You used to be sharp. Quick with words. Good at planning, problem-solving, multitasking. Now you forget what you were saying mid-sentence. Reading a paragraph feels like trying to push through mud. Simple decisions feel overwhelming. And no one around you seems to understand why.

You’re not losing your mind. What’s happening has a clear explanation, and it’s one of the most common symptoms people with CFS experience.

Your nervous system may be stuck in protection mode, pulling the plug on thinking to conserve energy.

What Does Brain Fog Actually Feel Like?

Brain fog is a collection of cognitive symptoms including difficulty thinking clearly, short-term memory loss, trouble concentrating, and a feeling of mental cloudiness. Studies estimate that 89-100% of people with ME/CFS experience some form of cognitive dysfunction (Maksoud et al., 2020). It’s also reported in up to 65% of long COVID patients (Davis et al., 2021) and is common in fibromyalgia. Brain fog isn’t a medical diagnosis on its own. It’s a description of what happens when the nervous system diverts resources away from higher-level thinking.

If you have CFS, you probably know exactly what it feels like.

It feels like being stuck in a never-ending daydream. You’re physically awake, but your brain feels like it’s asleep. You zone out staring at a wall and can’t pull your eyes away. You start explaining something and forget what you were saying halfway through. You look at numbers on a page and they just don’t register.

For some people, it also comes with a sense of unreality. Things don’t feel quite real. You feel like there’s a barrier between you and the world around you. Some people describe it as living in another dimension, or like moving through life on autopilot.

The specifics vary person to person, but the pattern is consistent:

• Difficulty thinking clearly or following conversations
• Short-term memory loss (forgetting what you just said or did)
• Inability to make simple decisions
• Difficulty reading or processing new information
• Feeling zoned out, disconnected, or “not quite there”
• Dissociation or derealization (the world doesn’t feel real)

If your tests come back normal but you can barely string a sentence together, that’s not “nothing.” That’s your nervous system telling you something important.

Why Brain Fog Happens With CFS

Brain fog isn’t random. It makes complete sense when you understand what your nervous system is doing.

Think of your body as having different “buckets” of capacity: mental, emotional, and physical. Most people who develop CFS were overthinkers, overachievers, or over-analyzers before they got sick. Their mental bucket was already running near the top. Their brain was constantly analyzing, planning, and running mental calculations.

When that mental bucket overflows, the brain does something protective. It shuts down higher-level thinking. It goes into power-saving mode. That’s brain fog. Your brain is saying: “We can’t handle any more mental processing right now. I’m going to back off.”

So you go from being an overthinker to barely being able to think at all. The swing is dramatic, and it’s scary. But it could be a protective response rather than a sign of damage.

The nervous system connection

When your nervous system is stuck in a chronic stress response (fight-or-flight mode), it prioritizes survival functions over everything else. Digestion slows down. Sleep quality drops. And your brain redirects resources away from complex thinking toward threat detection. Research published in Frontiers in Neurology has documented that cognitive impairment in ME/CFS correlates with autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

Your brain and nervous system are completely linked. The brain drives the nervous system. When the nervous system is in overdrive, the brain checks out of non-essential functions. Reading a book, making a decision, following a conversation: these aren’t survival priorities. So the brain drops them to conserve energy. A 2022 systematic review confirmed that cognitive difficulties in ME/CFS are among the most frequently reported symptoms, affecting information processing speed, attention, and memory.

1 Your mental capacity gets maxed out

Stress, overthinking, illness, and emotional overload fill your mental bucket to the top. The brain has been running at full speed for too long.

2 The brain shifts into protection mode

When the bucket overflows, the brain shuts down higher-level cognitive function. It goes into “autopilot” to reduce the load. That’s when brain fog kicks in.

3 The fog itself creates more stress

Not being able to think clearly is scary. It generates worry, frustration, and fear. Those emotions add more stress to an already overloaded system, which makes the fog worse.

4 The cycle reinforces itself

More stress means more nervous system activation. More activation means less cognitive capacity. The loop keeps going until the underlying pattern is interrupted.

This is also why brain fog tends to get worse when you’re stressed, tired, or emotionally overwhelmed. Those experiences add more to the bucket, and the brain pulls back further to compensate.

Brain Fog vs. Normal Tiredness

Everyone has “off” days where thinking feels sluggish. But CFS brain fog is fundamentally different from regular tiredness. Here’s how to tell the difference:

Normal Tiredness

Improves after a good night of sleep, You can still push through tasks, Thinking is slower but functional, No sense of unreality or disconnection, Proportional to how little you slept, Clears within a day or two, Brain scans and tests show sleep deprivation markers

CFS Brain Fog

Persists even after sleeping 10+ hours, Simple tasks feel cognitively impossible, Thinking feels blocked, like a wall between you and your thoughts, Often includes derealization, dissociation, or “autopilot” feeling, Can hit suddenly even on “good” days after minor triggers, Can persist for weeks, months, or longer without intervention, All standard tests typically come back normal

If your experience matches the right column, that’s a strong signal that your nervous system is involved, not just a lack of sleep.

What Makes Brain Fog Worse

Brain fog fluctuates. Some days it’s manageable. Other days it’s so thick you can’t remember why you walked into a room. Understanding what triggers the worst episodes helps you make sense of the pattern.

Stress and overthinking. Mental stress is the most direct trigger. Worrying about symptoms, analyzing every sensation, trying to figure out what’s wrong: all of these activities fill the mental bucket faster. The more you think about the fog, the worse it gets.

Poor sleep. When you don’t sleep well, your brain doesn’t get the reset it needs. And with CFS, unrefreshing sleep is already common. This creates a compounding effect where poor sleep worsens brain fog, and brain fog makes it harder to wind down for sleep.

Overexertion. Physical or mental activity beyond your current capacity triggers the nervous system’s stress response. That response redirects energy away from cognitive function. This is why you might feel mentally sharp for 20 minutes and then suddenly hit a wall.

Emotional overload. Strong emotions (fear, frustration, sadness, anger) fill the emotional bucket, which spills into the mental one. When multiple buckets are overflowing at once, the brain pulls back even further.

Sensory overstimulation. Bright lights, loud sounds, busy environments, and screens all demand cognitive processing. When your brain is already maxed out, these inputs can push you deeper into fog.

What Is a “Critical Technology”?

The precedence for identifying select goods as “critical” arose in the 1920s when dependence on foreign imports of certain materials was judged to be a vulnerability for the U.S. military. Accordingly, Congress required that the U.S. maintain a strategic reserve of such “critical materials” in order to ensure readiness in case of military conflict. An extension of the same idea, i.e., that some technologies are critical for military readiness but also as fuel for economic growth, informed the Congress’s use of the term in PL 101- 189. In this legislation mandating a critical technologies report, Congress defined “critical technologies” as “essential for the United States to develop to further the long-term national security or economic prosperity of the United States.” The phrase “critical technologies” as used in the legislation implies that some technologies are so fundamental to national security or so highly enabling of economic growth that the capability to produce these technologies must be retained or developed in the United States.

Since the requirement for a National Critical Technologies report was established in the 1990 Defense Appropriations Act, several critical technologies lists have come into existence. Various departments and agencies of the Federal government have carried out or publish critical technology assessments, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Additionally, a number of private sector lists have been generated. Other industrialized countries have also identified national critical technologies. For example, both Germany and Japan engage in a formal Delphi process involving government, industry and academia to evaluate the importance and status of a broad set of technologies.

This list-making activity should not be seen as redundant. Different lists are generated for different purposes, and the technologies on these lists are selected for their potential to aid in achieving specific goals. That is, the technologies on different lists are “critical” for different reasons. In the case of the critical technologies activities of the Department of Defense, for example, technologies are examined in relation to five Future Joint Warfighting Capabilities most needed by the U.S. Combatant Commands. The Commerce Department’s emerging technologies list, published in 1990, was based on market potential dictated by the department’s mission to promote and improve commerce. Differing criteria, purposes and legislative references aside, many observers have noted strong similarities between the critical technology lists. In a highly interdependent economy with substantial overlap between civilian and defense applications, this similarity is not surprising. Integrating various critical technologies lists and capturing the similarities–which reveal complex relationships within the economy and between sets of national and sub-national goals–in a consistently aggregated, rationally organized way was the first important task in producing this report.

Because the U.S. economy is broad and technologically advanced, many technologies are important to some aspect of economic prosperity or national security. Choosing those that are “critical” on the national level requires some careful thinking about definitions. The first necessary definition is that of “technologies” since “critical technologies” are a subset of the larger group. Technology involves knowledge. In order to differentiate technology from other forms of knowledge, this report defines technology as knowledge that has the following characteristics:

• Systematized and practical, based on experimentation and/or scientific theory
• May involve new discoveries, current knowledge, or a combination of both
• Directed toward application or achieving a goal rather than only toward understanding
• Involves direct manipulation of materials or biological systems, or the implementation of mathematical algorithms
• Is reproducible and transferable

This definition excludes much basic science which is directed at pure understanding of natural phenomena. However, the definition is broad enough to include knowledge built on scientific understanding and knowledge acquired through experimentation or accident.

Once the realm of “technologies” is defined, it is necessary to define what we mean by “critical.” The definition in this National Critical Technologies report assumes that the criticality of a technology is determined by the importance of the application to which the technology is put. That is,

criticality is derived from the importance of the outputs of the system of which the technology is a constituent part, as well as from the significance the technology has for enabling that system

This definition explicitly answers the question “Critical for what?” thereby helping to link policy objectives to choices of technologies. For example, since improvements in education at all levels are considered essential to the future economic prosperity and national security of the United States, education and training software which enables advanced education and training methods and systems is a critical technology that meets the definition above.

Classification and Aggregation Methodology

The National Critical Technologies Report defines “criticality” in the broadest possible way–to “develop and further the long-term national security or economic prosperity of the United States.” Thus, this list must be integrative in a fundamental sense, incorporating the diverse concerns and objectives which comprise ideas of security and prosperity and which drive much of the other list-making activity. It must also identify areas not captured in extant lists because they span the concerns or responsibilities of several different agencies or groups.

The 1995 National Critical Technologies list was created through a process of input from multiple constituencies in a traceable and reproducible manner, described in greater detail in Appendix B. The process began with a candidate list which included technologies appearing in the first Report of the National Critical Technologies Panel (March 1991), as well as the lists published by the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy and by NASA. A four-level hierarchical structure was used to integrate lists based on different organizational schemes and levels of aggregation. Sample or illustrative applications to which the technologies contributed were also included, although the list of applications was not expected to be exhaustive. Technology experts were utilized to include knowledge of specific technologies and applications where existing lists did not contain a sufficient level of detail. In addition, the candidate list indicated whether each specific technology contributed primarily to economic prosperity, national security, or both.

The six major technology categories in the 1991 list were changed to seven. The descriptions of the seven categories are shown in Table A.1. The candidate list classified technologies according to the nature of the skills and problems involved in their development, not by the technologies’ applications. This focus on underlying technologies rather than applications streamlined the list. Many technologies support multiple applications, so an application-based taxonomy complicates a technology list by forcing the same technology to be placed in multiple categories. Technology focus was also deemed to be more helpful to users because it allowed them to see the breadth of influence of a technology and to determine whether a technology meets their requirements for criticality based on applications it supports.

Energy Efficiency
Energy Storage, Conditioning, Distribution and Transmission
Improved Generation

Monitoring and Assessment
Pollution Control
Remediation and Restoration

Components
Communications
Computer Systems
Information Management
Intelligent Complex Adaptive Systems
Sensors
Software and Toolkits

Biotechnology
Medical Technologies
Agriculture and Food Technologies
Human Systems

Discrete Product Manufacturing
Continuous Process Manufacturing
Micro/Nano Fabrication and Machining

Materials
Structures

Aerodynamics
Avionics and Controls
Propulsion and Power
Systems Integration
Human Interface

The Lut Desert, or Dasht-e-Lut, is located in the south-east of the country. Between June and October, this arid subtropical area is swept by strong winds, which transport sediment and cause aeolian erosion on a colossal scale. Consequently, the site presents some of the most spectacular examples of aeolian yardang landforms (massive corrugated ridges). It also contains extensive stony deserts and dune fields. The property represents an exceptional example of ongoing geological processes.

Brief synthesis

The Lut Desert is in the southeast of the Islamic Republic of Iran, an arid continental subtropical area notable for a rich variety of spectacular desert landforms. At 2,278,015 ha the area is large and is surrounded by a buffer zone of 1,794,134 ha. In the Persian language ‘Lut’ refers to bare land without water and devoid of vegetation. The property is situated in an interior basin surrounded by mountains, so it is in a rain shadow and, coupled with high temperatures, the climate is hyper-arid. The region often experiences Earth’s highest land surface temperatures: a temperature of 70.7°C has been recorded within the property.

A steep north-south pressure gradient develops across the region in spring and summer causing strong NNW-SSE winds to blow across the area between June and October each year. These long periods of strong winds propel sand grains at great velocity creating transportation of sediment and aeolian erosion on a colossal scale. Consequently, the area possesses what are considered the world’s best examples of aeolian yardang landforms, as well as extensive stony deserts and dune fields. Yardangs are bedrock features carved and streamlined by sandblasting. They cover about one third of the property and appear as massive and dramatic corrugations across the landscape with ridges and corridors oriented parallel to the dominant prevailing wind. The ridges are known as kaluts. In the Lut Desert some are up to 155 m high and their ridges can be followed for more than 40 km.

The wind also strips hard rocky outcrops bare of soil, which leaves extensive stony desert pavements (hamada) with sand-blasted faceted stones (ventifacts) across about 12% of the area. An extensive, black stony desert covers the basaltic Gandom Beryan plateau in the northwest of the core zone. The stony deserts in eastern Lut cover, as a rubbly veneer, extensive pediplains, which are rock platforms that truncate bedrock and gently slope away from the foot of neighbouring hills.

Sands transported by wind and washed in by intermittent streams have accumulated in the south and east, where huge sand-seas have formed across 40% of the property. These areas consist of active dunes some reaching heights of 475 m and are amongst the largest dunes in the world. The Lut Desert displays a wide variety of forms, including linear-, compound crescentic-, star-, and funnel-shaped dunes. Where sands are trapped around the lee of plants at the slightly wetter margins of the basin, nebkhas form to 12 m or more in height, arguably being the highest such features in the world.

Dissolved minerals evaporated from incoming streams result in white efflorescences of crystals and evaporite crusts down river beds, in yardang corridors and in salt pans (playa). Small landforms result from the pressure effects of crystal growth, including salt polygons, tepee fractured salt crusts, small salt pingos (or blisters), salt karren and gypsum domes.

The region has been described in the past as a place of ‘no life’ and information on the biological resources in this area is limited. Nevertheless the property possesses flora and fauna adapted to the harsh conditions including an interesting adapted insect fauna.

Criterion (vii): The Lut Desert protects a globally-recognized iconic hot desert landscape, one of the hottest places on earth. It is renowned for its spectacular series of landforms, namely the yardangs (massive corrugated ridges) in the west of the property and the sand-sea in the east. The yardangs are so large and impressive that they can be seen easily from space. Lut is particularly significant for the great variety of desert landform types found in a relatively small area. Key attributes of the aesthetic values of the unspoilt property relate to the diversity and sheer scale of its landforms; a visually stunning mosaic of desert colours; and uninterrupted vistas across huge and varied dune systems that transition into large flat desert pavement areas.

Criterion (viii): The property represents an exceptional example of ongoing geological processes related to erosional and depositional features in a hot desert. The yardang/kalut landforms are widely considered the best-expressed in the world in terms of extent, unbroken continuity and height. The Lut sand-seas are amongst the best developed active dune fields in the world, displaying a wide variety of dune types (crescentic ridges, star dunes, complex linear dunes, funnel-shaped dunes) with dunes amongst the highest observed anywhere on our planet. Nebkha dune fields (dunes formed around plants) are widespread with those at Lut as high as any measured elsewhere. Evaporite (salt) landforms are displayed in wide variety, including white salt-crusted crystalline riverbeds, salt pans (playa) with polygonally fractured crusts, pressure-induced tepee-fractured salt crusts, gypsum domes, small salt pingos (or blisters), and salt karren. Other dry-land landforms include extensive hamada (stony desert pavements or reg) usually located on pediment surfaces with wind faceted stones (ventifacts), gullied badlands and alluvial fans (bajada).

Integrity

Due to its remoteness from major population centres and its extreme environmental conditions, including extreme heat and lack of water, much of the Lut Desert is inaccessible and therefore naturally protected. Apart from some small private landholdings in villages in the inscribed area and buffer zone of western Lut, the majority of the land within the Lut Desert is state-owned.

Within the property, only the western edge includes settlements (there being 28 villages, the largest with just over 700 people). In the buffer zone there are 15 villages and Shahdad town with a population of nearly 6,000. The region has evidence for habitation going back 7,000 years, however this has always been around the periphery of the area, because the aridity of the property rendered most of it uninhabitable.

Knowledge on the biodiversity and ecological values of the property is limited and would benefit from greater investigation to better understand the linkages between geoheritage, biological and ecological diversity.

Protection and management requirements

The property is subject to a complex and multi-level protection regime and a range of legislation, regulations and protective mechanisms apply (14 legal instruments). Legal protection and management is provided by state level authorities that work under their specific mandates. Three agencies principally share conservation and management responsibility for the property, namely the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization; the Iranian Department of Environment; and the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO). Protection of non-conservation lands, watershed, rangeland management and desertification is under the control of the Organization of Forests, Range and Watershed Management. This agency is responsible for the prevention of illegal exploitation of deserts. Two protected areas located in the northwest and southeast are under the management and protection of the Iranian Department of Environment. The Darband-e Ravar “wildlife refuge” in the northwest partially overlaps with the area but the Bobolab “no hunting” area in the southeast only overlaps with the buffer zone. In addition to management of the protected area, the Department of Environment is responsible for environmental assessment of development projects. The Lut Desert is also on the national heritage registration list of ICHHTO.

The property has a basic management plan at the time of inscription, which needs to be elaborated to detail threats and measures to address these; coordination arrangements for the property; specific management actions, timeframes and responsible agencies for implementation. Establishing and maintaining such a plan is an essential requirement for the protection of the property.

There is also a need to progressively build improved technical capacity to manage the natural values of the Lut Desert in light of the intrinsic links between the property’s geomorphology, geology and its desert adapted biodiversity and ecology, and the relationships to local communities and visitors. Strong measures are required to protect the property from inappropriate tourism and for off road motorized access in the long term. It is also necessary to monitor impacts and undertake restoration of degraded areas in the property, particularly in the northwest where the property includes a number of villages on the outskirts of Shadad and Anduhjerd.

The Abbazia di Montecassino, or the Montecassino Abbey as it’s known in English, has a tumultuous 1,500-year history of destruction and recovery.

As with all great historical buildings, the Abbey has many stories to tell. It’s picked up many monikers in its time as the centre of Western Christianity; being referred to both as the ‘Lighthouse of Western Civilization’ and the ‘Athens of the Middle Ages’. Today Monte Cassino Abbey remains one of Europe’s oldest monasteries and is one of Italy’s best-kept secrets.

A short drive from Rome, Monte Cassino is popular with Italian visitors, but can often be overlooked by international tourists. Even without its religious significance or resilient history, the views alone make a visit to Monte Cassino one of the best things to do in the Lazio region of Italy.

As you ascend the switchback road from Cassino, the haze starts to give way to clear blue skies as you catch glimpses of a great hilltop monastery high above the clouds. When you enter the abbey. you are met with sweeping views of the Latin Valley, beautifully framed by palatial balconies and great columns.

In the morning, the peaks of the snow-capped Abruzzo Mountains jut out of the low-hanging clouds below. You can see why St Benedict chose this spot – Monte Cassino feels about as close to heaven-on-earth as you can get.

It’s grand but understated. White stone walls are broken up with large squares, cloisters, and gardens, along with statues and sculptures depicting Saint Benedict and his sister Saint Scholastic. The cathedral-basilica is more opulent, adorned with golden relics and numerous frescoes.

Underneath, you are led through a tunnelled staircase with a starry-sky ceiling to the crypt – revealing intricate golden mosaics of religious figures. Next, head inside the Monte Cassino Museum to find exposed manuscripts, scrupulously transcribed by monks, and the cloister of St. Anna built around a well from Roman times.

The Montecassino Abbey is perhaps most famous for its resilience. It was the first house of the Benedictine Order, established by the Benedict of Nursia himself in 529 CE. The abbey has since been destroyed and rebuilt on many occasions.

From invading Lombards to being sacked by Saracens and then getting flattened by an earthquake in 1349, the abbey on top of the mountain was rebuilt from the ground up on numerous occasions. During the French Revolutionary Wars, it was sacked once more by French troops, and dissolved by the Italian government in 1866.

It then became a national monument, with the monks acting as custodians of its many treasures – after the outbreak of war many treasures were brought here for safekeeping. These were luckily returned to the Vatican when Monte Cassino became the latest frontline in the Allied forces’ battle for Italy.

In 1944, between 17 January and 18 May, the abbey became a pivotal location for the Allies and their eventual victory in WWII. But this came at a great cost. Many died on both sides and the abbey was destroyed once more. The only remnants that could be salvaged were the imposing bronze doors, originally cast in Constantinople in 1066.

The allied bombing of Monte Cassino was one of the biggest cultural losses of WW2 and today remains a highly debated decision of the war itself. The Italian campaign arrived at a stalemate at Cassino and the Gustav Line in January 1944.

Allied Forces assumed that the Germans were using Monte Cassino, a neutral religious monument, as a fortified position and observation post. It’s thought that misinformation led to aerial bombers being dispatched over the sacred site on February 15, 1944. The resulting bombardment led to its total destruction.

While not a single German soldier was injured and the two resident monks survived unscathed, an estimated 115 refugees taking shelter from the surrounding chaos perished during the attack. Following the bombing, German forces hid in the rubble, fortifying the site and making further advancement impossible.

Finally, five months into the bloody campaign (four months after the monastery was levelled) allied troops captured Monte Cassino on May 18, 1944.

In total there were believed to be 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses estimated at around 20,000. The rebuilt abbey and surrounding war grave cemeteries serve as a stark reminder of the costliness of war.

You can take a guided tour of the battlefields around the Abbey to learn more about its significance in WWII. You can also hike the old battlefield trails in Monte Cassino.

The small town of Cassino is the easiest place to stay when visiting Monte Cassino. There are lots of great guesthouses like the quirky B&B Parini, and a few traditional hotels like Hotel Piazza Marconi, just a 10-minute walk from Cassino Train Station. By staying in Cassino, you can beat the crowds and get to the abbey early – just as it’s emerging from the morning mist.

If you are travelling in a motorhome or campervan, you can stay even closer at the Monte Cassino Abbey car park, but take note that there are no services at this site (you will need to be self-contained). You can also visit Monte Cassino on a day trip from Rome or Naples.

In the mountains of Lazio in the Latin Valley, about 130 kilometres southeast of Rome, is the small town of Cassino. From here, the Abbey is a 15-minute drive on switchback roads, 520 metres up the side of the mountain.

Getting to Monte Cassino from Rome is easy to do on a day trip or as an overnight stopover on the way to Naples. Cassino town is just a few kilometres off the main A1 autostrada from Rome to Naples. It takes around an hour and a half (136 km) to get there by car from Rome.

The best way to get from Rome to Montecassino without a car is by train, with Trenitalia it takes around 2 hours to get to Cassino from Roma Tiburtina. A bus to Montecassino leaves from the Cassino train station at 9:55 am, 12:30 pm and 3:15 pm. You can also visit as part of an organised day trip.

Melville Street is a notable Downtown Vancouver street nestled between West Georgia Street and West Pender Street, running parallel to them through the Financial District and extending into the edges of Coal Harbour.

Spanning from Burrard Street in the southeast to Jervis Street in the northwest, it serves as an urban corridor that transitions from commercial office towers into modern high-rise residential living. Because it runs parallel to West Georgia Street without carrying heavy arterial commuter traffic, it often functions as a quieter downtown bypass for pedestrians, office workers, and local residents.

The eastern end of the street is anchored firmly in Vancouver’s Central Business District. Notably, it is home to The Stack (1133 Melville Street), one of downtown Vancouver’s tallest and greenest commercial office towers, designed with distinctive twisting “stacked box” architecture and public park/pedestrian amenities.

As the street moves northwest toward Bute and Jervis streets, it shifts into the Coal Harbour residential enclave. Prominent towers include The Melville (1189 Melville Street), a 43-storey skyscraper known for its rooftop amenities and panoramic harbour and mountain views.

Melville Street is directly accessible to major transit connections, sitting right next to Burrard SkyTrain Station (Expo Line) and within a short walking distance of major bus corridors on West Georgia, Pender, and Burrard.

Did Bloober Team manage to enhance the experience of a universally renowned horror story? Spoilers: No.

Taking magnesium L-threonate may benefit your cognitive, digestive, and mental health. Research is limited, but the evidence for these effects is promising.

1. May Improve Your Memory

Magnesium L-threonate has shown promise for brain health.

What the Science Says: A 2022 study of 109 adults aged 18-65 found that magnesium L-threonate improved memory and cognition.

People who took 2 grams daily for 30 days showed better memory than those who took a placebo. Improvements were especially significant among older adults.

2. May Help You Fall Asleep

Magnesium L-threonate has been shown to improve sleep and daytime functioning.

What the Science Says: In a 2024 study of 80 adults, researchers found that those who took magnesium L-threonate had improved deep and REM sleep compared to those who took a placebo. Participants also reported more daytime energy.

However, larger and longer studies are needed to confirm these benefits.

3. May Ease Stress and Anxiety

Magnesium L-threonate has been shown to relieve stress and anxiety.

What the Science Says: In the 2024 study, participants who took magnesium L-threonate reported less stress and improved mood compared to the placebo group.

4. May Decrease ADHD Symptoms

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that causes difficulties with attention, impulsiveness, and mood. Magnesium L-threonate supplementation may help manage ADHD.

What the Science Says: A 2021 clinical trial looked at 15 adults who took magnesium L-threonate supplements for up to 12 weeks. Almost half the group had significant improvements in ADHD symptoms.

Larger studies are needed to confirm this result.

5. May Support Pain Relief

Magnesium L-threonate may help with pain relief. It may work by decreasing pain intensity in the brain.

What the Science Says: A 2023 study on people with cancer taking opioids found that participants taking 1.5-2 grams of magnesium L-threonate needed less morphine in 30-90 days than those on a placebo.

6. May Help Relieve Constipation

Many types of magnesium promote digestive regularity. Magnesium is even included in some laxatives. Its salts draw water into the stool, which promotes gut motility and makes stool easier to pass.

What the Science Says: In the 2023 study of people with cancer, participants taking magnesium L-threonate had relief from opioid-induced constipation.

Which Foods Have Magnesium?

Many foods are rich in magnesium, including green leafy vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Some breakfast cereals are fortified with magnesium.

Dietary sources of magnesium include:

• Pumpkin seeds, roasted: 156 milligrams (mg) per 1 ounce (oz) (37% DV)
• Chia seeds: 111 mg per 1 oz (26% DV)
• Almonds, dry roasted: 80 mg per 1 oz (19% DV)
• Spinach, boiled: 78 mg per ½ cup (19% DV)
• Cashews, dry roasted: 74 mg per 1 oz (18% DV)
• Peanuts, oil roasted: 63 mg per ¼ cup (15% DV)
• Soy milk: 61 mg per cup (15% DV)
• Black beans: 60 mg per ½ cup cooked (14% DV)

How Should You Take It?

Magnesium L-threonate supplements are typically sold as capsules or tablets, which you need to take with water. You can also find some magnesium L-threonate supplements in powder form.

Whether you should take magnesium L-threonate in capsule or powder form depends on your preference. Your body may absorb powder more quickly since it’s already dissolved. Your digestive system would need to break down a capsule.

One serving of most magnesium L-threonate supplements is multiple tablets. Most manufacturers recommend taking half of the dose in the morning and the rest in the evening.

Make sure to follow the dosage instructions given by the product manufacturer.

How Much Do You Need?

Your magnesium needs depend on age, sex, and whether you are pregnant.

Here are recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) and adequate intakes, measured in milligrams:

National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements. Magnesium – health professional fact sheet.
Age Men Women Pregnant People Breastfeeding People
14-18 years 410 360 400 360
19-30 years 400 310 350 310
31 years and older 420 320 360 320

Is Magnesium L-Threonate Safe for Everyone?

People who have kidney disease may avoid magnesium supplements.

The kidneys remove excess magnesium from the body. Magnesium levels may rise to dangerous levels if the kidneys cannot function.

Potential Drug Interactions

Magnesium supplementation can decrease your body’s absorption of certain drugs. Other drugs can deplete magnesium stores.

Speak with a doctor before starting a magnesium supplement if you take:

• Antibiotics: Magnesium can decrease the absorption of certain antibiotics. Take antibiotics two hours before or 4-6 hours after magnesium.
• Biphosphonates: Magnesium can lower the absorption of osteoporosis drugs. Make sure to take them at least two hours apart.
• Diuretics: Water pills like Midamor (amiloride) can cause high magnesium levels. Loop and thiazide diuretics can increase urinary magnesium loss.
• Thyroid medications: Magnesium can lower thyroid hormone absorption and effectiveness. Separate them by at least four hours.

Can You Take Too Much?

Taking extremely high amounts of magnesium L-threonate may lead to magnesium toxicity, which can cause:

• Depression
• Hypotension (low blood pressure)
• Nausea or vomiting
• Urine retention
• Death

The FDA has established tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for magnesium based on age. However, there are no ULs for infants aged 0-6 months. Your UL is the same as that of your general age group if you are pregnant.

The ULs include:

• 1-3 years: 65 mg
• 4-8 years: 110 mg
• 9-18 years: 350 mg
• 19 years and older: 350 mg

What Side Effects Should You Watch For?

The side effects of magnesium L-threonate are not well-known. Eating foods rich in magnesium usually does not cause harm, even in large amounts.

Magnesium supplements are generally safe. However, taking excess magnesium from dietary supplements could lead to side effects like:

• Abdominal (belly) cramps
• Diarrhea
• Nausea