A Flourishing Brain in the 21st Century: A Scoping Review of the Impact of Developing Good Habits for Mind, Brain, Well-Being, and Learning
Review article, 2022

Emerging scientific knowledge such as the role of epigenetics and neuroplasticity—the brain's capability to constantly rewire with every action, experience, and thought—is fundamentally changing our understanding of the potential impact we can have on our brain. Our brain is formed by our habits in interaction with our body, the environment, influenced by our lifestyle, successes, failures, and traumas. Neuroplasticity proves that every student's brain is a work in progress, and it is never too late to take better care of one's cognitive fitness. This review presents a repertoire of good habits (GHs). Combined, we suggest that these GHs provide conditions for optimal brain health, by acting as a “Mental Vaccine” which enhances the brain's resilience to brain health-degrading challenges. We argue that schools have a crucial role to play in empowering students to increase their own stress resilience, well-being, and learning by developing their own GHs profile.

Author

Rolf Ekman

University of Gothenburg

Anna Fletcher

Federation University Australia

Joanna Giota

University of Gothenburg

Axel Erikson

Neuroforum

Bertil Thomas

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Systems and control

Fredrik Bååthe

LEFO–Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession

University of Gothenburg

Region Västra Götaland

Mind, Brain, and Education

1751-2271 (ISSN) 1751-228X (eISSN)

Vol. 16 1 13-23

Subject Categories

Didactics

Learning

Pedagogy

DOI

10.1111/mbe.12305

More information

Latest update

5/31/2022