
Sleep and physical activity are the only two ingredients with national guidelines attached. For the rest of the ingredients, it’s important to turn inward and reflect on your individual needs to decide when you feel healthiest and the most balanced.
References
6 Pillars of Brain Health. (2021). Healthy Brains Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved from: https://healthybrains.org/pillar-social/
Armstrong, B. (2018). How Exercise Affects Your Brain. Scientific American. Retrieved from:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-exercise-affects-your-brain/#:~:text=It%20increases%20heart%20rate%2C%20which,cortical%20areas%20of%20the%20brain
Chowdhury, M. (2021). The Science & Psychology of Goal-setting 101. Positive Psychology. Retrieved from: https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-psychology/
Miller, K. (2021). Top 11 Benefits of Self-Awareness According to Science. Positive Psychology. Retrieved from: https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-self-awareness/
Moore, S. (2019). What is Neuronal Plasticity and Why is it Important? News Medical. Retrieved from: https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-is-Neuronal-Plasticity-and-Why-Is-It-Important.aspx
Riopel, L. (2021). The Importance, Benefits, and Value of Goal Setting. Positive Psychology. Retrieved from:https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-goal-setting/
Siegel, D. (2011). Healthy Mind Platter. Retrieved from: https://drdansiegel.com/healthy-mind-platter/
Sleep, Learning, and Memory. (2007). Retrieved from: https://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory
Sutte, J. (2016). How Nature Can Make You Kinder, Happier, and More Creative. Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved from: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_nature_makes_you_kinder_happier_more_creative#:~:text=Scientists%20are%20beginning%20to%20find,to%20connect%20with%20other%20people
The Actual Health Benefits of Doing Nothing. SCL Health. Retrieved from: https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2020/02/the-actual-health-benefits-of-doing-nothing/#:~:text=You%20might%20be%20surprised%20to,when%20trying%20to%20solve%20problems
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