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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Sleep time – Refreshing mind and body, and consolidating memory. Sleep is a highly complex and vital process which is essential for the biological balance of the mammalian organism (Benington, 2000), and thought to be critical for homeostatic restoration, thermoregulation, tissue repair, immunity, memory processing, and emotion regulation. Accordingly, sleep deprivation can more lethal than food deprivation.