Healthy Ways to Clear Brain Fog
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Sudokus, Brain Exercise activity books, Jeopardy, and now Brain Boosting vitamin supplements...what next, right?
Whether you’re getting older, feeling the effects of Mommy Brain, not getting brain stimulation from your job, or you’re dealing with the onset of dementia, there’s a host of reasons why you might benefit from vitamins and nutrients to shore up the walls of your body’s most important, complex, hardest working organ.
Ingredients that help:
Omega-3 as Fish Oil: Studies have shown that taking fish oil supplements (which are high in EPA and DHA--eicosatetraenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) may help improve memory in people with mild cognitive impairment, and they are also recommended to help people with depression.
For use with Alzheimer’s, here are some guidelines:
- At least 250 mg of DHA in each capsule: daily total of at least 1,000–1,500 mg
- 600 mg per day of EPA
Bonus: Besides promoting brain health, fish oil is also thought to have a beneficial effect on cholesterol.
Folate, Vitamin B6 and B12
High levels of an amino acid called homocysteine are thought to make the brain more vulnerable to beta-amyloid (a toxic substance that commonly accompanies Alzheimer’s). High levels of homocysteine, coupled with low folate levels, has been associated with heart disease and possibly higher risk for dementia.
Citicoline
A naturally occurring substance found in the human body, citicoline is also found in Eggs, liver, and peanuts (those are the big three), and in meat, poultry, fish, dairy foods, pasta, rice (in smaller quantities). As a drug, citicoline has been proposed for use in traumatic brain injuries, stroke, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and brain aging because it may stabilize cell membranes and reduce the presence of free radicals (unpredictable atoms, like party animals, who destroy the hotel room and then check out before anyone realizes it) likely to damage your cells accelerate aging and cause diseases) (Blount, Nguyen, & McDeavitee, 2002). Citicoline may also stimulate the release of dopamine neurotransmitters in the brain--in short, citicoline may help your brain send signals better when it’s off its game (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695184/).
Phosphatidylserine
Practice reading “phosphatidylserine” and it seems that your brain should get some exercise just like that. But if you want to increase the boost, consider taking a supplement containing that very substance, which naturally occurs in the fatty cells of the body.
PQQ
Plant-based Boosters
Eat for your brain
A diet rich in the following foods may also help to keep your brain in balance:
- Leafy greens like kale and spinach
- Walnuts and fatty fish (Omega-3)
- Berries (blueberries, strawberries, acai)
- Coffee or tea--more than just an energy and focus boost, it may help solidify new memories