Everyone knows it; the sluggish, exhausted feeling and the forgetfulness. These are symptoms of brain fog, which can lead to a loss of mental sharpness and a disassociated feeling. This is a term that describes a sensation and not a medical condition.
Brain fog can be caused by many health issues, such as a lack of sleep, stress, dementia, depression, medication, hormonal imbalance, B12 deficiency, or viral infections such as covid-19. When looking at the neurological health of the world, it shows an upcoming crisis with brain fog as the most prominent symptom. Broadly, brain fog tends to affect executive functions, such as planning, organizing of information, following directions, and multitasking. The key difference, when compared to other neurological diseases, is that brain fog does not get progressively worse in the way that mental abilities degenerate (like dementia). Some days will be worse than others, but brain fog tends to impair cognitive function to the same extent each time it occurs. Since it is a sign of impaired function in the body, a series of blood tests would be able to show the cause of the cognitive impairment. For example; sleep apnea, vitamin B deficiency or other hormone and thyroid problems.
When hormones are out of balance, brain fog-like symptoms can occur, such as inability to focus, irritability, unexplainable anger, fatigue, headaches, or insomnia. Hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone contribute to blood flow and protect against memory loss and dementia. If one hormone is out of balance it will impact your ability to mentally function properly. Low estrogen levels can lead to mood swings, night sweats and difficulty to concentrate. On the other hand, higher levels cause weight gain and memory issues. The same occurs with progesterone imbalance, mood swings occur as well as brain fog-associated memory loss. Additionally, testosterone has a great impact on mental sharpness by strengthening nerves and artery muscles. Moreover, cortisol, the stress hormone that regulates fight or flight instinct, can affect brain fog. When chronic stress occurs, cortisol levels increase, causing an imbalance resulting in troubled sleeping and a sluggish feeling.
Sleep is an important part of the day, getting a good amount of sleep can prevent brain fog. In fact, sleep is important when it comes to cleaning the brain out of toxins. If you are not getting enough sleep and wake up feeling groggy, it is a sign that adenosine, the sleep chemical, has not fully cleared out of the body. So, why does brain fog occur? Most often because of a lack of routine, almost 40% of our behavior is habitual and essential for the effective function of the brain. The brain needs a lot of nutrients; almost a quarter of what we consume is used to keep it going. To process all sensory input the brain is constantly scanning for patterns. The usage of these patterns results in automated behavior, which uses fewer resources. By spending some time on autopilot, our brain will not become overwhelmed as quickly.
Finally, how can you reduce brain fog? First of all, do not get your body too tense for too long, and lower your cortisol levels by having more breaks. Meditate to relax your brain within all the chaos we are surrounded with. Secondly, listen to your body and its cues, and get enough sleep as well as enough movement to keep the body healthy. Lastly, be aware of what food you consume. A lot of food is highly inflammatory, such as processed food with high levels of sugar. So, balance out your glucose intake, and see the mist disappear before your eyes!
