Got Brain Fog? Here Are 10 Simple Things That Can Help

Yet another new Harvard study (called "COSMOS") showed that taking daily multivitamins improved memory in older adults to a performance level equivalent to about a three-year younger age level. This benefit was maintained throughout the three years of the study.

Daily Supplements I Recommend

1. A great daily multivitamin that I recommend is Clinical Essentials™. Taking two tablets a day is superb for maintaining general nutritional health, including cognitive function.
2. Another excellent herbal to take with the multi is HRG80™ Red Ginseng. Our two recent studies showed that taking this specially formulated ginseng daily helped 60% of people with fatigue and brain fog, and improved cognitive function by an average of 48%.
3. And another recent study, awaiting publication, showed that Smart Energy System™ improved cognition by an average of 42%

I recommend combining all three for people who want to optimize energy and brain function. In addition, this week I want to discuss 10 more ways you can improve cognition.

There are many ways to help clear the brain fog that some people occasionally experience..

Recent research has shown that simply increasing exposure to sunlight, or even using a light therapy lamp (which is a reasonably inexpensive substitute) can markedly improve cognitive performance. For example, a recent meta-analysis of 12 randomized studies with 766 dementia patients, showed that phototherapy with bright light, such as that used for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder, significantly improved cognition. Reduced risk of dementia was also associated with people who used other methods to increase their levels of vitamin D, and that made sense as vitamin D deficiency is known to be associated with dementia.

Untreated hearing loss is also associated with higher risk of dementia. This study showed that using hearing aids when needed to compensate for hearing loss also reduced dementia risk.

An article published at MSN argued that preventive measures involving diet and lifestyle that can help lower dementia risk are too often over looked by the medical community, where instead the focus is on treatment after dementia has been diagnosed — treatments that are often pricey and of questionable efficacy. For example, one study found that people who simply ate a diet rich in phosphatidylcholine, found in eggs and other foods, were 28% less likely to develop dementia.

These simple measures represent just the tip of the iceberg of the many inexpensive, yet highly effective, ways people can help prevent or slow dementia. Sadly, most physicians don't tell their patients about these because they themselves never hear about them. What do physicians hear about? New, minimally effective medications that have unknown long-term side effects, some costing as much as $25,000 a year.

Dementia Aside, What About Simply Brain Fog?

Most of this discussion has been focused on dementia. But what about folks who are simply experiencing occasional brain fog, who just want to generally improve cognition?

10 Simple Ways to Improve Cognition:

1. For a good nutritional base, take the Clinical Essentials™ multivitamin and HRG80™ Red Ginseng each day (I recommend the chewable tablet version), plus the Smart Energy System™. Give it six weeks to see the effects
2. Go for walks as able, preferably in the sunshine. If not able to walk, have somebody help you to sit outside.
3. Get at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night. "If only that were possible...," you're thinking, right? But it is. For a good start, look at my three sleep articles below (my book From Fatigued to Fantastic can also show you how to get your eight hours a night):
   1. Get Great Sleep — Naturally!
   2. Sleep Hygiene & Helpful Sleep Medications
   3. Tired of Your Nightly 2 AM Wake-Up Call?
4. Eat more eggs.
5. Have your vision and hearing tested and treated as needed.
6. Address and optimize hormonal deficiencies, including thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive. Even if the blood tests are normal (blood tests showing a normal range are unreliable as a marker for this).
7. Eliminate silent infections such as EBV, CMV, HHV-6, or antibiotic sensitive infections.
8. Avoid PPI acid blockers like Prilosec (44% higher risk of dementia). Use Pepcid instead.
9. Increase fish oil Omega 3's in your diet. Most of our brain is made of these. An easy way to do this is with Vectomega® one tablet a day. It replaces 8 big fish oil pills!
10. Get rid of chronic pain – naturally. Our published research shows that treating the root causes of pain can often make the pain go away. Just like putting oil in a car makes the oil light go off. Untreated chronic pain is associated with eight years of premature brain aging. An excellent herbal mix called Curamin® has been a pain relief miracle for many, and it can be combined with any pain medications. Give it 6 weeks to see the full effect.