David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

Tips to Beat Brain Fog

15 Mar 2017 · 1 min

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In this brief video segment, Dr. David Perlmutter identifies three primary lifestyle actions to improve mental clarity and combat brain fog. First, he emphasizes the importance of a good night’s sleep for optimal brain function. Second, he advises paying close attention to diet, highlighting that gut‑derived inflammation can disrupt neural signaling between brain cells. Third, he recommends regular aerobic exercise, which alters gene expression to increase production of brain‑derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a chemical that enhances communication among neurons. Together, these three steps—adequate sleep, anti‑inflammatory nutrition, and aerobic activity—are presented as practical, evidence‑based ways to sharpen cognition.

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So many people are complaining of so-called brain fog, and really with good reason, because so much goes into the notion of thinking clearly. And if I had to pick 3 ideas that would help you with clarifying your brain would be, number one, get a good night's sleep. Number 2 would be to pay attention to your food, because we know that inflammation coming from the gut is going to compromise the clarity of the signals as one brain cell communicates with the next. The next thing is to add in aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise will change your gene expression, turn on your body's ability to make a chemical called BDNF, which allows brain cells to communicate with each other in a far more efficient manner.