Attention Problems: Allergies, Stress & Hormones
How Chinese Medicine can Help
Allergies:
Children and adults with attention problems often have underlying allergies that contribute or exacerbate the condition. Allergies can be either environmental, chemical, or food sensitivity related. Common environmental allergens include pollen, ragweed, dust or mold, and can be seasonal. Chemical allergens can be a big problem and are often overlooked. These include toxic cleaning materials, beauty products (nail polishes, hair sprays/products, creams, etc), paints, wood finishings, fertilizers, etc.
Allergy reactions associated with foods can include reactions to colors and dyes or additives (MSG, flavorings, etc), and also sensitivities to foods. Most common food sensitivities that can affect focus and attention include gluten, dairy, soy, and corn. Sugars and refined carbohydrates can also contribute to brain fog, attention and focus problems.
Stress:
When the body is stressed, it releases stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline to help deal with the stressor. In an acute stressful situation or emergency, this response can be life-saving. However, over time, when the body is under consistent, low-grade stress, the body continues releasing these chemicals and eventually can become burnt out. Stress hormones and also depletion of these hormones can cause symptoms such as brain fog, poor memory, and difficulty concentrating, fatigue, as well as anxiety and/or depression.
Hormone Imbalance:
Similar to stress hormones, our sex hormones can also contribute to cognitive problems. Sex hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone, when imbalanced, can lead to cognitive trouble such as foggy thinking, poor focus, low energy, and anxiety. Many women notice these symptoms during menopause when hormones are fluctuating, but hormone imbalances can occur during any time in a woman’s life, and can be a problem for men too.
How Chinese Medicine can help:
If allergens are a factor in your attention problems, the best approach is to eliminate or significantly reduce your exposure to those allergens. In addition, improving your immune system and lowering your stress levels (eg. acupuncture has been shown to regulate and lower stress hormones such as Cortisol and adrenaline) which can help to increase your tolerance to allergens. This is where acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help. Acupuncture has been shown to boost the immune system and also help to regulate the immune system, in order to make the body more resilient to external factors.
Acupuncture can also help heal any inflammatory process going on in the body (eg. due to allergen exposure) and decrease stress reactions in the body leading to improved cognitive function.
If hormone imbalance is the culprit, Acupuncture can help to bring hormone levels back to balance, enhancing cognitive function.
And lastly, if toxins are a factor in attention and memory problems, there are acupuncture protocols that are used to assist the body in detoxing harmful chemicals and toxins, and to strengthen the Liver and other major detox organs in the body.
