How your immune system influences your mental fitness

I predict a huge shift to the way people go about building mental fitness and health through understanding the role of inflammation as driver for fatigue, fogginess and even depression and anxiety.

I read a great article recently about new findings that link inflammation to the experience of mental fatigue and 'fog'. I’ve included a few snippets below lifted from the full article.
Key points from the article:

1. A known cause of temporary inflammation (a vaccine for typhoid and salmonella) was administered and participants mental acuity, cognition and attention were tested before, during and after the inflammation. 
2. "The results showed that inflammation specifically affected brain activity related to staying alert, while the other attention processes appeared unaffected by inflammation."
3. Professor Raymond says, “This research finding is major step forward in understanding the links between physical, cognitive, and mental health and tells us that even the mildest of illnesses may reduce alertness.”

So the next time you have an illness and find yourself all foggy and unable to stay alert, you might give yourself a break and understand that your own immune response may be the driver of the feeling.  
You might also understand that for you to be sharp and make good decisions requires your brain to be healthy and that chronic stress might be undermining your mental fitness.
If you want to feel, think and lead more effectively, taking steps to reduce the drivers of inflammation could be a really good strategy. Sounds like a leap - but your brain is just an organ - still constrained by the physics and biological system.
Do you need more detail on this subject? Head on over to the full article here for more detail. If you want to read up on the subject drop me an email/pm and I'll direct you to some good reading on the subject, or simply share your thoughts nigel@nigeldonovan.com; or call me on 1300 484 491.