Pregnancy and Postpartum Brain

There is a lot of talk centered on “pregnancy brain” and “postpartum brain”. Anybody who has gone through this season of life can attest to the general mental fogginess/forgetfulness that can occur. While the mental fog can seem inevitable, we always like to take a more proactive stance. The following is a a non-exhaustive list of actionable steps you can take to potentially improve your mental clarity:

• Improve your nutrition as you are able — heavily processed and convenience foods never did much for anybody’s long-term physical or mental health

  • Per the Centers for Disease Control (the CDC), added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared. Naturally occurring sugars such as those in fruit or milk are not added sugars

  • In particular, added sugar in foods has been shown time and time again to be just as addicting to some as “hard” drugs! There are arguments that it increases inflammation in your body (and thus potentially exacerbating mental fogginess!)

• Increase sleep — practice good sleep hygiene (especially limiting phone/TV in bed) and set yourself up for many hours of sleep every night as you can get (go to bed!)

• Exercise :)

• Elevate low iron levels

  • iron supplementation- Dr. Ron’s Liver Capsules is an example of one that is reported to not be as constipating as other brands

• Supplement with more B vitamins to increase energy levels

• Supplement with Vitamin D3- especially those those who live in cold climates with more limited sun exposure (D3 may be immune boosting due to effects on inflammatory cells)

• Increase Vitamin C intake- you can do this naturally with eating more fruits/veggies such as broccoli, red pepper , oranges, citrus fruits

Do you have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!