Could giving up sugar help your career?

We all know that too much sugar is bad for our health, let alone our waistlines, but now there is mounting evidence that high levels of sugar intake can also have a negative effect on brain health – from cognitive function to psychological well-being.

Now, I’m not going to go all ‘Juice-plus’ on you, I enjoy cake far too much! However, after recently being informed that my yearly intake of sugar is 7 stone, I quickly gave up sugar in my drinks and have since noticed a significant difference from how I sleep, to my mood throughout the day and the painful headaches I get if someone gives me a sugary drink.

While sugar is nothing to be concerned about in small quantities, most of us are simply consuming too much of it. It is recommended that only 5% of a daily caloric intake comes from sugar, however research shows that in the UK we are consuming 17% percent!! (https://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/5/who-slash-sugar-intake-to-5-to-10-percent-of-diet.html )

Sugar impairs your learning and memory by literally slowing down your brain, this happens because you have over-consumed on sugar, meaning the communication among brain cells was impaired.

Recall that ‘sugar crash’ you had when you then run to your local store to buy a twix? Sudden peaks and drops in blood sugar levels can cause you to experience symptoms like irritability, mood swings, brain fog and fatigue. This can then leave you feeling anxious, moody and depressed.

To summarise, too much sugar could slow your brain down from learning and remembering information, whilst also leaving you anxious, moody and/or depressed – can you see how slowing down on the sugar intake could help you with your day-to-day activities?