According to research done by FutureYou Cambridge, 39% of people in the UK say that they experience brain fog on a regular basis.
‘Brain fog’ is often spoken about in relation to Long Covid but it is present in a range of chronic health conditions. NHS Inform states that brain fog symptoms can include:
- poor concentration
- feeling confused
- thinking more slowly than usual
- fuzzy thoughts
- forgetfulness
- lost words
- mental fatigue
These symptoms can be debilitating, especially long-term but there are things that you can do to help yourself including getting enough rest, exercising, and keeping alcohol use to a minimum.
However, according to a rising TikTok trend, you can alleviate this brutal health concern by simply brushing your teeth with the other hand.
Can you cure brain fog by switching which hand you brush your teeth with?
According to Dr Karan Rajan: “If you start brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, you probably will build some neural-connections in your brain.”
However, he urged that while doing the same thing every day with a muscle or even the brain can make it stronger, that doesn’t mean it can make any other part of your body stronger in turn.
So, when it comes to switching up dominant hands for teeth brushing: “You’ll get better at brushing your teeth but not necessarily any other motor task and certainly not anything as complex as beating brain fog.”
Instead, the doctor recommends ‘exercising’ your brain
Rather than trying this dubious hack, Dr Rajan recommends keeping the brain active with tasks that are cognitively challenging such as:
- reading
- writing
- new hobbies
- new experiences
- exploring new situations
Harvard Health also recommends keeping the brain active by always learning which can be anything from daily puzzles to taking up a short college course.
As Dr Karan Rajan said: “don’t skip brain day!”