Brain fog is one of the most common complaints heard from patients coming to our Fort Myers, FL Caring Medical office. People experience intermittent confusion, forget things, and have reduced ability to focus and think clearly. When this happens, we should take time to listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us and not just chalk it up to “getting older.”
Brain fog is defined by Webster as a temporary state of diminished mental capacity marked by inability to concentrate or to think or reason clearly. People report a wide array of symptoms associated with brain fog. Traditional medicine will often say there is no obvious cause or tests to prove that you have it.
Patients may report that they feel confused, dazed, disoriented, detached, spaced out, struggling, or even like their heads are inside a fishbowl.
Common Causes of Brain Fog:
- Poor food choices: Studies show that refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour products may cause reactive hypoglycemia, where your blood sugar levels skyrocket, then plummet. The brain needs glucose as its fuel; thus, you may feel irritable, moody, tired, bloated, and unable to think straight after consuming a meal high in refined carbohydrates. If this state remains constant, then insulin resistance and even diabetes may be in the future – which have been both tied to developing Alzheimer’s Disease. Start dumping the sugar and white flour from your diet.
- Not enough good fats: Our brains are loaded with good cholesterol. We need good fats for optimal brain function. Consuming hydrogenated fats (fried food) and oils high in omega-6 fatty acids can lead to brain inflammation. Add good fats to your diet such as avocado, sunflower, and olive.
- Food allergies: Processed foods contain a lot of potential allergens. As you know, we strongly advocate consuming fresh REAL food. Top allergy-producing foods are dairy, eggs, wheat, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts. When our patients complain of the above symptoms, we ask them to remove these from their diet. Often, the results are impressively positive! Never underestimate the power of the right foods!
- Food additives: MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a known neurotoxin that is most known for its presence in Chinese food. It is also contained in many processed foods such as canned soups, broths, snack foods, and ramen noodles. Be on the lookout for other names – yeast extract, natural flavorings, and hydrolyzed protein. Artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, is made from aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. Original studies falsified testing that showed negative impacts on the brain. Sucralose, another very common artificial sweetener can also be toxic and lead to brain-altering side effects such as headaches, migraines, depression, anxiety, and even ringing in the ears. The only sweeteners we recommend are natural cane sugar or honey, real maple syrup, erythritol, or stevia.
- Nutritional deficiencies from the “SAD” diet or standard American diet, can also lead to neurologic symptoms. The most common nutrient deficiencies are B 12, Vitamin D, essential fatty acids, and magnesium. Changing to a real food diet dramatically improves this, thus you may not require supplementation, but that is not always the case.
- Lack of sleep, no exercise, and high stress levels: Enough said about these factors – sleep at minimum 7 hours per night, get outside and move daily, and find a way to channel your stress through prayer, meditation, time with friends, walks on the beach.
- Structural issues in the cervical spine: We have talked about this in prior articles. Cervical (neck) instability (too much movement) may lead to a “clogged brain toilet” – or obstruction. We utilize objective measurements in our office to diagnose this problem. We can treat it with regenerative treatments such as Prolotherapy and PRP.
Do not go another day with thinking “brain fog” is just a normal sign of aging. It is not. Take an assessment of what is going on in your life and make some changes!
