Concerned about Memory Loss, Mental Fog and Fatigue?
Many patients come to me with a concern about memory loss, brain fog and fatigue. They often describe their symptoms as heaviness in their head or behind the eyes, headaches, mental confusion, forgetfulness, irritability or depression, and an overall feeling like they are walking around in a haze or that they have to concentrate really hard to stay focused on tasks or conversations.
These symptoms can be really upsetting and worrisome for the patient as they assume they are experiencing age related declines in their memory. After listing off their symptoms, they will often summarize by saying, “I am not sure if all this is because I am getting older?” Well, there is great news – it’s often NOT AT ALL related to getting old, but related to other situational and lifestyle factors that have just gummed up the mechanics of the brain and made it hard to function.
Patients consistently see improvements over time in their memory by implementing four simple strategies.
4 Strategies to Better Your Brain
- Clear the brain – mental fog can masquerade as memory issues… often food sensitivities or bowel overgrowth can cause the mind to feel like it is functioning in a haze which makes it difficult to process thoughts and remember things. Probiotics and eliminating food sensitivities like gluten or dairy clears up the bowel and clears up the brain haze.
- Feed the brain – the brain needs a constant source of fuel, and will feed off sugars and carbs, but prefers higher amounts of healthy fats that come from foods like avocados, coconut oil, grassfed butter and omega three oils from fish.
- Repair the brain – Inflammation of the barrier to the brain as well as the brain itself affects the way the brain works. A full nights sleep and anti-inflammatory foods like turmeric which contains the active ingredient curcumin can have dramatic effects on the inflammation, allowing the memory to work better.
- Challenge the brain – learn something new everyday, do puzzles that challenge you – sudoko or other memory games, memorize phone numbers instead of storing everything in your device.
Important point to remember is that some of these changes are noticed right away such as the lifting of the fog, but expect improvements in memory to take many months before you notice changes. Hold the course, and you will be amazed at the changes long term!!!
