Best Bits #6 – Beating Brain Fog

Best Bits • #6
Dr Sabina Brennan, Neuroscientist & Psychologist

Do you ever wonder what you came upstairs for, forget where you’ve parked the car or find yourself grappling for the right word that just won’t come? These are all common concerns for women in midlife because brain fog is one of the classic symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.

In my latest Best Bit to celebrate half a million downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast, I’m focusing on brain fog because all that hormonal turmoil plays havoc with the oestrogen receptors in your brain.

The resulting forgetfulness, poor concentration and focus, plus a general sense of your brain not firing on all cylinders can be incredibly disconcerting. I’ve come across many women in my nutrition clinic who were genuinely worried about early onset Alzheimer’s when it was actually all about the hormones.

I’m diving back to Season 2 for these extracts, where we get to the bottom of brain fog with the delightful Dr Sabina Brennan. She’s a chartered health psychologist, neuroscientist and host of the Super Brain podcast, so brains are very much her business! Her book Beating Brain Fog is a wonderful read, with lots of practical strategies to support and tune up your brain.

Tune in to hear just some of what she’s got to say about this tricky subject and for the full episode scoot back to Season 2, Episode 16, where there’s a whole load more advice for you that I couldn’t squeeze into this taster. Enjoy!

Show Notes

Find out more about Sabina’s work and have a look a her free resources by visiting her Super Brain website

Check out her books: Beating Brain Fog and 100 Days to a Younger Brain

Listen to her Super Brain podcast

Follow her on Twitter, Instagram and You Tube.

Biography

Dr Sabina Brennan is a chartered health psychologist (C.Psychol.,PsSI.), neuroscientist (PhD), host of the Super Brain podcast and best-selling author. Her new book Beating Brain Fog (Orion Spring) takes your symptoms seriously and shows that you don’t have to live with them. Her first book 100 Days to a Younger Brain explains how you can boost brain health, maximise memory and even defy dementia both books are Irish Times No.1 bestsellers.

Sabina employs cutting edge neuroscience to reveal the secrets of the most underused resource on the planet – the human brain. In easy-to-understand, everyday language through her writing, films, websites, and wellness talks Sabina shows how anyone can harness their brain power to reach their true potential.

Sabina’s mission to get everyone looking after their brain health as routinely as they brush their teeth has won her awards in recognition of the societal impact of her work and for her contribution to STEM communication. She was listed as one of Image magazine’s Women of the Year (2018) and has had a chapter written about her in The Day That Changed My Life (Black and White Publishing, 2019) and also in A Day in May, Real Lives, True Stories (Irish Academic Press – 2016)

Dr Brennan directed a dementia and brain health research programme for seven years at Trinity College Dublin where she also led, until the pandemic made her research impossible, Brain Fit, a large-scale research study examining the relationship between brain health, lifestyle, genomics and dementia risk.

Dr Brennan is a passionate advocate and voice for the needs of individuals with neurological conditions volunteering on several committees and advisory boards. She has advised the Irish Government & the All Party Parliamentary Group on Longevity in the United Kingdom.