Physical Time – Improving the brain’s plasticity through exercise. In an article in the New York Times, Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, respectively editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience and associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton take a critical look at computer programs to improve brain performance. The digital brain health and fitness software market is a booming business.

Connecting time – The healing power of relationships According to Matthew Lieberman, one of the founders of social cognitive neuroscience, our “evolutionary wiring predisposes us to be social,” actually causing a sense of physical pain if we are socially rejected. As such one could argue that social connection is a basic human need, very much like water, food and shelter. social support is a well-documented antecedent of wellbeing.

Time-in – Reflection, attunement, mindfulness Various studies cited by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the report “stress at Work” indicate that between 26% and 40% of all workers today feel stressed of burnt out by work. Roughly 60% of doctor visits stem from stress- related complaints and illnesses. Confronted with pressure or stress, the brain strives to reestablish and maintain homeostasis through the coordinated activation and control of neuroendocrine and autonomic stress systems.

Downtime – Disconnecting for integration and insight When explaining “down time” in workshops we found that this is the most counterintuitive component of the Healthy Mind Platter and needs quite a bit of explaining. “Down time” does not correspond with “leisure time” exactly, which is a much broader term which may refer to hobbies and sports. in the Healthy Mind Platter hobbies are more likely to come under “focus time” and sports under “physical time”. With down time we refer to a very specific type of “activity”:

Play time – The joy of experimenting with life Play, which may seem like a frivolous, unimportant behavior with no apparent purpose, has earned new respect as biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists and others see that play is indeed serious business and is perhaps equally important to other basic drives of sleep, rest, and food. Neuroscience research reveals that play-joy is a basic emotional system and essential in child development and adult creativity and learning. It has been suggested that play is an important behavioral tendency that does not require learning, is an “experience-expectant” process that has adaptive neurodevelopmental effects which promote later adaptive behaviors and which help program higher brain regions involved in emotional behaviors.