Being at the top of your game requires a healthy mind. As we experience stress and overwhelm in or daily lives, our mental and physical well being is being stretched through multi-tasking and information overload.
Mental health is just as important as physical and emotional health as our moods and memory are greatly affected, although few of us know what to do to improve our mental health. Dr. David Rock, executive director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Group along with Dr. Daniel Siegel, Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute and clinical professor at UCLA's School of Medicine, have created a Healthy Mind Platter to help us create Optimum Brain Matter, which helps us co-ordinate and balance or brain's internal connections and connections with other people. There are 7 activities they suggest to keep our minds healthy.
Focus Time: When we closely focus on tasks and goals it helps our brain make deep connections.
Play Time: Allowing ourselves to be spontaneous and creative in a playful way also helps our brains make new connections.
Connecting Time: Connecting with other people, ideally in person, activates the brain's relational circuitry.
Physical Time: Aerobic exercise strengthens our brain in many ways.
Down Time: Non-focused without goals, lets our minds wander and relax which helps our brains recharge.
Time In: Quiet internal reflection focusing on feelings and thoughts helps the brain better integrate.
Sleep Time: Giving the brain a rest to consolidate learning and recover from our day.
Mental wellness allows us to stay healthy and these activities allow our brain lots of opportunity to develop in different ways. Start by mapping out an average day and see what percentage of your current day is spent on these activities and work to balance yourself out over time.
Your brain will thank you for it!
