ANOREXIA & CONCENTRATION
Anorexia sufferers restrict food intake, meaning the brain also fails to receive an adequate amount of nutrition and energy. The most common result of this is difficulty when concentrating. This will evidently make everyday situations difficult, from holding a conversation to performing well in school or work.
As this will cause a tank in performance, stress levels will rise which will result in an increased reliance on maladaptive coping mechanisms, including anorexia and disorder eating patterns and habits.
Brain fog is the most common term to refer to the temporary mild cognitive impairment that you're experiencing. Often feeling like an exaggerated mental fatigue.
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Symptoms of poor concentration and brain fog can include:
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Reduced cognition reduced concentration loss of short-term memory
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Tasks that involve mental activity take longer inability to multitask difficulty forming thoughts/haziness in thoughts slow thinking
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Loss of long-term memory
Anorexia affects the brain more than you would imagine. When the body doesn't get enough nutrients, specifically glucose, the brain shifts to survival mode. It begins conserving energy as much as it can so high-level thinking is diverted to survival. This involves the emotional brain and emotional thinking. Causing a decrease in rational thinking.
It's a common fact that deteriorating physically and becoming malnourished causes the hypothalamus to shrink. When the hypothalamus shrinks, emotion regulation becomes more of a challenge. The vitamins in your body can be compared with domino's. When one vitamin is deficient, many more will be impacted, thus creating a domino effect.
The nutrients that are responsible for brain function, and their symptoms when deficient, include the following:
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Vitamin E: Impaired balance.
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Niacin: Dementia, depression, apathy, fatigue, disorientation, memory loss.
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Biotin: Hallucinations, depression, seizures.
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Pantothenic acid: Fatigue, insomnia, listlessness.
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Thiamine: Cognitive impairment, confused and apathetic state with profound memory disorder, severe amnesia.
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Vitamin B6: Abnormal EEG tests of the brain, irritability, depression, confusion.
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Vitamin B12: Memory loss, disorientation, dementia with or without mood changes, damage to the myelin sheath covering the cranial nerves, spinal nerves, and peripheral nerves.
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Vitamin C: Fatigue.
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iodine: Brain damage, mental retardation, decreased IQ levels.
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Copper: Central nervous system demyelination, inflammation of the nerves.
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Iron: Taste buds wither away (atrophy), cognitive changes.
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Magnesium: Mood changes, anxiety, anger outbursts, tremor, loss of appetite, personality changes.
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Molybdenum: Anxiety, panic attacks.
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Zinc: Behavioural disturbances, impaired taste, low appetite, fatigue.
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Selenium: More susceptible to stress.
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Sodium: Disorientation, fainting, brain swelling, seizures, COMD, brain damage.
Body weight restoration gives anorexia sufferers sufficient time to recover on both a psychological and a brain level, thus improving concentration. Your concentration dispensing is your body's way of telling you it's struggling. Food really is brain power!
“Anorexia and concentration is an interesting one as I often find myself asking why can't I concentrate, why is the only thing I can think about food? Why is that? Because your brains not nourished. The more you deprive yourself of something the more you crave it. Anorexia is a mental illness. But many people just see the physical side and forget the mental side and how it hinders your capacity. Anorexia affects the brain more than you would imagine. When the body doesn't get enough nutrients, specifically glucose, the brain shifts to survival mode. It begins conserving energy as much as it can so high-level thinking is diverted to survival. This involves the emotional brain and emotional thinking. Causing a decrease in rational thinking. It's a common fact that losing weight and becoming malnourished causes the hypothalamus to shrink. When the hypothalamus shrinks, emotion regulation becomes more of a challenge. The vitamins in your body can be compared with domino's. When one vitamin is deficient, many more will be impacted, thus creating a domino effect. Food is brain food!”