It's a regular day at work, but you've been having trouble focusing on what your boss is saying. You are having trouble maintaining the conversation because you haven’t been able to pay attention; then after the discussion, you can't recall what the conversation was about.
You wave it off as regular fatigue, but for the next few days, this dream-like confusion just doesn’t seem to go away. Like millions of people around the globe, you’re having a brain fog. It's not imaginary, and there are ways to beat it, naturally.
What is brain fog?
Although brain fog is yet to be formally recognized as a medical or psychological condition, for those who have experienced it know that it is very real.
The good news is that your brain isn’t damaged (yet); the bad news is that the damage may be in your intestines, and it can impact your cognitive functions: memory loss, slow cognitive processes, and lack of coordination like walking and speaking.
Gluten ataxia is an inflammatory autoimmune reaction to gluten, a reaction that causes damage in your intestinal tracts and eventually messes with your brain.
The wire-overheating in your brain and its consequences
When your body is having an autoimmune reaction to gluten, your nerve fibers become inflamed, and the speed of your signal transmission between your neurons are greatly reduced.
Inflammation is caused by an over activity of the immune system, releasing higher levels of inflammatory molecules, cytokines, into your blood system.
When this reaction is left untreated and is elevated to a higher level, white blood cells are then facilitated into the brain and cause further inflammation on your nerve fibers.
Basically, your brain is heating up from a reaction to something you ate, like a bacteria infection, or a disease.
As consequence, because parts of your brain can no longer communicate properly to one another due to overheated wires, you begin to have trouble remembering things, it becomes hard to focus, you hesitate (abnormally long) on making important decisions.
For some others, they may find it difficult to keep a coherent conversation, or they find themselves move slower than usual, have difficulties walking at a normal pace.
On the long term, studies found that it can irreversibly damage parts of your brain that are responsible for balance and movements (cerebellum), memory functions, and eventually dementia.
Gluten may not be the only culprit
Although the recent findings on gluten echo eerily one with another across the world, it should be noted that gluten should not be considered as the only factor that is causing your brain to… fog up.
Indeed, some online bloggers argue that carbs cannot be the only scapegoat for what is intoxicating our brain. There are cultures that consume carb-heavy foods that are practically free of the chronic diseases that western cultures are suffering from. Though, it’s important to note that many of these cultures eat high carb foods like sweet potato, but not refined carbs like doughnuts and cornflakes. But that’s for another discussion.
Other factors, like iron deficiency, dehydration, caffeine overdose, sugar overdose, lack of physical activity and sleep, high stress levels, and even food allergies or intolerance can all lead to similar symptoms of a brain fog.
Some ways to combat brain fogs
Get some sun
The vitamin D that you get from the sun has the ability to suppress autoimmune diseases and seasonal allergies, along with a basket full of goodness that you can read all about here.
Get good, regular sleep
There are good reasons as to why you still feel tired after an 8-hour sleep. A disrupted circadian rhythm is closely linked to inflammation, which leads to brain fog, lack of cognitive performance, heart diseases, and even neurodegenerative conditions.
Daily exercise
This should come as a no-brainer. Many literature show that moderate exercise provide a plethora of benefits to your health. Your body simply appreciates movement to keep the engine running. Studies suggest aerobic activity between 20 to 60 minutes at least twice a week, depending on each person’s capacity, to help combat inflammatory bowel diseases.
Eat fish
The rage about fish oil, an abundant source of omega-3 fats (DHA) is not for nothing. We will not go through the long list of benefits that come with it (you can read about it here), but stocking up on DHA has been shown to reduce inflammation, promote cardiovascular health, and improves cognition (makes you smarter).
Don’t wave off your brain fog
While brain fog is yet to be formally recognized as a medical condition, it doesn’t mean that it should be taken lightly. Discomforts are your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Listen to your body, you will thank yourself for it.