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Summer Brain Fog? It Could Be Your Gut — Here’s What Scripture & Science Say About It

The AHA! Team — Wed, 28 May 2025 05:14:57 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – If you find yourself feeling mentally sluggish during the summer months—struggling with memory, focus, or motivation—you’re not alone. Many of my patients describe what they call “summer brain fog.” And while you might blame it on the heat or disrupted routines, there’s often a deeper root: your gut. In this article, I want to unpack the fascinating link between gut health and brain function, and why healing your gut might be the most effective way to sharpen your mind—especially this time of year. We’ll also look at what science has to say, and how Scripture reinforces the importance of caring for our bodies with wisdom and intentionality. The Gut-Brain Connection: More Than a Feeling The gut and brain are connected by a complex network of nerves, biochemicals, and messenger systems known as the gut-brain axis. This communicationToxic Summer: Hidden Chemicals in Sunscreen, Swimsuits, and Bug Spray — And What God Says About Stewarding Your Body highway allows your digestive system to send and receive signals to and from your brain—often influencing mood, focus, memory, and even sleep. Here’s what we know from science: The gut produces over 90% of the body’s serotonin, a neurotransmitter crucial for mood regulation. An imbalance in the gut microbiome—such as an overgrowth of bad bacteria or yeast—can trigger inflammation, which can cross the blood-brain barrier and contribute to brain fog, anxiety, and fatigue. Studies show that gut dysbiosis (imbalanced bacteria) is associated with cognitive decline and poor memory. When the gut is struggling, the brain often suffers quietly until symptoms like fatigue, poor concentration, or forgetfulness emerge. Why Summer Makes It Worse There are several seasonal habits that may quietly sabotage gut health during the summer: 1. Processed Summer Treats Ice cream, BBQ sauces loaded with sugar, soda, and artificial dyes—these common indulgences can feed harmful gut bacteria and promote systemic inflammation. 2. Travel & Disruption of Routine Whether it’s international travel or a simple road trip, your digestion can be thrown off by irregular meals, different water sources, or unfamiliar foods. 3. Alcohol & Dehydration Increased alcohol intake and reduced hydration in the heat can irritate the gut lining and impair healthy digestion. 4. Sleep Disturbance Longer days and more activity can interfere with restful sleep, which your gut (and brain) need for repair and detox. What You Can Do to Restore Clarity If you want to reclaim your mental edge this summer, healing your gut is an excellent place to start. Here are a few simple yet powerful steps: 1. Cut the Sugar and Processed Foods Sugar feeds the wrong bacteria. Swap sugary snacks for high-fiber fruits like berries, which also support digestion and reduce inflammation. 2. Rebuild with Probiotics and Fiber Adding a quality probiotic and a soluble fiber supplement helps repopulate good bacteria and keep your gut regular. I often recommend Zone Biotics Probiotic and Fiber Zone from Divine Health. 3. Consider Advanced Gut Support For those needing more comprehensive care, Biotic Zone Probiotic is an advanced formula that combines powerful probiotics and prebiotics to promote digestive balance, reduce bloating, and support brain-gut communication. 4. Support the Gut Lining L-glutamine, aloe vera, and collagen can help repair a leaky gut. You can find these in many gut repair powders or take them separately. Explore our detox and cleanse supplements for comprehensive support. 5. Hydrate Intentionally Drink filtered water consistently throughout the day. Add sea salt or electrolytes to help absorption, especially if you’re sweating more than usual. 6. Focus on Anti-Inflammatory Foods Include foods like leafy greens, turmeric, wild salmon, and extra virgin olive oil. These nourish the brain and gut while reducing inflammation. Gut-Healing Foods That Also Fuel Mental Clarity Your food choices play a pivotal role in gut health—and by extension, brain function. Here are some of the best whole foods to incorporate into your daily routine: 1. Fermented Foods Kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, and unsweetened yogurt are rich in probiotics that help replenish good bacteria in your gut. 2. Prebiotic-Rich Foods Foods like garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, and green bananas feed the good bacteria and support a thriving microbiome. 3. Omega-3 Rich Foods Wild-caught salmon, sardines, flaxseeds, and chia seeds help reduce inflammation and support the brain-gut connection. 4. Polyphenol-Packed Plants Blueberries, pomegranate, spinach, and dark chocolate (70%+ cacao) provide antioxidants that protect both the brain and gut lining. 5. Bone Broth Loaded with collagen and amino acids like glutamine, bone broth helps seal and heal the gut lining. 6. Clean Proteins Organic pasture-raised poultry, wild-caught fish, and grass-fed beef provide essential nutrients for cellular repair and neurotransmitter production. These foods are a foundational part of the preventative and holistic approach I recommend—and they nourish more than just your body. They create the internal environment needed for peace, energy, and mental clarity. What Scripture Reminds Us About the Body Scripture reminds us that our bodies are a gift from God, and we are called to steward them well: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” — 1 Corinthians 6:19 Caring for your body—including your gut—isn’t just about physical health. It’s about clarity, energy, and the ability to serve others and fulfill your purpose with excellence. Sometimes the greatest clarity doesn’t come from another coffee or pushing through fatigue. It comes from healing the internal systems God designed to work together in harmony. 🛒 Ready to Support Your Gut? Explore Dr. Colbert’s Top Gut Health Supplements: 👉 Zone Biotics Probiotic 👉 Fiber Zone 👉 Biotic Zone Probiotic 👉 Detox & Cleanse Collection Final Thoughts Summer brain fog isn’t something you have to live with or push through. By supporting your gut, you support your brain—and ultimately your quality of life. From a scientific perspective, gut health is one of the most powerful levers for cognitive and emotional wellness. And from a spiritual perspective, it’s a meaningful way to honor the temple God entrusted to us. Until next time, stay sharp, stay healthy, and stay grounded in grace. To your health, Dr. Don Colbert, MD To read the original article click here.

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The Best Supplements for Your Brain According to Leading Functional Medicine Practitioner

AHA Publisher — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 08:00:42 +0000

Dr. Will Cole via Dr. Caroline Leaf – We can’t overlook the importance of keeping our brain healthy. With mild problems like mild brain fog on one end, to anxiety and depression in the middle, and severe diseases like Alzheimer’s on the other – the spectrum of brain health problems can make daily life a struggle. In my telehealth functional medicine clinic, I see these problems a lot more often than one might expect. In fact, the research confirms brain problems are on the rise with autism, dementia, and anxiety and depression rates continuing to climb. So, the question is, how can we prevent these problems before they occur? And if you are currently struggling with one of these problems, how can you alleviate symptoms? While I believe that our diet is foundational, sometimes we need a little extra help. And that’s where supplements come in. These are the supplements I turn to the most often to help optimize brain health and function. 1. Probiotics Your gut and brain are inextricably linked through what is known as the gut-brain axis – what affects one can affect the other. For example Occludin and Zonulin are two proteins that govern gut permeability as well as the permeability of your blood-brain barrier. In my clinic, it’s not uncommon that I have a patient come in looking for help with depression or brain fog and have further diagnostic testing reveal that they also have leaky gut syndrome. It just goes to show that digestive problems can still be a factor even if you aren’t experiencing symptoms. A probiotic with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium is a good choice to rebalance your microbiome and start healing any gut dysfunction. 2. Lion’s Mane This adaptogenic mushroom has potent neuroprotective properties, that help enhance mental clarity and boost cognitive function. Lion’s mane contains nerve growth factors that work to protect and regenerate brain tissue with studies finding that those who supplemented with lion’s mane had higher cognitive function compared to those who didn’t. 3. St. John’s Wort This herb is recommended by doctors more often in Germany than antidepressants like Prozac. While long-term studies have shown its ability to stabilize mood more research needs to be done to better determine just how effective it is. 4. Omega-3 Fish Oil Your brain is 60 percent fat, so it only makes sense that not getting enough fat in your diet can contribute to brain problems. You can only deprive your brain of it’s building blocks for so long before it starts to show. Healthy fats can be found in a variety of foods including wild-caught seafood however, some people may find it difficult to get enough from food alone. If this is the case for you, you might want to consider an omega-3 fish oil supplement. Although omega fats can be found in plant sources such as flax, it’s not as bioavailable because it has to be converted into DHA or EPA by the body before it is usable. I suggest either fish oil supplement from krill, salmon, or sardines. An ideal dosage is 2250mg EPA / 750 mg DHA per day. 5. CoQ10 CoQ10 stands for coenzyme Q10 and is found in each cell of the body, specifically the energy center of the cell – the mitochondria. If your brain’s cells are depleted of this nutrient, chances are it isn’t going to function optimally. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology found that in 18 people with depression, 400 to 800 mg/day of CoQ10 for a month decreased the severity of depression symptoms and significantly improved symptoms of fatigue, sadness, and brain fog. 6. Vitamin D Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to poor memory and brain fog. Sunshine is the most bioavailable source of this nutrient but it’s not always possible to spend enough time in the sun, especially if you live in a place with dark, cloudy winters. Thankfully, certain foods such as salmon and tuna are rich in vitamin D. And if you pair them with fat-soluble vitamins like A, E, and K2 to increase the bioavailability of vitamin D. When looking for supplements, be sure to research brands and look for transparency in their sourcing and avoid any unnecessary additives. So, give your brain a boost, and add in one or more of these supplements to your routine! As always, I don’t recommend trying to supplement your way out of a poor diet. Food comes first. Moreover, you can amplify the brain boosting benefits of food as medicine and these supplements with flexible intermittent fasting. This is something I explore in detail in my new book Intuitive Fasting. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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New Studies Suggest Vaping Could Cloud Your Thoughts

AHA Publisher — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:00:57 +0000

University of Rochester Medical Center via EurekAlert – Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have uncovered an association between vaping and mental fog. Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14. While other studies have found an association between vaping and mental impairment in animals, the URMC team is the first to draw this connection in people. Led by Dongmei Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at URMC, the team mined data from two major national surveys. “Our studies add to growing evidence that vaping should not be considered a safe alternative to tobacco smoking,” said study author Li. The studies, published in the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and Plos One, analyzed over 18,000 middle and high school student responses to the National Youth Tobacco Survey and more than 886,000 responses to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System phone survey from U.S. adults. Both surveys ask similar questions about smoking and vaping habits as well as issues with memory, attention and mental function. Both studies show that people who smoke and vape – regardless of age – are most likely to report struggling with mental function. Behind that group, people who only vape or only smoke reported mental fog at similar rates, which were significantly higher than those reported by people who don’t smoke or vape. The youth study also found that students who reported starting to vape early – between eight and 13 years of age – were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than those who started vaping at 14 or older. “With the recent rise in teen vaping, this is very concerning and suggests that we need to intervene even earlier,” said Li. “Prevention programs that start in middle or high school might actually be too late.” Adolescence is a critical period for brain development, especially for higher-order mental function, which means tweens and teens may be more susceptible to nicotine-induced brain changes. While e-cigarettes lack many of the dangerous compounds found in tobacco cigarettes, they deliver the same amount or even more nicotine. While the URMC studies clearly show an association between vaping and mental function, it’s not clear which causes which. It is possible that nicotine exposure through vaping causes difficulty with mental function. But it is equally possible that people who report mental fog are simply more likely to smoke or vape – possibly to self-medicate. Li and her team say that further studies that follow kids and adults over time are needed to parse the cause and effect of vaping and mental fog. To read the original article click here.

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Is a Hormonal Imbalance Making You Moody, Anxious, and Overweight?

AHA Publisher — Wed, 27 May 2020 07:00:07 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – The hormonal problem and solution with Dr. Anna Cabeca, OB-GYN and hormone expert: We all know that our hormones are important, but did you know that they can impact our mood and mental health as well? In this week’s blog and podcast, I spoke to Dr. Anna Cabeca, an OB-GYN, bestselling author and hormone expert, about the neuroendocrine system, how our hormones affect our mood and mental wellbeing, how the keto diet boosts brain energy and helps us lose excess weight, and what our urine says about our stress levels. Dr. Anna’s desire to help others was inspired by her own life story. After the traumatic death of her young son, Anna’s health started declining as she went through PTSD-induced early menopause. Even though she was a highly-qualified doctor who had trained at one of the best schools in the country, she was at a loss: nothing was working, so she went around the world looking for answers. During her healing journey, Dr. Anna began to realize the importance of lifestyle choices and habits, and the impact they have on our hormonal health and mental and physical wellbeing. She recognized the importance of a holistic mind and body approach to health, and now teaches others how they too can heal and live their best lives! In her incredible book The Hormone Fix, which is filled with helpful questionnaires, recommendations and tests, Dr. Anna tells women that they do not have to suffer like she did. She explains how it takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. To manage our sex hormones well, we need to focus on our lifestyle, as I discussed in a recent blog and podcast (episode #158). This includes nutrition, exercise, bioidentical hormones and stress management. If we focus on our mind and body health, we can take our health into our own hands! Why is this important? When we experience perimenopause and menopause, which generally occurs sometime between the age of 35 and 55, we enter a period of neuroendocrine vulnerability. This often results in mood swings, irregular bleeding, weight gain, fatigue, memory loss and so on, which is typically treated with medications like birth control pills or SSRI’s. However, these drugs often have negative side-effects, and don’t work for everyone. Stress can make this hormonal process worse, as our cortisol levels are controlled by our hormones. Cortisol is good in balanced amounts; it helps us get up in the morning, maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm, and is anti-inflammatory. Yet, if we are constantly stressed, we produce cortisol in excess, which leads to an imbalance in our hormones which affects our neuro-endocrine system. This, in turn, impacts our mental and physical health, making us anxious, forgetful, overweight and potentially insulin resistant. In fact, when our cortisol is up for too long, the brain shuts down the production of cortisol, which also shuts down the production of oxytocin. This can lead to burnout, isolation, despair, depression, inflammation, hair loss, and other health issues! Thankfully, there is a quick and easy way we can monitor our stress levels: the pH level of our urine! Ideally, we want our urine pH to be great than 7, i.e. alkaline. Acidic urine, that is urine with a pH of lower than 7, indicates high cortisol levels, and is warning sign that you need to do some stress management. Dr. Anna has affordable, easy to use urine strips that can help you monitor your pH levels available on her website. You can purchase these strips at your local pharmacy or online. When it comes to our health, we need to remember that the mind-body connection is real. What we think and how we manage stress directly impacts our physical wellbeing, and vice versa! This is why we should not just focus on our symptoms. We also need to look at all our lifestyle choices and how they affect our hormones and mental health, as I talked about in detail my blogand podcast (episode #158). These include: 1. What we eat. As Dr. Anna describes in detail in her new book, Keto Green 16, ketones from a natural, sustainable low carb/high fat diet are a better source of fuel for the brain and body than glucose, and can help with our hormone production and overall mental and physical health. However, for people who are insulin resistant or older, it can be hard to get into ketosis (you can also test this using a urine strip—Dr. Anna has ketosis strips on her website, and you can also purchase these strips at your local pharmacy or online), which is why intermittent fasting is also good, which trains the brain and body to turn our fat to fuel. This doesn’t mean you must eat meat: Dr. Anna has customizable plans for vegans and vegetarians in her book. If you want to learn more, you can also check out Dr. Anna’ workbook Making Keto Work. Of course, it is also important to remember eating is not just about what you eat, but also how and when you eat, which also affects your health, as I discuss in detail in my book Think and Eat Yourself Smart. Like I always say, there is only one rule when it comes to food: eat real food mindfully! 2. Bioidentical hormones. The brain needs energy, and we are only beginning to understand how this process is dependent on our hormones. When we go through perimenopause and menopause, our hormonal balance is affected, which, in turn, impacts the brain’s source of fuel. As a result, we can experience things like memory loss, fatigue, anxiety and so on. Taking bioidentical hormones is a great way to replace these hormones naturally, especially progesterone, which helps balance systems in the brain and body, including cortisol production. 3. Managing your stress! As I mentioned above, we should always be aware of how stress affects us. If we don’t manage toxic stress and the mind, it can mess with our health. This is why we should pay attention to the physical and emotional warning signals our body and brain sends us. Don’t ignore what makes you feel uncomfortable. Face it and deal with it, before it deals with you! This article has been modified. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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