What is brain fog?
Most of us have experienced brain fog at some time, especially during stress, when the last thing on our mind is food or sleep. Brain fog is not a medically diagnosed condition. It is an everyday name people use when they find it challenging to remember conversations.
2022 shows that a third of patients who developed COVID-19 experience a persisting number of symptoms, including brain fog. Studies show if a person is feeling sluggish, forgetful, easily distracted, or completely overwhelmed by daily chores, they could be experiencing brain fog.
What can brain fog do?
Brain fog could start brain degeneration which often takes months or years before manifestation. You might not be experiencing brain fog, but you could see a friend or loved one presenting with some of these symptoms. Some people are not even aware of what is going on. So you could be their eyes and ears. A good gauge is when you frequently ask a friend or family member to repeat themselves ‘what were you just saying?” this is the time to step in and help.
What causes brain fog?
Brain fog is caused by a slurry of incidents or trauma that could include:
-A past head injury that was not treated. The injury could be a trauma to the head that one feel does not require seeing a doctor.
-A recent minor injury like a fall on the snow or hitting ones head even slightly on a surface.
-Several sleepless nights
-Specific medication, especially those self-diagnosed medications or supplements
-A prolonged stressful period in life
-Undergoing hormonal/menopausal changes
-Digestive issues.
-Pregnancy
-Presence of chronic conditions such as Multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, Lupus,
-Persisting cold
What helps brain fog?
Stress: Some stress levels are suitable for the body; however, too much can reduce the immune system exposing the body to disease. And a disease state would increase inflammation, with causes cells to feel foggy and sluggish. Stress can be physical, emotional, and environmental, and relaxing helps the brain relax. Deep rhyme sleep of 8-9 hours is restorative to reduce chemical stress on the body.
Dietary Supplement: Despite the lack of reliable evidence, some supplements are suggested to improve immune response, like vitamin C, vitamin D, Zinc, elderberry, echinacea, and probiotics. Nootropic dietary supplements sometimes contain drugs and other ingredients that have yet to go through the appropriate regulatory framework. Nootropics are “cognitive enhancers” that help improve brain function.
Mindfulness is a conscious activity, and Mindfulness is awareness of everything you do and helps you develop the ability to focus on the present moment. A deliberate activity like journaling daily, meditation, or yoga helps the mind refocus on what needs to be done.
Diet: cold water fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and meat enriches the brain. Make smart food choices with nutrient-dense food and introduce colors to your plate. Science shows that the body’s primary energy source is fat, not glucose, and Variating the diet can improve the body’s efficiency in using fat.
Exercise: I’m sure you have noticed how good exercise feels. Flexibility exercises, when done right, can go a long way to relieve thight muscles both external and internal muscles. Bear in mind that too much exercise can also increase body stress.
Optimize your body Optimizing the body so it can function the way it has been operating. Environmental, chemical, and biological stress can release a slurry of substances in the body that would cause the body to release inflammation in order to bring balance. This is a vital part of therapeutic brain fog remediation.
On the whole, brain fog is a colloquial name many people use when they find it difficult to remember things. Even when we’re not experiencing brain fog, we can notice it in others who do and are not aware of it. One might indeed feel brain fogged, but the cause of it might not be the brain. Consequently, we look at the effect and causes of brain fog and some simple everyday activities that can make a difference in understanding and elevating brain fog situations.
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Tejera, D., Mercan, D., Sanchez-Caro, J. M., Hanan, M., Greenberg, D., Soreq, H., Latz, E., Golenbock, D., & Heneka, M. T. (2019). Systemic inflammation impairs microglial Aβ clearance through NLRP3 inflammasome. The EMBO journal, 38(17), e101064. https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2018101064
Rice, D. P., Fillit, H. M., Max, W., Knopman, D. S., Lloyd, J. R., & Duttagupta, S. (2001). Prevalence, Costs, and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia: A Managed Care Perspective. American Journal of Managed Care, 7(8), 809-820. Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11519239/
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