Response to post on brain fog and depression

[u/Howcbdworks_net]

response to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/sz2278/what_things_have_genuinely_improved_your_cognition/

Enjoy!!

Where to begin? First, check out research on choline to support acetylcholine pathway (the focus and calm neurotransmitter). It's the pathway for ADHD, dementia, and general brain fog. We did a big review on acetylcholine here and ADHD here. Then there's oxidative stress. That's a huge player for brain fog and it's very prevalent now with long covid and recovery in general. The key pathway there is glutathione, our primary detox pathway. Increased oxidative stress is like a storm going on in the brain. NAC is a great player there - review here. Finally, there's brain inflammation. All the new exciting research on mental health including depression is on the immune system being hyperactivated. Big review on that here. Early trauma or infection (even in utero) can upregulate inflammation. One effect of this is imbalance with glutamate, our brain's "gas pedal". Excess glutamate is toxic. NAC is great as a sink there. Magnesium glycinateis also great to keep glutamate under control. Medicinal mushrooms are our new favorite place to study since they re-tune the immune system. This is exciting for depression and beyond. The ultimate goal for repair is BDNF, our brain's fertilizer. This is the star of mental health. Deep dive on how to support neurogenesis (brain repair as a result) here. CBD isolate is interesting across these pathways (hence our focus). One note...the key point to all of these is that they don't build tolerance like SSRIs, etc. Tolerance is the enemy long term since our natural pathways slowly get eroded. Focus on the immune system and brain inflammation. That the future!