Many people have experienced that they are not alone, dozens of depression and stress are along with them, and they are always facing the inability to think properly. They find trouble to keep all things in mind. They always experience fitness (such as leaving the keys, locking the room, or not). Do you think your mental status is totally disturbed? Why are you facing this type of mental issues? What happens with your memory? Are you going to be mad? Do you need any psychiatrist? Do you hear the term brain fog? What does it mean?
Your all queries regarding your instability of the brain might be resolved by reviewing this content.
Overview
Brain fog is not a condition that we use to define medical terms, this term is used to describe your mental fatigue in which your brain is unable to think properly. You may often be confused to put your thoughts into words appropriately. An individual who mostly experienced brain fog often describes as a sense of disorientation, confusion, and disorganization. You may also experience difficulty in thinking, thoughts with complex situations, and loss of memory. Brain fog is not a condition but it may appear with signs and symptoms of other issues.
What are the Causes of brain fog?
1. Hormone imbalances
The changes in hormones during pregnancy, becoming a cause of mother’s forgetfulness and these symptoms of forgetness coming in the baby brain (during the first half of pregnancy). Even though your brain is a high-alert during pregnancy and it may attribute the sharp term memory changes with elevated levels of estrogen, while an individual may experience hormonal imbalance (at their stages of life and during sex). During menstruation periods, the level of estrogen decreases and it may impact on memory loss with mood swing and headedness. In men, whenever the level of testosterone level decreases may explain mental fatigue.
Thyroid gland in brain fog: Thyroid gland is the main contributor to brain fog because this hormone directly connects with your brain. This hormone helps to regulate the metabolism, energy, and memory issues. Imbalance of this hormone leads to brain fog.
To treat brain fog you should check your hormone level, and measures of this hormone help you to understand how they affect your brain.
2. Oxidative stress
Oxidative stress is an imbalance between oxidant and free radicals (oxygen-containing molecules) with uneven numbers of electrons. This uneven distribution of electrons is caused by two things.
- Reduce antioxidative defense system
- Reactive oxidative species
This condition may lead to cell death, tissue damage, and chronic diseases. This may also cause stress (due to smoking, environmental behavior, poor diet, and abnormal sleep pattern). It may affect your brain cortex, striatum, and hippocampus that leads your network of memory.
3. Sleep apnea
According to the sleep institute investigations, 9-10% women and 24-24% of men suffer from sleep apnea conditions. Sleep apnea is a disorder of your breathing pattern in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts simultaneously and causes restricting air in the brain. Lacking oxygen to your brain can cause brain arousal.
In this condition, your body also requires a high quality of oxygen to fulfill the body requirement. Sleep apnea is also an important contributor to brain fog. Mostly the people who are suffering from sleep apnea wake-up in a fog will worse affect on your energy.
4. Dietary Inflammation
Dietary inflammation is also a cause of brain fog because inflammatory foods may elevate the pro-inflammatory cytokines in your blood and brain with low-grade inflammation that can clear the cause of a foggy brain. To avoid brain fog you should pinpoint the food that causes inflammation.
5. Prescription medications
- Benzodiazepines: prescribed as a psychoactive drug to treat anxiety and insomnia. This class of drugs acts directly on the parts of your brain that help to convert short-term memories into long-term memories.
- Statin: is a class of drugs that is used to reduce the level of cholesterol. The cholesterol is present everywhere in your body including the brain (where cholesterol needs to connect with nerve cells).
- Narcotic painkillers: change chemical signals that are associated with your perception, while Beta-blockers are class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension and it blocks chemical messages in your brain.
These all are medications that affect your brain and become the cause of brain fog.
6. Others
Brain Fog can be irritating or annoying but it is not impossible to overcome. It can be caused due to dozens of other chronic health conditions, these are:
- Diabetes mellitus
- Parkinson’s disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Anemia
- Multiple sclerosis
- Dehydration
What symptoms appear when you have brain fog?
Usually brain fog affect the people in different ways, the most common symptoms of brain fog are:
1. Forgetfulness
It is the normal part of aging. As we get older, lots of changes occur in our body including the brain. But the people with brain fog have a lack of ability to remember any kind of information. This symptom badly impacts your academic records, disturbance in daily tasks (such as forgetting your keys, forgetting about your money, documents, and personal memories).
2. Lack of concentration
Mostly tiredness (such as lacking sleep) and stress become a cause of lack of concentration. But if you have experienced brain fog then you can’t concentrate properly and you may also feel difficult to complete your mental task that your brain is giving you as a target. Your brain continuously wanders off, that’s why you find it difficult to get anything.
3. Fatigue
Most people feel asleep during lectures in school or colleges due to tiredness but chronic fatigue is somehow different. People with brain fog are characterized by never-ending fatigue or tiredness. If you experience chronic fatigue, you should consult your doctor.
4. Mental flatlining
Mental flatlining is the adverse symptoms of brain fog in which an individual has lost the ability to feel pleasure. Normally we feel active, joyless but if you have brain fog you may experience unmotivated, depressed, and unproductive. You are going in slow motion as your all activities become blurred.
5. Others
The other symptoms of brain fog, people may experience trouble in sleep, headache, mood swings, irritability, low energy, and lack of ideas.
What are the ways to end brain fog?
Exercise
The best way to clear or refresh your mind is by moving your body (exercise). Exercise has a lot of benefits (such as it reduces the resistance of insulin, reduces the inflammation, stimulates the growth factors that affect on your mental health, and give your mind relaxant) You don’t need high workout, instead you just need 5-10 minutes or go for running every day. The session of yoga also gives peace and relaxation to your mind.
De-stress your mind
You should de-stress your mind with proper self-care. As stress or anxiety become a cause of brain fog, you may need self-care because it is essential for beating the mental fatigue or stress. Healthy coping skills help to enhance the ability of your brain and also give strength to think appropriately. Almost all people have busy schedules and they don’t have time for self-care, they should find time for self-care and try to need a stress free mind.
Take Prebiotics and Probiotics
Gut health is termed as balance and maintenance of microorganisms that live in your digestive tract. The health of your gut impacts the cognitive function. You should improve your microbiome (genetic material of microbe) with diet probiotic and prebiotic to enhance your gut health. If you want to get rid of brain fog you should take high fiber diets that increase your gut ability.
If you have experienced a brain fog, your doctor prescribes you probiotic supplements to get an array of healthy bacteria strains. But you also must be noted that probiotic supplements are not always effective for everyone due to the overgrowth of bacteria in the gut. Probiotics are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables before picking any supplement you should concern with your doctor.
Sleep, sleep, or sleep
Sleep deprivation has a negative impact on your health and it may result in the absence of mind. Lack of sleep leads to a lot of problems (such as sluggishness, memory problems). It may also change your brain function at the cellular level. The sure way to cure the brain fog you should get good or proper sleep at night time. The aim to relax your mind is to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night.
Change your diet pattern
You should change your diet pattern to boost your mind level. As mentioned above, balance your gut function can help you to prevent brain fog. Because of the bacteria in your gut are not happy and it disturbs continuously, then it means your brain is not working properly with definite order. You should try to change your diet pattern and include healthy food in your diet to make your gut function and calm your mental level.
Turn off Mindless Activity
According to researchers, it is suggested that watching TV or using social media gives a bad impact on your health and it also impacts your mind too. Although negative serials, programs, and movies lead to worsening effects on your brain with negative thinking. If you are fond of watching TV, try to watch beneficial serials or watch mindless shows to get rid of the burden. You should find motivational activities to relax your mind and you also must turn off all activity that leads to a brain fog because negative things exacerbate the stress, anxiety, and decrease your ability to think in the right way. If you follow all commands, your brain will thank you for your cooperation.
What type of supplement helps you to stop brain fog?
Fish Oil
Fish oil contains omega 3 fatty acids and it comes from the tissue of oily fish. This oil is used to reduce the inflammation of your body by normalizing your blood pressure, enhance hyperglycemia, and also help to prevent brain fog (by increasing the motor skills and visions).
Vitamin C
It is known as ascorbic acid that is essential for the development and growth of body tissues. Vitamin-c helps to maintain the skin health, blood vessels, and formation of collagens. Vitamin-C works as an antioxidant and helps to regulate the production of your hormones.
Complex–B
Vitamin-B complex plays a vital role in your body function and gives energy to your body.
Vitamin B1 is known as thiamine and it may be considered as a therapeutic agent for neuropathy.
Vitamin B2 helps to break down fats and carbohydrates by converting the food into energy.
Vitamin B3 helps the enzyme to speed up the activity of body
Vitamin B4 and B5 helps to maintain the skin healthier and also promote the digestive tract.
Vitamin B6 is involved in the development of the brain by boosting the immune system.
Vitamin B12 needed for the formation of RBCs and DNA.
Inositol
This substance is naturally found in citrus fruits and the food that are rich in fibers. Inositol helps in the production of cells in your bone marrow. It is also responsible for your hair growth.
Ginseng Extract
Ginseng helps to maintain the homeostasis by suppressing the psychological disorders (such as stress, anxiety, and depression). Extract of ginseng also helps to regulate your immunity and maintain hormonal imbalance.
Gamma Oryzanol
Gamma oryzanol taken from the rice bran oil and generally used as a medicine. It helps to increase the level of neurotransmitters in the nervous system by promoting the pleasurable mood with restful sleep.
Soy Lecithin
Soy lecithin comes from the soya bean and it helps to enhance the function of your liver by reducing the gallstones risk. Soy lecithin also helps to increase your learning skills and prevent dementia.
Before you leave!
Brain fog is not a medical condition, instead it appears with the signs and symptoms of instability of thinking and performing all work properly. The function of brains is changed with the age factor and after a specific time period decline of mental ability is common. But to maintain brain stability there are a number of ways to maintain your brain function. To enhance your mental status you should avoid the use of smartphones, computers as it increases the stress factor. You may also get better night sleep, essential supplements, and eating healthy foods. If you follow all commands to protect our brain stability your brain also giving you warm thanks.