What does brain fog mean? Brain fog can leave you feeling unsteady, unfamiliar, and impact your relationships and job. Check out our free quiz to learn more about how your brain fog affects your health. Click on the link below to learn how to feel more like yourself after COVID.
As important as brain health is for brain function, it is also very important for mental health. If you want to feel good, you must think strongly because your thoughts and feelings are closely linked. At Parsley Health, we’re all about efficiency, and many of our users come to us looking for improved mental focus, concentration, and Brain fog symptoms.
What is Brain fog?
With brain fog, a person may not feel as smart as they normally would. Thoughts and feelings may numb, and daily jobs may seem more difficult. Some people describe it as a hazy mist, and reaching one’s thoughts or plans can be difficult.
These are some things that someone with brain fog COVID could do:
- Forgetting to do something they needed to do, taking much longer to complete simple tasks than normal, getting sidetracked easily, and getting tired while working
- Describe how it feels to have brain fog.
- Brain fog may appear in several different ways.
- Often, it feels like cotton candy is where your brain’s dense nerve tissue used to be.
- Nobody is home, even if the lights are on.
You might be unable to concentrate on conversations, work tasks, or even the words you’re reading for long enough. You may find it difficult to make decisions, that even the smallest choices are important, that you require more coffee to focus, more food to stay alive, and more drinks at night to clear the fog for a while.
Headaches, eye problems, or even sickness may happen in the worst cases. Understanding the effects of brain fog COVID
What causes Brain Fog COVID?
Brain fog can be brought on by a lack of vitamins, a sleep issue, bugs growing too much due to eating too much sugar, depression, or even a thyroid disease. Other typical causes of brain fog include:
- Eating too much and too frequently.
- Being idle.
- Not getting enough sleep.
- Being under a lot of stress.
- Eating poorly.
According to Parsley Health, these are some of the most typical reasons why people get brain fog.
Hormonal adjustments and brain fog
Hormone changes are typical throughout your life, whether during pregnancy, after giving birth, menopause, or just because of changes in your environment and way of life. Additionally, these stages can leave your brain feeling foggy and lost; one study found that 60% of women have concentration issues after menopause.
Your foggy head symptoms may occasionally be brought on by changes in your mood or sleeping habits, but they may also be brought on by changing hormone levels as your body tries to return to normal.
Food Sensitivities and Dietary Deficits
The production of red blood cells and the nervous system are both helped by vitamin B12. The lack of B12 will make you feel usually tired and lower your energy levels. As low vitamin D groups are linked to cognitive loss, brain fog may also be caused by a vitamin D shortage.
Your current state of confusion may also be brought on by a food allergy you cannot identify. As a result of gluten intolerance, for example, inflammation pathways may affect brain function. You can find out if any of these are causing your brain fog by getting advanced blood work that checks your nutritional levels, going on an elimination diet, or getting tested for food allergies or sensitivities.
Stress
Even though the word “stress” may seem common and harmless, being stressed for a long time can be very bad for your health. In times of stress, your body sets off the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), also known as the “fight-or-flight” response.
Epinephrine, also called adrenaline and norepinephrine, is released when your body reacts to something that causes stress. It then redirects energy from your body’s normal processes to the stressor. As a result, your brain may become tired, making it difficult to think clearly and focus. Learn to control your stress over time with treatments like meditation, exercise, or food changes if your brain feels fuzzy.
Thyroid conditions
If you have mood swings, constant tiredness, trouble concentrating, or trouble thinking clearly, a thyroid problem may cause your symptoms. This butterfly-shaped gland at the show of your neck, typically linked to brain fog, produces and releases hormones that control everything from metabolism and heart rate to breathing and menstrual cycles.
This is especially true for people with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune systemic disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid, stopping it from making enough thyroid hormones and resulting in inflammation.
Disturbed Sleep
Bad sleep habits, like having irregular sleeping and waking times, getting less than seven to eight hours of sleep each night, or being exposed to blue light before bed, can disorder up your natural circadian rhythm, also called your internal body clock.
In several different ways, this makes brain fog worse. The hormone melatonin, required for a long, deep REM night of sleep, is reduced by light exposure right before bed.
It takes REM and non-REM sleep to process and lock down waking memories. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., your body and brain clean out the most; staying awake can obstruct this process and make you feel foggy.
Intolerance to foods and poor nutrition
Medication
It is known that some prescription and over-the-counter drugs can cause brain fog as a side effect. Even though it might seem normal for your head to feel foggy after taking medicine, it’s not. Before taking drugs, we at Parsley Health think that you should change your lifestyle to get to the root of your problems.
If medication is necessary, however, your doctor can assist you in determining whether your drug is hurting your brain health and will work with you to find the best answer, which may involve switching drugs or lowering your dose.
Anxiety and Depression
Executive function, attention, and memory are all things that depression and worry make worse. According to the study, this may be because of physical changes to the brain that make it challenging to work properly or because of the loss of energy and drive brought on by mental health problems.
If you suffer from depression or worry, discuss your treatment choices with a healthcare provider.
Exposure to heavy Metal
Heavy metals are everywhere in our everyday lives. They are in food, makeup, and even tooth implants. The most typical sources of exposure to heavy metals are arsenic, mercury, aluminum, lead, thallium, and cesium. Long-term exposure to these metals can build up and lead to immune system issues, hormonal changes, tiredness, brain fog, and high blood pressure, even though small amounts of exposure to them won’t necessarily be harmful.
Check the heavy metal levels in your blood to ensure your body is toxins-free. Regular cleaning methods, like doing heart-pumping exercises or going to the sauna once a week, are a great way to keep your levels in check and eliminate any symptoms.
Treatment for brain fog: How to eliminate it
Here at Parsley Health, we work with our patients to get to the bottom of their problems and get rid of brain fog for good. For brain fog treatment, your doctor will work with you to understand your medical background and present symptoms. Then, they will ask for the blood tests needed to check your heavy metal levels and how well your thyroid works.
Your doctor can make a treatment plan for your symptoms, including brain fog, using the information you provide. To assist you in beating brain fog, our medical professionals and health coaches could provide the following ideas.
1. Rest to Gastrointestinal System
There is a lot of buzz about intermittent fasting these days in the health and weight loss world. But, restricting calories and eating more frequently can also improve brain health and lower the chance of neurodegenerative diseases, making them useful for more than just weight loss.
As a first step in treating your brain fog and returning some mental focus, try to increase the time between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the following day. Give yourself 12 hours. This helps a process called ketogenesis happen, which can help the brain grow again.
2. Move the object or lose it
People who don’t move around much are more likely to get neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive decline. Higher levels of exercise are linked to better happiness, memory, and mental clarity.
Endorphins, hormones that make you feel good, and cytokines, which are good chemical signals, are released due to exercise. These things clean the brain and make it feel better. Try to do something fun every day to move your body. Walk, jog, or dance. You will always be happy if you do what makes you happy.
3. Have sound sleeping habits
The typical mistake people make is trying to make the most of their time by staying late or getting up early, whether they have a project due for work, school, or another commitment.
This normally backfires because not getting enough sleep makes you less smart. Get at least seven hours of sleep every night, and eight or nine if you can. You will get better at what you do, and it will take you less time to do work of this quality.
4. Strike a balance between vigorous exercises
Many kinds of exercise turn on the sympathetic nerve system, which controls “fight or flight” responses. Your body can’t distinguish between walking on a machine and running away from danger, so it sees both as stressful.
Brain fog happens when you’re stressed. When you rest and relax, your parasympathetic nervous system helps calm your body and mind. Flexing it will help you feel less stressed. More yoga and meditation in your daily routine may help you achieve this.
5. Give your brain food
Your brain has a lot of fat and protein. Does the fact that we eat less of these two types of food make sense? No, not really. Sugary foods that have been made are bad for your brain.
Be sure to stick to a Paleo diet mostly plants (a lot of veggies, enough protein, and always some good fats). Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and coenzyme Q10 can all help lower inflammation, so make sure you get a lot of them. To help your body naturally make more energy, you should also increase your diet of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
