The researchers found heightened activity in the hippocampus, an area of the brain central to memory (in both mice and humans), but the activity wasn’t at all what they expected. Allergies strain the brain, these results suggest, and key functions from attention to memory diminish the longer the battle rages.Īnother study examined the brains of mice exposed to a common grass allergen. The results showed that the brain compensates in the short term, but over time, as we suffer through allergic reactions, cognition significantly decreases. One study examined the extent to which allergic rhinitis affects cognitive function (defined as “sustained attention, short- and long-term memory and speed of information processing”).

When the middle ear is unable to drain properly, the result is imbalance, dizziness and generally feeling like your head is under water.īeyond those explanations, research has also probed what’s happening in the brain during an allergic response, and a few interesting findings have surfaced. The effects compound the longer that goes on, and the world starts feeling three shades of hazy.Īnother possibility is that the inflammation is affecting your ears, particularly the drainage tube in the middle ear known as the eustachian tube.

Even just a handful of sleep disruptions each night can result in feelings of imbalance, loss of focus and exhaustion.

The most likely, point-A-to-point-B explanation is that the same inflammation your body is producing in response to allergens is also disrupting parts of your life that underlie stable mental functioning – especially sleep. What makes matters worse is suffering through those symptoms and also experiencing a brain fog that you just can’t shake.

Brain fog and fatigue