Brain Fog Explained by Sally Cross (2021)
- Sally Cross
- Jun 16, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 23, 2024
By Sally Cross, Natural Change Coaching.
Therapeutic Life & Relationship Coach.
Herbal & Menopause Coach.
Brain fog is a reaction to stress, hormone imbalances, inflammation, uncertainties in life, feeling overwhelmed and the effects of trauma. Brain fog affects your brain function, memory, mood, work and life.
Stress: When you’re stuck in ‘fight or flight’ mode, cortisol levels rise and reduce your ability to think clearly, difficulty in focusing, reduces your ability to learn and draw on your memory for information. Cortisol disables your analytical, crisper focused mind, putting you into a brain fog state.
Blood Sugar Imbalances: In your brain, low blood sugar triggers the stress response, so if your brain is not getting enough energy from food, it triggers cortisol and you’re in the stress loop.
Dysbiosis: Leaky gut. Gut imbalances can cause fatigue, anxiety and depression. This can lead to a state of low-level, chronic intoxication, much like the effects of alcohol, all of which affect focus and memory and can make you feel groggy and foggy.
Brain-inflammation: When immune system chemicals from systemic inflammation cross the blood-brain barrier, this causes inflammation in the brain leading to depression, anxiety and brain fog.
Lack of sleep: Raises your cortisol levels, increases inflammation and the desire to eat more sugar and carbs affecting your blood sugar, which can cause brain fog.
Depression: Affects your brain waves, so that they don’t respond with the same frequency as normal, reducing serotonin and dopamine levels, which in turn can reduce your mental acuity, brain fog.
Anxiety: Creates a distraction of the mind, difficulties in concentration. It makes relatively easy tasks difficult and this can lead to stress and brain fog. Whereas more difficult tasks require a higher level of cognitive resources, which leaves less space for anxiety to creep in.
You can see how all these elements create a vicious circle. We can improve the symptoms of brain fog by addressing the triggers!!
Please feel free to contact me for more information on my courses to help you combat these triggers and improve mental acuity.
Sally Cross, Natural Change Coaching.
Therapeutic Life & Relationship Coach.
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