Natural Remedies for Brain Fog - Plants that Support Cognition, Memory, and Focus

So how's your brain doing? Feeling a little fuzzy, a little foggy, a little disconnected? Let's talk about it. So I'm Dr. Patrick Jones from the Homegrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine, and people are having brain fog, right? Very common problem. You just feel a little disconnected, a little fuzzy, a little foggy. Can't remember your kids' names, you know. And it's no fun. The scientific name, of course, for that is cerebrocumulonimbus, right? That's a really foggy brain, but it's a real thing, and it can be really frustrating for people and alarming for people sometimes. But I got some good news. There are some remedies, some things you can do to help you get through this, and let's talk about it. First of all, let's talk a little bit about what causes it, right? And it can be caused for a lot of things. Let's just go through a list, okay? The first thing is inactivity. Yeah, and that's easy to fix, right? Get up and get moving. Our bodies and brains are not designed to sit in a chair all day and look at the same thing, right? If you went back not very long, people were walking around and working and doing things all and working and had physical activity as a part of their normal day. And we're getting away from that. We're getting to be in a more sedentary lifestyle. We sit at the office all day, and then we come home and sit in front of the TV all night, right? And so there's been some really good studies that show that just getting up and getting out and getting moving a little bit, getting some exercise is tremendously beneficial. It helps improve circulation and flow and remove toxins from the body and just really can be beneficial. And it doesn't have to be hard exercise. You don't have to go lift weights. A lot of us aren't in a position to do that, but just walk around. Go out and take a walk. If you got more stamina to do something a little more vigorous, a little more aerobic, right? But any kind of activity and just breaking up your day with a little activity. If you're in an office working in a chair all day, get up and walk around for a few minutes every hour or so. Even that level of activity will really help. The next thing that can really cause it is lack of sleep, poor sleep. And this can really be a problem. Getting good quality sleep fixes all kinds of things, not just break buck. I mean, we could do a whole video just on all the nice things that are happening to your body while you're sleeping. But one of the things that's happening is that your body is healing and repairing and cleaning up, right? That's sort of the downtime, the offline time where maintenance happens. And one of the things that happens, just as an example of many things, is that adenosine, which is a byproduct of metabolic activity, it's a normal thing, but it's a waste product. It's a toxin. And while we're sleeping, that gets cleaned up. And it can have some inflammatory properties. It can have some other properties that just gork things up and make us a little fuzzy. And getting good quality sleep really can help that. So how do you do that? Well, first of all, just a couple of rules. First of all, just use your room for sleeping, right? Don't eat in bed and watch TV in bed and do all kinds of other things that have nothing to do with rest in bed. That programs your brain to think, oh, well, I'm in bed. I must be going to be watching a good show or reading a good book or checking my Facebook page. And those aren't things that your brain needs to be doing at that time. Your brain needs to be remembering that when you put your head on that pillow, it's time to be sleeping. Another thing that can really help, speaking of checking your Facebook posts, is not using any screens at all for an hour or two before you go to bed, because that's very stimulating. Unless it's a really boring TV show, that'll help you go to sleep. But you should sleep in your bed, not your chair, right? But anyway, social media is very engaging. And I mean, they pay psychologists and programmers a lot of money to stimulate and excite your brain so that you'll keep clicking the dumb buttons and going to the next page and buying things and searching things and doing things and supporting things, right? And those are not relaxing and calming activities for your brain. It's just the opposite. And so, eliminating any kind of social media is really great for helping you get some sleep. And of course, you know, there's horrible things you can do, too, if you're having insomnia. You know, a little lemon balm, a little valerian, a little chamomile, half an hour before you go to bed can really be beneficial. We have a formula called RestEasy on the website on homegrownables.com. And, you know, it's interesting. I've had a lot of insomnia cases over the years, and I've never had anybody that had to use that stuff for very long, you know, a couple of weeks, maybe a month. And it's sort of like their body gets retrained and their brain gets retrained. They say, oh, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to do at night. I'm supposed to sleep. And they don't need it anymore. So anyway, getting some good sleep is really important. Poor nutrition is another reason that we're having brain fog. So much of the stuff we're eating nowadays is not even food. I mean, it's not even close. It's been so adulterated and so full of chemicals and so full of, you know, preservatives and flavor enhancing things and, you know, food colorings and all kinds of stuff and simple sugars and all kinds of things that gork us up. You know, if we would get a cleaner diet, more vegetables, good quality meat, way less simple carbohydrates, you know, simple sugars cause insulin to spike and insulin is very inflammatory and inflammation in your brain gives you brain fog. Okay. So just eating right can really help. And herbs can be helpful with that too. A lot of the deep rooted herbs have tons of minerals and tons of micronutrients that you can't find anywhere else. A lot of the green leafy stuff is extraordinarily high in vitamins and antioxidants. You know, a lot of the foods that were growing commercially have been genetically modified to be what they are. So they're all the same shape and the same size and have the same shelf life and look, you know, so-and-so and taste better. They're nothing like they were a hundred years ago. You know, they've just been changed and, you know, that wasn't a malicious bad thing. They just thought people would buy more spinach if it tasted better, you know. But if you went into a time machine with your kids and went back in time and had dinner with Henry VIII, you know, your kids would be begging you to bring them home and feed them Brussels sprouts because all the vegetables today taste better than they did a hundred years ago, right? Because we bred all the bitterness out of them and made them more and more palatable. But in so doing, we've made them much less nutritious and interestingly, much less medicinal. You know, a lot of foods are medicine if it's the real food, right? There's a whole, in Chinese medicine particularly, there's a whole discipline of food therapy, you know, and we have a big long lesson of that in the Homegrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine if you're interested in food therapy. But, you know, that's assuming that you're eating, you know, heirloom old-fashioned food, old-fashioned vegetables. So good quality nutrition helps a lot too. Inflammation, we talked about. Inflammation due to insulin levels from the simple carbohydrates and the refined diet we have, that's a problem. But it can also be from illness. A lot of people that had COVID-19 have really serious brain fog as a side effect from the COVID-19 and that's likely due to an inflammatory response to the And so, you know, if there's things we can do to decrease that inflammation, that can be very beneficial too. And again, there's things we can do to decrease inflammation. We'll talk about some things that we can do. But, you know, the last two things together, if we decrease the simple carbohydrates and refined sugars, that in and of itself will decrease inflammation. If we eat more dark leafy greens and more plants that haven't been, you know, modified by somebody that's wanting to market food, you know, we're going to get way higher levels of antioxidants. We're going to get way higher levels of vitamin C. We're going to get all kinds of vitamins that are going to be very beneficial and decrease inflammation and increase circulation and increase all the other things that are good for our brains. Stress too. Stress is something that I think is very different in 2023 than it was in 1823 or 1923. I think that our stress levels are very different than they have been historically for our species of humans. You know, it used to be in the old days that you had a big adrenaline rush because a bear was chasing you, right? Or because you were in a battle. And when it was over, it was over, right? Now we have big adrenaline rushes and stress because of traffic and because of deadlines and because of bad Facebook comments and whatever other nonsense is in our life. But our adrenal glands can't tell the difference, right? Oh, she's stressed. Pump out some cortisol, you know, pump out some epinephrine so she can get away from the bear. Well, there's no bear. It's a traffic jam. And so we live in that high-stress environment and that hyperadrenal fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system environment. And it's very stressful. And, you know, those chemicals, the cortisol and the norepinephrine and all those epinephrine, all those guys, adrenaline is basically what those are, really jangle the brain and make it less able to be relaxed and concentrate and think and do things because it's got to run, right? Fight or flight, it's a different mechanism, different system, right? If you want to be able to think really good, get in your parasympathetic nervous system, not your sympathetic nervous system, all right? And we have, you know, we can go into that for hours and hours. In fact, we do that in the school too, if you want to learn about your nervous system and some things you can do to decrease stress markedly. But there's also some herbs can do that. We'll talk about some good ones here in a minute about that too. And then screens, I mentioned this a little bit with the insomnia thing, but screens are a disaster. I mean, they are really, really exhausting to the brain. The people that are running social media and running any kind of platform like that are hiring psychologists and computer programmers to write algorithms to stimulate your brain to activity, right? To keep you engaged, you know, and to keep you stimulated and firing and excited and interested and can't put it down, right? Because if you put it down, they don't make money anymore, okay? And so that again is a constant elevator of cortisol levels and stress levels, even though it's not scary, bad stress necessarily, it's still that kind of activity in the brain. And so decreasing screens before you go to bed for an hour is a really good idea to help you get to sleep. But decreasing screens, and I mean mostly social media, also decreases stress markedly. But it's not just social media, it's also staring at a computer screen all day, you know? I mean, if you're an insurance adjuster and you're staring at a computer all day, or if you're an herb guy and you're scared and you're staring at a computer writing lessons for your school all day, you know, that's exhausting to the brain. That does things to the brain that increase stress levels in the brain and can create brain fog. And so what do you do? Well, get up and move around, right? It's the same as number one, the inactivity. Get up and move around. Push yourself away from the desk and away from the screen and go outside for a minute and walk around and get some airflow and some different sort of visual input and different sort of auditory input and different sort of any kind of input than a screen in front of your face. And that can really help. But what about plants? Aren't there any plants? Well, yes. As a matter of fact, there are. Glad you asked. Plants can have a huge impact on our brain and a very beneficial one when it comes to brain fog. Let's talk about some of these guys. So this is oatstraw, OK? And they call it oatstraw in the trade, but it's just oats like you make oatmeal out of. But oatmeal won't solve your problem, OK? That's not what we're looking for. Oatmeal is food, but it's not medicine, OK? Well, it's sort of medicine. That's another topic. But food therapy, right? But it's not brain food like the oatstraw is. And so when they harvest oatstraw, they call it oatstraw, but it's actually the oats themselves. You harvest it when the oats are still milky. So if you're around an oat plant, there's a time when those seeds, if you squeeze them, milky juice comes out of them, right? And before they harden and get turned into oatmeal, they're in a milk phase. They call it milky oats. And that's when you harvest it to make this herb oatstraw. And when they're doing that, you just lop off the 25% of the plant. It's OK to have leaves and stems and stuff in there, but that's when you harvest it. And oatstraw has some remarkable properties. The best way to describe oatstraw is that it unfrazzles frazzled nerves. It decreases stress levels. And it does that in a couple of ways. It improves circulation of the brain. It has a lot of antioxidants in it, which helps with inflammation, right? It has also some actual effects on neurotransmitters like serotonin, right, that help the brain regulate and process and do things. And so it really can markedly decrease stress. It's very calming, but not in a sedating, sleepy kind of way, just in a normalizing, balancing kind of way, all right? So if you're really wound up, you can take some valerian or some lemon balm or some skullcap or some passion flower or hops. There's a million things that are tranquilizing and sedating. Oatstraw doesn't do that, OK? Oatstraw just balances everything, and it unfrazzles frazzled nerves, OK? And so it improves cognitive function, improves memory. Mostly, it just improves your ability to focus on things that matter and to prioritize and to think and to process. It's really a fantastic herb. And it's really nutritious. It's got all kinds of vitamins and antioxidants and good things in it. Really a good plant to have. This is ginkgo, ginkgo biloba. And this is a tree. It's an ornamental tree. And the leaf is the medicine. And you want to harvest the leaves just like this. When they start turning color in the early fall, when they start being pretty yellow instead of green, that's when you harvest them, because that's when the flavonoid content is the highest. And the flavonoids are one of the important chemicals that they contain that improves brain function. And what the primary function is, is that it is a vasodilator. So it markedly improves circulation all over the body. So that's good, right? I mean, it improves circulation, gets stuff going through the liver more, gets stuff going through the kidneys more. So you're getting toxin elimination. That's good. But it also markedly and significantly improves the microcirculation in the brain itself. And so it opens things up so that oxygen and nutrients can get into the brain and metabolic waste and junk can get out of the brain. So that's really good. And it also has some effect on neurotransmitters, just balancing those guys and helping them do their thing. But the big song that this guy sings really is improving circulation of the brain. Ginseng is another herb that's really great for brain function. Ginseng is an adaptogen. That's the funky herbalist word for an herb that helps you adapt to stress. So ginseng helps the body adapt to stress. It lowers adrenal hormone levels, like cortisol, things like that. Lowers those, gets you out of the fight or flight and into the parasympathetic rest and recuperate phase. It's stimulating. You know, it's not going to, don't take it before you go to bed or you'll be up all night, right? It's a great way to get past three in the afternoon without a caffeinated soda pop, you know? So it's not sedating. But I do find, especially with Siberian ginseng, this is Panax ginseng in the picture and they're both good. But people that take Siberian ginseng also tell me they sleep better. And that's not because it's sedating or tranquilizing, it's because it's making your brain do what it's supposed to do. And one of those things is make melatonin so you can sleep later, right? And so even though it's a stimulant and a tonic and a waker-upper, it can still help with normal sleep because it's supporting normal brain function, right? But ginseng doesn't just do that. It also impacts neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, GABA, all those guys, and helps all those guys do their job so that you can think and reason and process information. It's also a tremendous herb for brain injury. You know, I've used this in my veterinary practice on all kinds of stroke victims, dogs that have had strokes. And I combined this one and ginkgo and some of the other herbs we're going to talk about. But this one's in there because it has neuroprotective properties. It really helps the brain to heal and to repair damage. And it just is a fantastic herb for the brain. It does everything else too. I mean, it improves libido. It improves fertility. It supports the immune system. It's an all-purpose wonder plant. It's really amazing. But it's especially good for brain stuff. This is ashwagandha. And ashwagandha is from India. It's an old Ayurvedic herb. Ayurveda is the Indian system of herbal medicine. It's as old as traditional Chinese medicine. And really has some great information, some great plants. I grow this one, but I have to grow it as an annual because I don't live in India. In India, it's a shrub. In Idaho, it's just a little annual, but it grows every year. And I pull it up and harvest the roots, the roots of the medicine. And so what's this one good for? Well, they call it Indian ginseng because it has a lot of very similar properties and some different mechanisms and different chemistry, but similar effect. And I like that. I like having, you know, there's more than one way to skin a cat. And it's a good idea when you're approaching a problem, especially with plants, to approach it from several different directions, right? We got, well, we're going to give some ginkgo and open up circulation. We're going to give some oat straw to nourish the brain and to affect neurotransmitters. We're going to use some ashwagandha. We're going to use some panax ginseng because they affect neurotransmitters. And basically what we're doing with all these plants is we're laying out a buffet for your body and saying, here, is there anything you need here? And your body says, oh yeah, I know these guys. And it pulls out this chemical and that chemical and this, you know, flavonoid and this terpene, and it just gets whatever it wants and solves the problem. Versus taking a pill with one chemical in it, where it says, here, take this, it'll fix you. And the body says, well, what plant is that? I don't even know what that is, right? Tries to process it, tries to use it. Not really a natural thing that it knows what to do with, right? And so you get more side effects, you get different responses. The plant is a big picture, has all kinds of things in it that are good. And multiple plants is even better, right? That's why we make herb formulas instead of just using one herb sometimes. But ashwagandha is really great. It's also, so it improves cognitive function markedly. It improves the ability to focus and process information. And it's also a really powerful neuroprotective, you know, brain protective, healing and recuperating and helping with stress and damage. Another great herb that I've used in stroke victims in my veterinary practice. And anyway, just a really fantastic herb. Now, this one is different than the other ginsengs because this one actually is sedating and calming. So you can use this one if you're not sleeping at night. And so it helps by affecting neurotransmitters and melatonin. It helps with circadian rhythm balance and getting the kind of sleep you're supposed to get at the times you're supposed to get it in the quantity you're supposed to get. And it's sort of sedating so you can take it before bedtime and help you get some sleep, okay? It's not super sedating like valerian or skullcap or some of those guys that are very, very calming and sedating. And the reason is that those guys are binding with receptors that sedate and calm you, right? This guy's affecting neurotransmitters in a completely different way. And so it's helping you sleep because your brain's doing what it's supposed to do, okay? It's a little bit calming. It's a little bit sedating. But it's a more getting to the root of the problem instead of being a band-aid for the problem. Does that make sense? So ashwagandha, the roots of the medicine. And then this is sage. This is stuff you stuff your turkey with, right? Just regular old garden sage. But it's a phenomenal medicine. It's good for so many things. I mean, and you know what all these herbs are. I mean, we're giving you a little minute and a half blurb on these guys. And for this problem, it's good for this thing. But these plants are extraordinarily complex. You know, I could talk for two hours about sage. In the school, we do that. We have monographs just on one plant. They're a couple hours long because there's 15 things it does amazingly well. But for brain stuff, sage is very, very good. It's got tons of antioxidants in it, which is good for your brain for restoring and reversing cell damage and helping things. But it also affects neurotransmitters. It's really good for memory. It's really good for cognitive function and processing. Just a really great plant. And like I said, it has all kinds of other properties. Sage is good. It's got antibiotic properties. It's got astringent properties. It's just really an amazing plant. Really got a lot of things it's good for. So, you know, I talked about formulas. This is a formula that I use, memory and awareness. And it's got a lot of these plants in it. And this is the one that I use for you know, improving, giving the body what it needs to support normal brain function. Of course, we've got it at homegrownherbose.com. We can help you out. I hope that you understand just from this little quickie video about brain fog, that there really are things you can do. There's things you can do to wake up and get the light bulb turned back on. And herbal medicine is an amazing tool. You know, diet and exercise are also amazing tools. All those other things we talked about. Getting a good night's sleep is an amazing tool, an amazing remedy for brain fog. Okay. But all those things, including herbal medicine, are things that are simple to do. Things that the good Lord put down here so that we can figure some things out and help ourselves feel better. And I've always said and always felt and always taught that if you give the body what it needs, it'll fix itself. So I'm Doc Jones from the Homegrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine. If you'd like to learn more about herbs, we'd love to help you. We'd love to join you on that journey. Go to homegrownherbalist.com and you can read about the school. You have lifetime access forever because I'm always adding new stuff. I learn stuff all the time. And so it's a journey, not an event. Okay. And so we hope that you'll continue your herbal education. If you enjoyed this, click the little like button. If you think somebody else might benefit, if you know somebody over 40 who can't remember their kids' names, share the video. Maybe it'll help them out too. I'm Doc Jones. Thanks for listening.