Banishing Brain Fog with Nutrition and Lifestyle

Many people struggle with brain fog, but what exactly is it? While not a medical condition itself, brain fog is a term used to describe symptoms that can impact your ability to think clearly.

Some symptoms of brain fog are confusion, forgetfulness, a lack of focus, a difficulty putting your thoughts into words, and less mental clarity. Brain fog is different from degenerative brain diseases like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. 

While there may be many different root causes that can contribute to brain fog, such as the hormonal fluctuations in perimenopause, stress, undiagnosed sleep disorders like sleep apnea, undiagnosed ADHD, long COVID, a diet high in ultra-processed foods, malnutrition, and gut health issues, there are some lifestyle shifts that we can do to manage the symptoms.

Tips to Combat Brain Fog

Research shows that you can boost your memory, help brain fog, and even help prevent brain disease, with nutrition and lifestyle.

Here are some nutrition and lifestyle changes that can help banish brain fog and improve your memory:

Anti-inflammatory eating

In general, eating anti-inflammatory foods and eliminating ultra-processed food helps support cognitive function. Identifying and avoiding your food sensitivities is also important. Doing this will lower inflammation and reduce the dietary triggers that worsen brain fog.

 Blueberries are rich in antioxidants, which protect against free radicals.

Anti-inflammatory eating

In general, eating anti-inflammatory foods and eliminating ultra-processed food helps support cognitive function. Identifying and avoiding your food sensitivities is also important. Doing this will lower inflammation and reduce the dietary triggers that worsen brain fog.

An anti-inflammatory diet, like the Mediterranean diet, is built around a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, healthy fats, beans, legumes, herbs, spices, tea, and coffee. All of these contain various nutrients, phytonutrients, and fiber to help support a healthy inflammatory response.

Adequate sleep

Adequate sleep is vital for brain health and can help reduce stress.

Daily exercise

Daily physical activity and movement support hormonal balance, detoxification, and gut health. It may also help manage inflammation. Even a few minutes a day can help.

Stress management

While it is not possible to completely avoid stress, chronic stress is detrimental for the body and the brain. Stress activates the body's “fight-or-flight" response, leading to elevated cortisol levels, which can impair cognitive function. Chronic stress may even contribute to dementia and Alzheimer’s. Research has shown that interventions aimed at reducing stress and improving sleep can significantly improve quality of life and brain health.

Exercise is a great way to manage stress.

There are many ways to incorporate stress reduction into your daily routine, including exercise, meditation, breath work and walking in nature.

Gut Health

Dietary changes, some of which are detailed below, and enhancing your gut health with probiotics can help alleviate symptoms for some people. If you believe that you have an undiagnosed digestive issue, it’s important to see a physician and begin a treatment plan.

Protein-rich food

Protein is the second largest matter in the brain, second only to water, so it's important to nourish your brain with protein rich foods. Proteins also help neurons within the brain communicate with each other through neurotransmitters made from amino acids.

Eating a protein-rich diet can also help you manage your blood sugar.

Protein slows down the release of glucose into the bloodstream, which helps stabilize blood sugar. Having stable blood sugar level throughout the day, prevents the spikes and crashes that a diet rich in sugary foods may cause. Low blood sugar can make you feel groggy and sluggish, affecting concentration, focus, and cognition.

Protein-rich foods include lean meat, poultry, pork, fish, shellfish, eggs, beans, lentils, dairy products like cheese and Greek yogurt and tofu.

Fiber

Fiber also helps with blood sugar regulation. Fiber slows down the digestion of carbohydrates and absorption of sugar, which helps prevent blood sugar spikes, and the resulting crashes that can sap you of your energy and concentration. Fiber sources include fruits, vegetables, oats, and legumes.

Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids

Salmon, mackerel and sardines are high in omega-3 fatty acids particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which boosts brain function.

Iron-rich foods

Iron helps the body produce neurotransmitters, which help neurons in your brain communicate with each other. It also helps blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body, including the brain. This helps with attention and concentration.

Iron-rich foods include lean red meat, poultry, oysters, clams, dark leafy greens, beans and lentils

Dark, leafy greens are high in vitamin E and folate.

Dark leafy greens

Dark, leafy greens such as kale, spinach and broccoli are high in vitamin E as well as folate. Vitamin E helps protect our cell membranes against free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can attack cells within our body. We are exposed to free radicals in our daily environment ,from sources like stress, pollution, radiation, and ultra-processed food. Folate is another nutrient found in dark greens. It helps with normal brain development.

Blueberries and blackberries

Blueberries and other dark berries are rich in antioxidants, which protect against free radicals in our environment. These antioxidants make blueberries and blackberries powerful brain foods, which can help with memory and ease brain fog. As we get older, antioxidant-rich foods may also help fight degenerative changes in the brain that may lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and enhance neural functioning.

Complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are brain food. They provide a steady supply of energy needed for normal brain function. To keep your blood sugar stable and protect against chronic disease, choose complex carbohydrates like quinoa, brown rice, xx, and xx, over refined carbohydrates and foods high in added sugars.

Vitamin D

Having low vitamin D levels may contribute to brain fog symptoms. Getting more sunlight and supplementing with 2,000 IU of vitamin D may help alleviate brain fog.

B- vitamins

Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral found in spinach, beans, and seeds. Low magnesium levels are often found in people suffering from chronic stress and can lead to more susceptibility to the effects of stress. Chronic stress, as stated above, can contribute to poor concentration and memory impairment. As magnesium levels are often depleted in the soil, supplementation with magnesium may help people get the necessary amount.

B-Complex

If you have a low level of B vitamins, especially vitamin B12, B6, and folate, you may experience symptoms of brain fog. Vitamin B12 can be found in animal products like beef and chicken, clams, nutritional yeast, and salmon.

Some people on a vegan diet may be deficient in B12, as the richest sources come from animal products. They may need to supplement with a B Complex vitamin, intravenous B12 shots, or a multivitamin.

Other foods that may boost brain health:

Nuts contain vitamin E and antioxidants, which fight inflammation and may be protective for the brain.

Besides their high protein content, which is essential for brain health, eggs are high in choline, which boosts brain function. Eating eggs once or twice a week can help boost memory and banish brain fog.

Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that protects our cells from free radical damage. Lycopene regulates genes that influence inflammation and regulates cell growth within the brain.

Good news for chocolate lovers! Dark chocolate, with its high flavonoid content, can improve blood flow to the brain.

Green tea is another brain booster. A research study showed that alpha, beta, and theta waves in the brain were increased one hour following the ingestion of green tea. The increased theta waves suggest that green tea may help with attention and alertness.

What to avoid

Limit ultra-processed foods, which is associated with inflammatory effects on the body and the brain. Diets high in refined sugars may also worsen cognition, again, due to the inflammatory effect this type of diet has on the body and the brain. Wildly fluctuating blood sugar levels may also exacerbate brain fog symptoms, as low blood sugar can cause a slump in energy and cognitive abilities.

When you eat a nutrient-dense diet that is high in fiber, protein and antioxidants, and low in ultra-processed foods and added sugars, you can feel more alert, aware, and focused. Working with a health care professional that can help you pinpoint the root cause of your brain fog can help you banish brain fog for good.

A Note for Women in Perimenopause

Some women in perimenopause may be concerned that their brain fog will be a permanent condition or that they now have the early stages of dementia. Thankfully, this is not the case. Often, brain fog is more pronounced in perimenopause, due to fluctuating levels of the hormone estrogen. After menopause, estrogen levels are lower, but more stable, which may lead to a different and less severe presentation of brain fog.