brain fog and how Elon Musk cures it using air quality

What causes brain fog? The air quality connection

Brain Health Ultimate Guide

Mounting evidence, including the 10 published studies below, show poor air quality we can cause lower brain functioning.

Poor air quality can help explain mental fatigue and low productivity. 

Key Insights:

  • "Brain fog" isn't just in your head - it's in the air around you.
  • Brain fog describes a range of cognitive issues like poor focus, clarity, and memory, often accompanied by mental fatigue. Many different factors can contribute to this condition, including COVID-19, inadequate sleep or exercise, depression, hormonal fluctuations, certain medications, and poor metabolic health. 
  • Mounting scientific evidence shows that good air quality is critical for the brain to function optimally. Scientific studies support this in areas of test taking, investment returns, chess, public speaking, brain-age related diseases, video game e-sports performance and sports.
  • The air quality link includes high carbon dioxide levels, PM 2.5 and vaporized chemicals (VOCs) amongst other irritants.
  • Improving air quality could boost your cognitive performance more than you'd expect.
  • Takeaway: The quality of the air you breathe directly impacts your brain's performance. By improving your air quality, you might just sharpen your mind.

Ever feel mentally sluggish in a stuffy office? Or sleep poorly in a closed room? This "brain fog" might actually be bad air fog.

The Invisible Threat to Your Intellect

We tend to think of air as invisible and harmless.

But air is a complex mix of gases and particles, some of which can profoundly affect our brains. 

Common indoor air pollutants include CO2 (stale air), PM2.5 (pollution particles, including PM1 and PM10), VOCs (airborne chemicals), NO2, formaldehyde, ozone, heavy metals (e.g., lead, mercury), allergens, and carbon monoxide.

The EPA reports we spend 90% of our time indoors, where air pollution can be 2-5 times worse than outdoors - where most of us do our thinking and experience brain fog.

Innovators Optimizing Cognition with Air

It's not just scientific articles that are uncovering the ways air quality affects cognitive ability. Prominent technologists and business leaders are now incorporating clean air into their daily routines.

Andrej Karpathy, a renowned AI computer scientist known for his foundational role at OpenAI and his leadership in Tesla's Autopilot Vision, where he played a crucial part in developing Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, has highlighted this issue.

He tweeted, "Thinking gets hazier at 1000+. Meeting rooms and bedrooms can climb much higher than you'd expect."

Elon Musk joined the conversation, affirming Andrej’s observation. Musk mentioned that he keeps a CO2 monitor on his desk, receiving alerts whenever the levels exceed 1000 ppm.

Like tech entrepreneur and Andreessen Horowitz investor Chris Dixon said, "What nerds do on the weekends, everyone will do in five years."

Using clean air as a performance enhancing supplement is what the nerds do today that everyone will do in 10 years.

What is Brain Fog?

Brain fog is a term for a range of symptoms that make you feel cognitively impaired.

While brain fog is not a medical term; the National Institutes of Health doesn't officially recognize brain fog as a condition, but they acknowledge its symptoms in relation to various health issues.

"Brain fog" is used by individuals, and many clinicians, to describe how they feel when their thinking is sluggish, fuzzy, and not sharp.

What Causes Brain Fog?

Brain fog is not a disease, but a downstream symptom of some other upstream problem.

Causes of brain fog can also include chronic stress, lack of sleep, hormonal changes, diet, medications, and medical conditions. It’s a basket of conditions.

Here’s a rundown of what might be causing it:

  • Stress: Chronic stress messes with your blood pressure and immune system, and can even lead to depression. It can feel like a constant background app draining your mental resources.
  • Lack of Sleep: Poor sleep quality can leave you with cloudy thoughts and poor concentration.
  • Hormonal Changes: Your brain's chemistry is a delicate balance. Hormonal shifts, like those during pregnancy or menopause, can throw things out of whack, leading to memory issues and foggy thinking.
  • Diet: A lack of essential nutrients like vitamin B12 can slow it down. Food allergies or sensitivities can also cloud your mental clarity. As can diet (like high sugar) resulting in metabolic disorders.
  • Medications: Some drugs have side effects that make your brain feel like it’s wading through molasses. If you notice brain fog after starting a new medication, it might be worth discussing with your doctor.
  • Medical Conditions: Conditions like autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and thyroid issues can all lead to brain fog.

Sometimes the foggy cognitive feeling can be fixed with diet or fresh air, sometimes the brain fog is a leading indicator of an underlying medical condition that requires seeking professional medical help (like Lupus).

Permanently addressing brain fog is about identifying the root cause. Poor air quality is one potential root cause - that has a low cost, natural and side-effect free solution.

The Link Between Poor Air Quality and Brain Fog

The effects of air pollution on our brains are both immediate and long-term:

  • Diminished Executive Function: Higher exposure to air pollution correlates with worse performance on cognitive tests.
  • Poor Word Recall: Studies show that people exposed to higher levels of air pollution struggle more with word recall.
  • Accelerated Cognitive Decline: Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with faster cognitive decline in older adults.
  • More Mistakes When Making Decisions: In 2019, researchers found that for every 10 micrograms of PM2.5 pollution per cubic meter of air, chess players made 1.5% more mistakes. The magnitude of the errors increased by 9.4%.
  • Strategic Thinking Impairment: A Harvard study found that office workers scored 61% better on cognitive tests in a "green" building compared to an office with normal CO2 and VOC levels.
  • Higher Chances of Brain Diseases: The more PM2.5 you breathe, the more likely you are to get diagnosed with dementia according to Bishop et al 2018; an extra 1 microgram/decade = 1.68% increase in diagnosis. Breathing those tiny PM2.5 particles in for years ups your risk of dementia by 16% according to a 2019 study linked long-term PM2.5 exposure to brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
  • Faster Brain Aging: Pollution can actually make your brain get older faster. One study in 2013 found that over the long-term, breathing in PM2.5 and PM10 results in your brain aging by 2 years cognitively for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in exposure.
  • Worse Test Scores: Dirty air is making it harder for people to think straight as they get older, especially for less educated men. A researcher in 2018 found that cleaning up the PM10 pollution to meet EPA standards could boost Chinese people's scores on math and word tests.
  • Baseball Umpires Blow More Calls: The pollution doesn't just stay in the background - it actively messes with people's decision-making. In 2018, researchers showed that higher CO and PM2.5 levels meant baseball umpires made more incorrect calls during games. According to the results, a 1 ppm increase in 3-hour CO causes an 11.5% increase in the propensity of umpires to make incorrect calls.
  • Speaking Ability Degrades: A 2019 study found that when PM2.5 levels spiked, Canadian politicians started using simpler language in speeches, like they lost months of education overnight. When PM2.5 was over 15 µg/m³, it caused a 2.3% reduction in same-day speech quality. Equivalent to the removal of 2.6 months of education.

How to Avoid Brain Fog

Here are steps you can take to clear your mental fatigue:

  • Monitor and Minimize: Use air quality monitors to track pollutant levels. Knowledge is power - and in this case, it's brain power. While we spend 90% of our time indoors, you can check outdoor air quality readings from providers like AirNow.
  • Ventilate: Open windows when outdoor air quality is good. Let your home or office breathe. Even in areas where outdoor air quality is good, we want to keep indoor temperature cool or warm - this is why using an air monitor can be so powerful.
  • Purify Your Indoor Air: Invest in good air purifiers. It's like giving your brain a breath of fresh air.
  • Get Indoor Plants: Plants aren't just pretty - they're air-cleaning powerhouses. NASA research shows that certain houseplants can remove up to 87% of air toxins in 24 hours. The NASA study recommends spider plants, peace lilies, and snake plants
  • Exercise Smart: Regular exercise boosts cognitive function, but try to do it in areas with good air quality. A run along a busy road might do more harm than good.
  • Eat for Your Brain: Your diet isn't just feeding your body - it's feeding your mind. The MIND diet, which combines Mediterranean and DASH diet principles, has been shown to slow cognitive decline. Think leafy greens, berries, nuts, and fish.
  • Master Your Blood Sugar: Blood sugar spikes are like rollercoasters for your brain. A study in Diabetologia found that higher blood sugar levels are associated with faster cognitive decline, even in people without diabetes. Stable blood sugar = stable brain function.
  • Rethink Your Drink: That glass of wine might be doing more harm than good. Research in Scientific Reports shows that even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with reduced brain volume.
  • Sleep Like Your Brain Depends on It (Because It Does): Sleep isn't a luxury - it's essential brain maintenance. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours for adults.
  • Stress Less: Chronic stress is kryptonite for your brain. A Yale study found that stress can actually shrink your brain. Find what de-stresses you - meditation, yoga, painting, whatever - and make it non-negotiable in your schedule.
  • Investigate other causes and discuss with your doctor.

Remember, while air quality is a significant factor, brain fog can have multiple causes. If you're experiencing persistent cognitive issues, consult a healthcare professional.

If you’ve struggled with focus or just want to optimize your mental performance, try breathing clean air and observe the results.

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