Brain recovery: how to speed it up ?

[DreamStalker]

And an even cheaper and faster way to get into ketosis is to .............. f a s t .

[jaw]

Check your oxygen levels, I guess.

I've ordered a CMS50i, quite looking forward to it.

[jaw]

Cost of the food varies depending on what you do - we were heavy on chicken, vegetables, and moderate on red meats and bacon The main thing is to get at least 60% of your calories from healthy fats, the bulk of the remainder from healthy proteins, and less than 20-30 grams (total) of carbohydrate a day. That will kick your body into ketosis and you will see a quick reduction in water weight, boost in energy, etc. You may notice flu like symptoms the after a few days, lasting about half a week - Keto Flu is just the body getting grumpy that it's "easy" calories (carbs) are gone... that's a good thing and should pass. You may need to increase your water, sodium, and potassium intakes.

I see, sorry I mistook Ketosis Diet with a medicine.
I eat a lot of rice and bread, now for a low-carb I should reduce it heavily I guess.
Do you think Ketogenic Diet is meant for a thin person like me: 80kg, 174 cm. From the internet I have the feeling it is more for American people with heavy weight.

[jaw]

And an even cheaper and faster way to get into ketosis is to .............. f a s t .

You meant to reduce weight ? I'm already not a heavy weight person: 80kg, 174 cm.

[jaw]

Hi all,

Thanks for your great posts.

This post is to explore whether my very low concentration is due to a brain tired by OSA, or a brain "damage", or something else inherently with me not relating to sleep apnea.

I have always seen me as a person of a very low concentration skill/capacity. As a computer programmer I need to be very focus while working with computer, however I find it hard to. At work, IF I start a day not working (make some phone call for some private task, or email on some private task), then my brain would almost be switched to a non-working mode and it is very hard to switch to what I have to do: "actually working" (programming, code reviewing, reading tech article). This makes me very unproductive.

I like to wonder around the internet, reading useless news and watching youtube fun movies or watch porn. After lunch even at work I used to spend 0.5-1 hour doing this, and of course this would make my brain not able to be in a highly productive flow later. At home in the evening I do this more heavily: about 95% of the time I fail while deciding to spend time to improve my career skill (computer programming related): I would quickly switch to reading news/youtube/porn RIGHT AFTER taking that decision (a form of procrastination), or VERY SOON AFTER starting working.

Is that also procrastination related: I do what I like to do (news/youtube/porn) to avoid doing the thing I don't want to do (programming), or because my brain is often tired due to sleep apnea ? Even when very young I did not like to study that much (but I somehow manage to pass the exams due to my father's pressure and teaching), and now I am "senior programmer with low programming skill and does not do programming in free time" at age 36.

[jaw]

2 years ago, while thinking that I have an ADHD, my psychologist has made together with me an investigation, but the result is: although I have attention deficit, I don't seem to have an ADHD. Last week I have read that many OSA patients have the behaviors that are similar to ADHD.

Three more things:

- when young (at least around the age of 9-10), I was often an extrovert and less-focus guy: I often quit watching TV just to go to play my toys, or I often was not a calm pupil in class (talk to class mates alot, did not like sitting still).
- now at age 37, I find my brain working 200% better while walking than while sitting. Not sure if that's oxygen related (outside is more oxigen friendly than inside), or blood-streaming-to-brain related (walking boost blood streaming better than sitting). Quite many time while walking I find my brain able to consume and understand the deep concepts that I have not been able to understand while working with it for months/years.
- in exams or job interviews: I perform much much much better than normal days. That's why I could survive up till now even if my daily concentration is so low. During my professional careers of 15 years I have seen many bosses being disappointed after seeing that I am not the "smart, energetic, good problem solving" person they have seen in the interviews.

[Kittamaru]

And an even cheaper and faster way to get into ketosis is to .............. f a s t .

Certainly - though I doubt you could (or would want) to sustain that for more than a few days The idea of a ketogenic diet is to hold that ketosis state long-term and avoid triggering the insulin response that a carb-heavy meal does (which prompts the body to go into energy-storage mode).

I see, sorry I mistook Ketosis Diet with a medicine.
I eat a lot of rice and bread, now for a low-carb I should reduce it heavily I guess.
Do you think Ketogenic Diet is meant for a thin person like me: 80kg, 174 cm. From the internet I have the feeling it is more for American people with heavy weight.

You can actually gain weight on a ketogenic diet if you want - weight gain and loss is still a factor of calories in vs calories out. The main advantage of ketogenic diets is that you stay full for a long time after eating, and because you are eating food that is incredibly nutritionally dense (as opposed to refined carbohydrates such as bread or simple starches and carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes, and sugar) you will be able to eat a much higher volume of food while still maintaining a similar caloric intake.

The other advantage is that it is helpful for reducing inflammation in the body, and helps provide a more steady energy supply, as opposed to the "waves and troughs" that come with a carb-heavy diet (caused by the rapid metabolism of carbohydrate into glucose, which then gets stored)

Case in point - have you ever eaten a heavy meal (think Thanksgiving, with Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie) - even if you dont' stuff yourself, a little while after eating (half an hour or so) you will likely feel very lethargic and tired. This is because your body took all that food, rapidly processed it into sugar, and then went "I have no use for this right now... into the thighs and belly you go!" and stored it all. More than likely, you will be hungry again in short order.

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/soon-af ... -1399.html

I would recommend reading up on the Glycemic Index - it is fascinating how the body uses food for energy and what becomes energy how quickly (and for how long).

[DreamStalker]

And an even cheaper and faster way to get into ketosis is to .............. f a s t .

Certainly - though I doubt you could (or would want) to sustain that for more than a few days The idea of a ketogenic diet is to hold that ketosis state long-term and avoid triggering the insulin response that a carb-heavy meal does (which prompts the body to go into energy-storage mode).

Agreed. A ketogenic diet is generally done for long-term health benefits. However, many people including myself can and do fast for days and even weeks.

[lilly747]

A ketogenic diet is generally done for long-term health benefits. However, many people including myself can and do fast for days and even weeks.

Do you mean no food of any kind: No Fats, Carbs, Protein? What about bone broth or MCT oil?

[Julie]

There's a lot of info on the net about fasting and how to do it... take a look and see what might interest you.

[DreamStalker]

A ketogenic diet is generally done for long-term health benefits. However, many people including myself can and do fast for days and even weeks.

Do you mean no food of any kind: No Fats, Carbs, Protein? What about bone broth or MCT oil?

That's correct. A water only fast. The longest water fast I've ever done was for 21 days. I did a 5-day water fast just a couple of weeks ago. Water fasts are generally cleansing fasts that encourage your body to get rid of damaged and unnecessary cells as well as reducing and balancing out the gut biota. When the body is starved of nutrients, it triggers epi-genetic processes to clean house and become more efficient with the limited resources and preserves only the healthiest cells for repair and maintenance ... and fat cells are purged to release toxins.

But there are many ways to fast as you noted, with coffee, tea, or broth or even fresh made green veggie juice (just be careful to watch what veggies you add so as not to raise carb levels that take you out of ketosis) .... and yes you can add fats to the liquids as well.

[tiredandscared]

If you've had it untreated for 11 years at an ahi of 50. You'll have some residual deficits. I'd seriously look into adhd meds and exercise. And remember to optimize your therapy and have full cpap compliance. You'll improve. But you'll unlikely function at the same level as premorbid/prior to onset of it. OSA usually causes oxygen desaturation related brain damage, via hypoxia which causes progressive cellular atrophy, which isnt reversible. But luckily the brain is plastic. And people who've experienced and accrued brain damage more than people with OSA usually recover some function( and the same should apply to OSA patients). Its going to take atleast two years before you reach full possible recovery. My case is much less severe than yours. And the sleep apnea has definitely brought me down a notch or two. I'm lucky in that i've preserved most of my cognitive function, and didn't delay getting treatment. Im hoping that waiting a year or two will restore me to normal or near normal function.

[jaw]

Tiredandscared: sorry i did not see this. Good to hear from you. Do you use some meds ?

[tiredandscared]

Tiredandscared: sorry i did not see this. Good to hear from you. Do you use some meds ?

I do not. But I might have to if these memory issues dont resolve.

[Julie]

It's important to keep in mind that many people out here in cyber cpapland have many issues that don't always make it to the forum, or have been around for a very long time, so I'd be careful about trying to diagnose yourself based on anyone else's experience. Just saying...