Live better to de-fog the brain

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Live better to de-fog the brain We’ve come to accept tiredness and stress as part of our busy, modern lives. Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect a life without either, but there is a limit to how much we can manage. And for an increasing number of us, stress and tiredness are symptoms of a wider problem – brain fog. You might know the feeling: your brain just feels, well, foggy and clogged. Processing things and concentrating becomes arduous and draining, and there’s a sense of being disengaged, slightly removed. This often has a big impact on mood too, bringing depression and a loss of joy and motivation. Brain fog is nothing new. It has long been recognised as a characteristic or repercussion of many long-term health conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, head injuries and post-traumatic stress, and also as a side-effect experienced by people on long-term medication, particularly long-term pain relief. But it is affecting people as a stand-alone condition these days. Psychotherapist and author Dr Mike Dow has even dubbed brain fog a “new epidemic”. Its characteristics can be vague, he points out in his new book ‘Brain Fog Fix: Reclaim Your Focus, Memory And Joy In Just 3 Weeks’. Individuals might not even be aware that the ‘symptoms’ they’re experiencing are linked. Dow had noticed similar patterns among a number of his clients and acquaintances. A sense of being “in a slump”, a bit detached from life. There was a feeling of being mentally overwhelmed, unable to really focus and in a permanent state of exhaustion – yet unable to get a good night’s sleep. “Some people simply say they just don’t feel like themselves – and haven’t for a long time,” Dow explains. Life is dragging for them, and while it might look as though they are functioning well and juggling all those balls, inside they feel they are wading through mud. It’s easy to dismiss some of the symptoms outlined as an inevitable part of getting older (brain fog is sometimes described as a middle-aged condition). But Dow is keen to highlight just how much can be done to fight the problem. While brain fog can feel ‘emotional’ , Dow points out that it’s a physiological issue too. Although psychological and emotional factors can sometimes contribute to its onset, such as a period of high stress or emotional trauma, Dow says: “Many of my patients had significant imbalances in their brain chemistry – imbalances that were seriously interfering with their ability to experience their power, joy, and purpose. “For most, these imbalances didn’t require prescription medication – only a handful of them would have been diagnosed with depression. Nor were most of these problems chronic; all of these patients could recall long periods of time when they had been able to think clearly and felt great. “Unfortunately, many of their diets, lifestyles, and circumstances were conspiring to destabilize their brain chemistry, leaving them thinking badly and feeling worse.” Beating brain fog therefore means identifying and addressing the factors feeding into the problem, even if they seem insignificant or unlikely to make a make a big difference. In this age of convenience food, long working hours and 24-7 technology, it can be too easy to fall into habits that contribute to the problem. “The way we eat, sleep, work, and live is flooding, starving, clogging, and disrupting our brains by destabilizing the levels of three crucial brain chemicals: serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol,” says Dow. “We experience these biological problems as brain fog, scatterbrain, memory loss, fatigue, anxiety, and the blues.” Over time, these problems can become chronic and severe, if nothing is done to address them, and short-term solutions – like reaching for the caffeine or sugar – can end up being part of the problem too. features@7days.ae Read the original story at: Live better to de-fog the brain