Health Update: Stress and Brain Inflammation = Fog

Mark Smith • April 17, 2023

Hello again everyone:


Thank you for reading our posts we really appreciate you! Here is some super interesting data on how stress leads to brain inflammation which leads to fog and other brain symptoms like anxiety. This relates to the Covid era where lockdowns and stress have been highly elevated and why even non-infected individuals are experiencing mental health challenges. Here is why the authors did this study:


“While COVID-19 research has seen an explosion in the literature, the impact of pandemic-related societal and lifestyle disruptions on brain health among the uninfected remains underexplored. However, a global increase in the prevalence of fatigue, brain fog, depression and other “sickness behavior”-like symptoms implicate a possible dysregulation in neuroimmune mechanisms even among those never infected by the virus.”


“This study provides novel evidence of elevated neuroinflammatory markers in healthy, non-infected individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subjects evaluated after the onset of the pandemic onset and the implementation of necessary lockdown/stay-at-home measures showed elevations in the brain levels of [11C]PBR28 (measured PET) and mIns (measured using 1H-MRS), thus providing multimodal evidence for neuroinflammation in cortical and subcortical regions including sensory, motor and higher order association areas, and white matter. [11C]PBR28 signal elevations were positively associated with physical fatigue (IPS/precuneus), mental fatigue and mood alterations (hippocampus) and with pro-inflammatory blood markers (IL-16 and MCP-1). Collectively, these findings provide support to neuroimmune responses as mechanisms underlying stress, depression and other symptoms of psychological distress.”


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8847082/



Bottom Line:


This paper supports previous literature showing how inflammation can alter brain function and disturb our mental health, plus it also shows how stress fires up this process. This means that if you have been suffering with the issues mentioned above, it would benefit you to lower your inflammatory burden and thus improve your neurologic function. How do you do that?


Get outside and move, get some sunlight every day, socialize more, avoid sugar and alcohol and processed foods, go organic, stay hydrated with water, make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep, take your multivitamins, consume an anti-inflammatory food plan… you can get back to being yourself and even better by creating a comprehensive anti-inflammatory lifestyle. Start with these ideas and if you get stuck, give me a call.


By Mark Smith March 23, 2026
Health News Update: How To Fight Inflammation and Chronic Disease 3.23.26 Hello again everyone: You might wonder why I keep focusing on food…so here are some of the reasons: food choices are the leading cause of death in the U.S. and spreading around the world. Poor food choices lead to inflammation which slowly destroy health. It is that simple, plain, and clear and backed by research. The next question: how do we fight back? Introduction The positive impact of food on health was postulated by the ancient Hippocrates, father of modern medicine with his famous quote: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” [1]. In the 21st century, scientists have focused on the effect of nutritional habits in diseases. Nowadays, it is well documented that food plays a noteworthy role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases namely cardiovascular diseases (CVD), metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus type II, and cancer [2–5], as it correlates with others with the lipid pattern, the blood pressure, and the endothelial function. The scientists examine the effect of nutritional habits on disease emergence and progression in both individual nutrient intake and dietary patterns models. Worldwide, two dietary patterns are usually compared—the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the Western diet (WD) [3,6]. The Mediterranean diet reflects the food culture of most Mediterranean countries based on olive oil consumption, seasonal fresh vegetables, cereals, and plants in balance with low consumption of meat [7]. The Western diet, on the contrary, is dominated by high-fat dairy products processed and red meat [8]. However, discordance in the different MD patterns and consumed food doses had been recognized. Without any doubt, those discrepancies could confine and restrict our knowledge on the health benefit mechanisms of the MD [9]. Due to the above, the medical community along with nutritionists and dieticians take a keen interest in MD and its traits [7]. https://www.academia.edu/45378994/biomedicines_Mediterranean_Diet_as_a_Tool_to_Combat_Inflammation_and_Chronic_Diseases_An_Overview?email_work_card=view-paper food choices can fight inflammation and chronic disease Bottom Line: This is a 2020 paper and since then literally hundreds of papers on the MD have emerged showing how the food plan lowers inflammation and the risk for developing multiple chronic illnesses. Even still, lots of research needs to be done to elucidate the many mechanisms of how food impacts our system and how to optimally individualize dietary recommendations. At this point, our best strategy to prevent and/or recover from any chronic condition is to eat as clean and natural as possible. It has become rather obvious that the further away from a natural diet we get, the sicker we become. On top of that, I have yet to see a full recovery from any health issue without the foundation of a predominantly plant-based, unprocessed, whole foods approach…which is why I keep posting about this subject. All the best to you and yours!
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