?Sorry, blanked out there, come again?

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Reflection of the day: BRAIN FOG → Dis kid got overly excited over the 26 sunny weather in Melb and forgot about the cursed temp diff and landed herself w most likely the common cold (tested COVID -ve thankfully 😁), potentially bacterial infection secondary to viral currently (only now experiencing coryzal sx w productive yellow/green sputum 🤢). Last few days finding it difficult to concentrate on lectures and brain-intensive learning in general, so thought I would look into this common phenomenon known as brain fog. 


So what is brain fog?

  •  It is NOT an official medical term 
  • It is used by pts to explain their sx of difficulty concentrating, focusing, performing daily tasks (e.g. taking much longer to do something than they normally do) etc
  • Can be ACUTE or CHRONIC 

What causes brain fog?
  • One study conducted by Dr Ali Mazaheri (A/Prof in Psychology at the University of Birmingham) shows that inflammation is implicated in brain fog and directly affects attention
  • There are 3 components to attention: 

  1. Alerting (being aware of the thing/situation to concentrate on)
  2. Orientating (focussing on one side and blocking out the other)
  3. Conflict (ability to tune out other pot more interesting things in the surroundings)  

  • The study showed that acute inflammation in response to a vaccine injection affected the alerting aspect of attention
  • This research project is still in the preliminary phase of potentially a much larger study but it elucidates how conditions associated w inflammation may cause the patients to experience brain fog
  • Would be interesting to see if this result is replicable in acute and chronic illnesses

How to deal w brain fog?
  • If brain fog b/c of acute illness e.g. common cold, flu, etc, sx likely self-resolve overtime but what to do in the meantime and if experiencing chronic brain fog, see ↓
  • Cardio exercises  → aim for 30mins/day, 5 days/wk. If you're a couch potato like me or only enjoy weightlifting/gym (Hi, it's me, I'm the problem it's me 😅), start w even just 2-3mins a day
  • Healthy diet → i.e. cutting down on anything white 😭 incl. anything made of white flour (yes white bread, pasta, they both have to go omg), sugar + sugary food (omg desserts), also reducing fat intake (butter, deep fried food, chips etc); veggies >>> meat (horror I know); fruits (but be wary of the sugar content as well), eat a "Mediterranean diet"
  • Getting enough sleep → insomnia is a pain in the ass, but I'm sure there are others of you out there (me incl.) that don't get enough sleep b/c we spend too much time doom scrolling on insta or watched an episode too many of kdrama/anime/movies or read a chapter too many of the most rivetting book of the week/month/year. Well, it's time to instil better SLEEP HYGIENE. 
  • Chill out w friends → we're social creatures, being w others (that we like) not only improves mood but helps w cog fn
  • Mindfulness activities → meditation, yoga, listening to music, whatever hits your sweet spot for boosting mental health 
^ above advice adapted from Harvard Health Publishing



 

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