The Hidden Reason You Have Brain Fog & Wake Up Tired

Introduction to Brain Fog 0:00

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Anshul Gupta, MD. Let me ask you this question. Are you struggling with brain fog and fatigue? But do you know this fact that there are almost 600 million people worldwide that suffer from brain fog? Today I'm going to share with you surprising reasons that are stealing your mental clarity and energy, and I will give you practical solutions to help regain your mental focus and waking up feeling refreshed. But before you move forward, please like and subscribe to my channel so you keep on getting this great information in the future also.

So let's get started. So let's first define what is brain fog and what are the symptoms of brain fog. So the brain fog is a collection of symptoms. And there are different people with different symptoms of brain fog. So some of the symptoms are people complain that they have lack of mental clarity or they feel cloudy headed. A lot of times people feel poor concentration and they are not able to concentrate on different tasks at the same time. The next symptom is that they often feel overwhelmed and stressed out

Symptoms of Brain Fog 1:12

easily or on very frequent basis. They are feeling stressed out and overwhelmed with their work. The next symptom is that people are forgetting about things like where they have kept their keys, or where they have kept their shoes or socks, or they are forgetting names of the people they have recently met. The next symptom is about memory. People are feeling that the memory is not as great as before, and they are not able to recall information as easily as well as they are feeling very sluggish or tired oftentimes.

So these are all the symptoms of brain fog. And if you are going through any of these symptoms, then yes, you do have brain fog. Now let's talk about why brain fog happens. What are the underlying reasons that is causing this brain fog. So you will be surprised to know that the number one reason of brain fog is because of poor mitochondrial health. Now what is this? Mitochondria. So mitochondria are teeny tiny organelles which are present in each and every cell of your body. Now brain needs energy to function, and you will be surprised to know that the highest concentration of mitochondria is present in your brain.

Each and every nerve cell of your body can have up to 2 million mitochondria. So that is a huge amount. The power of brain is actually dependent on these mitochondria. And we have clear research. This suggests that several people with brain disorders like Parkinson's, like Alzheimer's or brain fog or even aging mental issues or because of poor mitochondrial health. So mitochondrial health is very, very important. And the new research is very clear that if we can improve our mitochondria, then we can improve our brain health.

Now let's talk about why our mitochondria are not functioning in our brain.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Inflammation 3:00

What is causing damage to our mitochondria? Number one reason why our mitochondria is being damaged is because of high inflammation in our body. Now this inflammation can be because of underlying medical conditions like autoimmune conditions. If you have Hashimoto's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or you have thyroid problems or hormonal dysfunctions, or you have just generalized high inflammation in the body, then that can be the major reason of your brain fog because that is damaging your mitochondria.

So that's the number one reason. The second reason is hormonal imbalances. We have several hormones in our body like thyroid hormones like male hormones of testosterone, female hormones of estrogen, progesterone, as well as adrenal hormones of cortisol. All of these hormones have receptors in the brain. Brain cannot function properly, cannot assimilate information properly if these hormones are out of whack. So people who have thyroid disorders or they have Hashimoto's, or they are chronically stressed and they have abnormal adrenal function, that is another major reason that people are developing brain fog because their mitochondria cannot function without these hormones.

So hormonal dysfunctions are very, very important reason for people to have brain fog. The next major reason is lack of good quality sleep. Yes, sleep is very important to keep our mitochondria in good shape, and that way keep our brain in good shape. A lot of people are sleeping very less. They are only sleeping for 6 to 7 hours. Our brain needs a minimum of eight hours. And now actually, we are realizing that it is not only about the hours of the sleep, it is also about the quality of the sleep.

You might have seen several sleep trackers, whether you have an Apple Watch or other ways to track your sleep, you can know the quality of the sleep. And we know that the quality of the sleep matters a lot in terms of our brain health. So very important to get good quality sleep. The next reason of destruction of your mitochondria is actually diet, which is low in nutrients that supports your mitochondria or diet, which is high, and things which are destroying your mitochondria.

Hormones, Sleep, Diet, Stress, and Gut Health 5:18

So there are several food like processed food, the trans fats in your fatty foods, as well as, gluten, dairy, those are all destroying your mitochondria. Plus, we need good fats, good proteins, and antioxidant foods that supports our mitochondria. And often our diets are poor in nutrients that support the mitochondria. That causes dysfunctional mitochondria. The next reason of your mitochondrial dysfunction is chronic stress. Whenever you are going through long term stressful conditions, then that causes mitochondrial destruction.

We know that chronic stress can cause adrenal dysfunction by causing your cortisol levels to be high all the time, and that high cortisol levels can have negative impact on your mitochondria, and that poor mitochondrial health ultimately leads to brain fog. The last reason of poor mitochondrial health is poor gut health. There is a strong connection between your gut and your brain. In fact, research is very clear now that there is a cross connection between your brain and your gut. So when your gut is inflamed, when your gut is in poor shape, that directly impacts the inflammation in your brain.

So when your gut is inflamed, your brain is inflamed, and when your brain is inflamed, it cannot function. And that's the reason it leads to brain fog. So you see, now you know exactly the underlying causes, why you are going through brain fog on the daily basis and not feeling good. Now let's talk about solutions. What you can do today to get your brain function back, what you can do today to help get the mental clarity and energy that you need on a daily basis. So this can be achieved by two things.

First of all, lifestyle changes. And the second of all is the supplements that can boost your brain health. So we are going to start with the lifestyle changes. And then I'm going to talk about supplements that will help improve your brain health. So the first lifestyle change you need to do is you need to work on reducing inflammation in the body. And for that you need to go on an anti-inflammatory diet, which is high in nutrients that supports the mitochondria. So for that you need to first remove foods which causes mitochondrial destruction and that food is processed food.

Fast food, food which is high in sugars, as well as food which is high in gluten as well as dairy. Because all of these foods are destroying your mitochondria on the daily basis, now you need nutrients for your mitochondria. And what are these nutrients? The first nutrient over here is good quality fats. You have been told that fat is really bad for your body, but good quality fats is very important for mitochondrial health and also for your brain health. So this good quality fats can come from avocados.

That can come from nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, your pumpkin seeds, your sunflower seeds. If you are eating animal products, then good quality fatty fishes are another way to get good fats. Your good coconut oil, olive oil as well as Indian clarified butter, which is the ghee, are all good sources of good fats that you need to include on the daily basis to support your mitochondria. The next thing is good quality proteins. Your mitochondria again needs good quality protein to function properly, which again comes from your good quality nuts and seeds, your chia seeds, your flax seeds.

That again comes from your good quality beans, legumes, lentils, as well as meat products like good quality fish, chicken and turkey. So these are all good quality protein you need to include on the daily basis. And the last comes the antioxidant foods. And these antioxidants are going to come from all the colorful, non-starchy vegetables that you have to eat on the everyday basis.

Lifestyle Changes to Improve Brain Health 9:00

Every color that is present in your food is a polyphenol, and these polyphenols have powerful antioxidant properties that helps support the mitochondrial health. So that's a reason the more color you have in your diet, the better it is for your mitochondria. So that's the basis of an anti-inflammatory diet that supports the mitochondria. The more you are going to follow this diet, the better your mitochondrial health would be. The second thing from the lifestyle perspective, is that you need to cultivate some stress rebalancing techniques on the daily basis.

We all live in a stressful environment and what we don't do is that we don't rebalance our stress properly. What that means is that we need to cultivate some deep breathing techniques, or meditation, or guided relaxation techniques. Only for a few minutes. 10 to 15 minutes is enough to rebalance your stressful hormones and reduce the burden of stress on your body, and that itself will be a huge game changer for you in terms of improving your brain health. So make sure you are doing this on a daily basis.

The next lifestyle changes is good quality sleep. Yes, you know, at least minimum of eight hours is what your body needs and the good quality sleep is very important in this aspect. The blue light, which is coming from devices like laptops, like TV screens as well as a mobile phones, is very bad for a good quality sleep. So at least a minimum of one hour before you go to bed, you need to switch off all the screens around you so you can get good quality sleep. So that is the first thing you need to do.

And then also trying to go to bed on the fixed time as well as waking up. Or the fix time will again improve the good quality sleep that your body needs. The next last thing you need to do to improve your mitochondrial health is regular exercising. Yes, exercise is a mitochondrial booster. Whether you do aerobic or cardio exercising or you do strength training. Both of them are very, very important for your mitochondrial health. No, I am not asking you to start running a marathon or do a very high intensity training. No.

Start with some basic exercising which your body can tolerate and then slowly and slowly build it up. Any kind of body movement is going to improve your mitochondrial health. So these are all the lifestyle changes that you need to incorporate today itself. That is definitely going to improve your brain fog as well as energy levels. Now let's talk about supplements that is going to boost your brain functioning also. So the number one supplement that is going to support your brain health is omega three fatty acids.

Omega three fatty acids especially EPA and DHA are very, very important for brain functioning as well as for mitochondrial functioning. EPA and DHEA supports your brain health by reducing inflammation in the brain, as well as also keeping your cell line in good shape.

Supplements for Mental Clarity and Energy 11:48

Now, it is very important to get good quality omega three fatty acids because most of the omega threes which are available on the shelf are poor quality or actually have heavy metals like mercury added to them, and you do not want that. And plus you need to get enough quantity of omega three in the body. It is very important to get 1000 to 2000mg of EPA and DHEA on the daily basis to keep your brain in good shape. Most of the supplements, which are available online or on shelf, do not have this quantity of EPA.

And so make sure you look at the labels and count the amount of milligrams of EPA and DHA on those fish oil capsules before you buy them. The second supplement with recent research to support the brain health is back. Copa. But Copa is a great supplement which is very, very important for the brain health bar. Copa is a powerful antioxidant that reduces inflammation in the brain, but Copa is a nootropic. That means it boosts your brain functioning. It can help improve the focus. The mental clarity, as well as can help with dealing with stressful situations for your brain in a very, very good fashion.

So back Copa, if you include on a daily basis again that is going to boost your mental health as well as going to boost the physical health along with that also, and keep your body in good shape. The next supplement, which is very important for your brain health, is B-complex vitamins. Our B vitamins are very important for brain functioning because a B vitamins actually help in producing several neurotransmitters in your brain, like serotonin, like norepinephrine, like epinephrine, like dopamine.

All of these neurotransmitters need B vitamins in good shape for your body to function. Now the caveat over here again, the majority of the B vitamins which are available on the stores are not methylated and your body cannot absorb or convert these B vitamins. So it is very important to buy only methylated B vitamins for your brain, because those are the ones your brain can utilize and make these neurotransmitters, which are very important for your brain function. The next supplement that will help boost your brain is acetyl l-carnitine.

Now, acetyl l-carnitine is an amino acid, which is very important for your mitochondrial health because that helps your mitochondria to utilize the good fats in your body. Plus, acetyl l-carnitine also is an important production of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine actually is an important chemical which boosts your brain functioning. Especially it boosts the learning potential of your brain as well as you know, helps to keep your neurotransmitters in good shape in the brain. So that's the reason, as Italian carnitine boosts the acetylcholine as well as that in return boosts the mental capacity of your brain.

And by boosting the mitochondrial health, the l-carnitine also boosts the energy production as well as your physical activity of your body. Also, the last supplement that is going to support your mitochondria and your brain is phosphate oil. Serine for suicidal serine is actually an important chemical which a lot of people are not even aware of. It is present in each and every cell of your body and is very important for proper functioning of the cell, especially the brain cells. What was seen in research studies is that when versatile serine was given as a supplement to people with Alzheimer's or dementia or Parkinson's disease, then it was able to improve their brain functioning.

Not only their memory was getting better, but their focus, attention as well as their mood was also improved when they were taking phosphate while sitting on the regular basis. So phosphorus 18 is another important supplement which boosts the brain functioning and mitochondrial functioning, and definitely will improve more mental clarity. So now you see that you know the exact reason why you are going through brain fog and what all things you can do today that is going to boost your brain activity.

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