7 ingredients for a healthy mind

The food triangle is common knowledge by now. This triangle provides guidelines on what constitutes enough healthy food. And using this triangle, you can put together balanced healthy meals to nourish your body.

An unhealthy diet can cause serious conditions such as obesity or type 2 diabetes, for example. However, do you also know the cost of an unhealthy mental diet? If our brain is not well taken care of, it creates the risk of fatigue, decreased productivity, stress and burnout. So it is very important to take good care not only of our body, but also of our brain.

But how do we do that? How do we best feed our minds?

Neuroscientists David Rock and Daniel Siegel developed the Healthy Mind Platter, or "healthy mind menu," for this purpose. According to them, a healthy, creative and productive brain needs 7 ingredients daily:

#1 Get enough sleep

As important as sleep is for the body, it is even more important for the brain. During sleep, our bodies and minds recover, and what we have learned during the day is stored and held in our memory.

How much sleep do we need? This varies greatly from person to person; anything between 4h and 12h of sleep per night is "normal. However, most of us sleep between 7h and 9h per night.

Short naps during the day have also been shown to have a positive effect on our alertness and performance. Research shows that a 10-minute nap is the most effective. I myself am a huge fan of the "power nap" and try to take it daily.

#2 Play: do what you like

What is that, play? Play is about doing things because you find them fun or amusing, without having to achieve anything. The main purpose of play is fun.

Think of your childhood, where you built cabins, played mother-and-father or book-and-police, made trains, made up stories, ... just because it was fun, plain and simple.

Many adults lose this sense of playfulness. Yet play is the quickest and most fun way to combat stress, anxiety and gloom. Playing gives fresh energy, which makes it easier to deal with "adult" problems.

So next time you go jogging with others, play tag. Or be the "tickle monster. Even my seventeen-year-old son still enjoys this (secretly, of course). Pretend the floor is lava. Build sandcastles on the beach. Turn off the sound of the TV and make up your own voices. Sing along with the radio, even if you don't know the lyrics. Dance, in the craziest possible way, ... And above all: observe how you feel afterwards.

#3 Niches

Doing nothing. Loafing. Resting. Loafing. Lazing around. Loafing. Daydreaming. Musing. Couch-hanging... All words with negative connotations. Because, after all, we live in a society where we are motivated to live an active and ambitious life, to contribute.

To activate your recovery system, however, it is necessary to do nothing on a regular basis.

And besides reducing stress, it also makes you more creative and productive. Quite paradoxically, not being productive makes for more productivity.

But how do you do that, do nothing? This can be done in many ways. For example, you can look at the clouds, what shapes they form. Or look at the raindrops on the window and daydream. Or into the flames of the fireplace or a candle. You can also go for a walk, just for the sake of walking, without a destination. Or consciously drink a cup of coffee or tea, using all your senses: feel the warmth of the cup in your hands, taste the liquid in your mouth and feel the warmth going down your throat. You can also sit with your eyes closed and let the thoughts come, without consciously thinking about anything.

My favorite way of napping? I put on music by one of my favorite artists, earbuds in, close my eyes and dream away.

#4 Reflect

Reflecting (or meditating) is about being consciously present in the moment. It involves pausing for a moment to consider what you are currently feeling and thinking. Observe yourself and reflect on your internal thoughts, without judgment. Just let your thoughts flow by, without doing anything with them.

Meditation works to reduce stress and improve the immune system.

By dwelling on what you are thinking and feeling right now or focusing your attention very consciously on your breathing or bodily sensations, you expand your awareness and can make choices from there instead of reacting - from autopilot - to situations.

#5 Connecting

Social contact is a basic human need, just like water, food and shelter. After all, man is a social animal. Lack of social contact is as damaging to health as smoking.

Research has shown that people are not made happy by opulence and wealth. A good relationship appears to be a better predictor of happiness and health than blood cholesterol levels. Good relationships keep our brain fit. Therefore, it is important to regularly spend time with loved ones and invest in friendships.

#6 Movement and posture

Exercise keeps not only your body but also your brain fit. Regular exercise improves concentration and memory. It makes our brains work better, allowing us to better perform tasks that require attention, organization and planning. It also ensures better sleep and reduces psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety.

Turns out that not only exercise is important, but also your sitting habits. Because maybe you move enough, but you still sit too much. Regular exercise is important, but not enough. After all, if you sit still for a long time during the day, your muscles go into sleep mode. It is therefore important to interrupt your sitting moments regularly. It is best to stand up every half hour to walk around, get a glass of water, visit the toilet, or just to literally stretch your legs.

#7 Focus on one specific task

Focus is about focused attention on one task at a time, such as reading a book. Focusing improves your performance compared to multitasking, in which we do a lot at once but often finish little.

When we focus our attention on one specific task, we learn more, remember more and experience more satisfaction than when we try to do multiple tasks at once. You get more tasks done this way and experience less stress as a result.

How can you improve your concentration? Concentration and motivation cannot be separated. This is also immediately the reason why many can concentrate better just before an exam. So beforehand, think carefully about why exactly you want to focus on a particular task. What do you want to accomplish with it? Furthermore, it also helps to plan your focus time consciously, taking into account when you can concentrate best. This is very individual. Some can best concentrate early in the morning while for others it is later in the day. Also remove all distractions that can take you out of your concentration: turn off the sound of your smartphone, as well as mail or other app notifications.

So you need these 7 ingredients daily to properly nourish your brain. The amount you need of each component varies from person to person. Which of these 7 components need more attention in your life? How can you ensure that these 7 components have a place in your life every day?