What Is Brain Fog and How Can I Treat It? Dr. Badran Answers

Brain fog is characterized by confusion, forgetfulness, and a lack of focus and mental clarity. Brain fog feels like a lack of mental clarity; it can affect your ability to focus and make it difficult for you to recall things. Ultimately, brain fog can impact the way you feel about yourself. Individuals often do not feel like themselves as the loss of mental sharpness feels foreign to them.

Causes of Brain Fog

On a cellular level, brain fog is believed to be caused by high levels of inflammation and changes to hormones that determine your mood, energy and focus. The imbalanced levels of hormones make the whole system to be thrown off. Brain fog syndrome can lead to other conditions such as obesity, abnormal menstruation and diabetes mellitus.

Typically, brain fog can be attributed to stress, lack of sleep and feeling overworked at work or school. Common conditions like allergies or the flu can also cause brain fog. A number of factors and health conditions can cause brain fog, including lack of sleep, increased stress levels, depression, dementia, perimenopause, medication and obesity.

Some chronic health conditions may cause brain fog, such as, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.

Nutrient Deficiency

Nutrients can have an effect on a person’s ability to focus, think clearly, and recall information. Eating an unhealthful diet or not eating enough can cause problems with healthy brain function.

Deficiencies can also often occur due to underlying inflammatory health conditions such as Celiac disease. Specific nutrients that can play a role in cognition and memory include iron and Omega-3 fatty acids. The first symptoms of iron deficiency anemia tend to be neurological resulting in brain fog and fatigue.

A deficiency in vitamin D and vitamin B12 could potentially contribute to brain fog. Vitamin B2 and vitamin B7 help the nervous system, vitamin B3 and vitamin B6 are required to support neurotransmitters and cellular communication and vitamin B9 eases mental fatigue. A lack of some nutrients, such as magnesium, can also contribute to the development of mood disorders that can also lead to brain fog.

Infections

Brain fog can be a symptom of an inflammatory infection that attacks the brain. For example, bacterial diseases such as Lyme disease can cause brain fog. Viral infections can also lead to brain fog. Examples of such viruses include West Nile virus, COVID-19, SARS and H1N1. Many people experience problems with their cognition after having COVID-19, even long after the initial infection has passed. This can be one of the symptoms of long COVID. The virus is thought to activate certain immune cells in the brain, which cause inflammation, making it difficult for the brain to perform day-to-day cognitive tasks. A person can also experience brain fog from a fungal infection after inhaling a substance such as mold.

Autoimmune Conditions

Autoimmune conditions are inflammatory diseases. Brain fog can be a symptom of an autoimmune condition. For example, lupus is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system attacks healthy tissue. It can cause symptoms throughout the body. About 70% of people with lupus experience brain fog at some point in their lifetime.

Another condition that can cause brain fog is rheumatoid arthritis. Similarly, inflammatory bowel disease is another condition in which gastrointestinal inflammation can also affect brain function.

Poor Circulation and Brain Fog

If you have poor circulation to your hands and or feet, there’s a good chance you have poor circulation in your brain. This decrease in oxygen can lead to brain fog. Causes of low circulation in the brain include anemia, blood sugar regulating disorders such as diabetes, hypothyroid disease, smoking, lack of exercise, low blood pressure and adrenal fatigue.

Leaky Gut

Inflammation from leaky gut can disrupt communication between your gut and brain, producing confusion and forgetfulness, making it one of the possible causes of brain fog. Leaky gut can set into motion all kinds of health problems from food intolerances to pain and inflammation. It can trigger autoimmune diseases, skin disorders, loss of motivation, depression and even brain fog. The inflammation of leaky gut has been shown to lead to brain inflammation. The chemicals which cause leaky gut travel from the intestine into the blood. Once in the blood they travel everywhere blood travels and this includes the brain.

Can Allergies Cause Brain Fog?

Many allergy sufferers experience mental fatigue, confusion, and difficulty concentrating as part of their allergic response. There are two primary ways allergies cause brain fog: the body’s inflammatory response and the impact allergy symptoms have on your sleep.

If you have allergies, your immune system identifies harmless substances (called allergens) as threats to the body. When exposed to these allergens, the body triggers an immune system response to get the allergen out of the body. This response causes the release of histamine, a natural chemical that leads to inflammation. The release of histamine is responsible for your allergy symptoms and can make you feel foggy and tired as your body fights to rid itself of the allergens.

Allergy symptoms and lack of sleep can also cause brain fog because of their impact on the sleep cycle. Histamine can inflame the lining of your sinuses and nasal passageways. This inflammation makes it difficult to breathe. And when allergies impact your ability to breathe at night, it results in poor sleep.

Children with untreated allergies perform worse in school than others, research has found, in part because allergies can interrupt sleep and make children feel tired, but other factors may be involved as well. Young students’ grades improve when their allergies are treated with nonsedating, long-acting medication.

What's more, if a stuffy head, cough, or sneezing fits keep you up at night, it can have an even greater effect on your ability to rest. This lack of quality sleep can negatively impact cognitive abilities, causing trouble with concentration.

Common Symptoms of Brain Fog

Brain fog can manifest in a variety of ways. Symptoms include trouble sleeping, insomnia, headaches, low energy or fatigue, impaired cognitive function, mood swings, trouble concentrating, shorter attention span, low motivation, lack of ideas, excessive absences, difficulty recalling information, general forgetfulness and mental fatigue. Brain fog can also increase the frequency of headaches and gastrointestinal dysfunction.

It is normal to experience occasional brain fog and anxiety, especially during high stress. However, people who find that anxiety and brain fog regularly interfere with their everyday activities should seek medical attention.

Tips to Beat Brain Fog

Brain fog treatment depends on the cause. Lifestyle modifications can also help. Sometimes, alleviating brain fog is about improving the quality of your sleep or fixing a nutritional deficiency. If you’re anemic, iron supplements may boost your body’s production of red blood cells to reduce the symptoms.

Spend less time on the computer and mobile phone – remind yourself to take a break. Positive thinking reduces stress. Get enough sleep – 7-8 hours a day, go to bed at 10pm or no later than midnight. Regular exercise. Avoid smoking and drinking coffee in the afternoon. Finding enjoyable activities.

There are several ways to reduce brain fog from allergies. Try to get as much rest as possible and drink plenty of fluids. Limiting exposure to triggering allergens can effectively lessen your symptoms. Take precautions to reduce exposure, including limiting outdoor activities during peak pollen season, closing windows and doors when pollen counts are high, eliminating areas where dust and pet hair gather, replacing carpets and rugs with hard flooring, dusting and vacuuming regularly to remove allergens.