If you’re having difficulty in remembering things, it may just be due to a distracted state of mind. There may not be anything mentally wrong with you. We suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions, and read further.
So, have you ever gotten that lost feeling of forgetting what you came here for when you walk into a room? And had trouble remembering where you left your wallet or in remembering people’s names, and you’re just like, “hey! I met this person just a month back, but I just can’t recall his name.”
Although these situations might make us feel very senile, you do not have to live with it forever. It is just a case of brain fog!
If you have never experienced any problems in remebering things, names, dates, or places, you are one heck of a lucky person. Majority experience this one time or another throughout their lifetime, whereas some experience it quite often.
The ability to focus vanishes and you just can’t think clearly. Making you feel like a fog mentally, there are tons of reasons why remembering things can be very difficult at times.
Table of Contents
Reasons That Make Remembering Things Difficult
#1 Hormone Deficiencies
Since the brain requires tremendous amounts of energy, those people who have hormone deficiencies have trouble in remembering things. Hypothyroidism causes a decline in a person’s mental capabilities due to a slowed down metabolism and less energy.
It gets very hard to focus on what you are doing, and maintenance of a sharp memory. Low thyroid levels is one of the most common causes of memory loss and depression.
Whereas estrogen, testosterone and progesterone act on the brain’s nerve cells directly, protecting from neurotoxic attacks and free radicals. enhancing the flow of blood in the brain, they protect the brain from loss of memory, cognition and most commonly dementia.
Both progesterone and estrogen affect memory strongly and improve the retention of memory, hence making it easier in remembering things for a person.
So, the absence of any of these hormones ruins a persons capability of remembering things.
#2 Poor Sleep or Lack of Sleep
Poor sleeping habits make you feel tired, hence making your brain also tired enough to not function properly. The National Sleep Foundation’s recommends around seven to nine hours of sleep every night. It might sound very easy to do, but in reality it is not.
However a lot of people have difficulties in remembering things, because they just do not sleep enough each night.
#3 Candida
The health of your gut deeply affects the health of your brain. The overgrowth of yeast or candida can cause inability to concentrate hence difficulty in remembering things, leading to anxiety, depression and frequent headaches.
If your gut is leaky, over two-hundred candida can travel throughout your body via your bloodstream, affecting different organs of your body, including your brain.
#4 Poor Diet
It is necessary to have a clean diet, along with incorporation of healthy fruits and vegetable in your daily meals. Vegetables have numerous antioxidants and vitamins which help in fighting against stress, eventually preventing brain damage.
One must religiously eat enough protein and healthy fats. Processed and packed foods do not provide enough nutrients to the brain, so remembering things can be a task when the dietary needs of your brain are not sufficient enough.
#5 Allergies
Allergies and inflammation can adversely affect the brain, causing bodily symptoms such as migraines, anxiety, headaches and most importantly, loss of memory.
#6 Mineral and Vitamin Deficiencies
Besides a healthy diet, a few of these vitamins are very necessary for the brain, which help people in remembering things.
- Fish Oil- Supports the natural inflammatory response of the body
- Ginkgo Biloba- Clinically proven to be be high in anti-oxidants
- GABA- Helps in the regulation of the brain’s nerve cells activity, leading to a better focus
- B Vitamins- Helps in the promotion of optimal nerve health and brain function.
#7 Prescribed Drugs
Numerous prescription drugs also affect the brain in a negative way, which might hinder a person in remembering things.
- Anti-Anxiety Drugs
- Cholesterol Drugs
- Medications for Sleep
- Antihistamines
- Antidepressants
- Painkillers that are narcotic
- Beta-Blockers
- Medications for the common cold
- Some painkillers
- Muscle Relaxants
#8 Smoking
Smoking has a very adverse effect on the brain. It decreases the amount of oxygen that is needed by the brain, which can impair a person’s memory leading to difficulties in remembering things.
It has also been noted down that one of the adverse effects of smoking is shrinking of the cortex, which is a very critical part of your brain.
The outer layer of the brain, cortex, naturally thins as you grow older but smoking generally accelerates this process.
#9 Being Inactive Physically
Regular exercises helps in protecting a person’s memory and keeping the brain sharp. It also helps in the improvement of mood, sleep and reduces stress. These things help in improving the function of the brain, thus helping people in remembering things easily.
#10 Artificial Sweeteners
Many people think that eating artificial sweeteners is going to prevent them from a lot of diseases, but in reality, you should think multiple times before going for the blue or yellow packets of sweeteners at the food table.
Artificial sweeteners have a very devastating effect on your brain and overall health as well.
These sweeteners can cause brain fog, spaced out sensations, migraines, seizures, headaches and lot more. The neurotoxin in many of these sweeteners can destroy the brain cells.
A lot of these break down into aspartic acid which is literally death to the brain, causing epileptic seizures, migraines, headaches and most importantly a serious effect on your brain which will make you face difficulties in remembering things.
How to remember things quickly?
After reading the causes of impaired memory, you might have realized why it is so difficult for you at times when it comes to remembering things. The reasons are simple, either poor diet, a medical condition, or maybe just something just as simple as a medication for a headache.
It is very easy to fix these problems. All you have to do is avoid things that prevent your brain from functioning properly.
Most of all, our memory is not as poor as we think or imagine. It is not a computer and it cannot function like one either. But that is what makes the experience fascinating!
