This week we’re tackling brain rot, brain fog, social media addiction, and stopping to smell the roses! Join me on a cognitive journey to the land of untapped and undervalued sensory input, the nose. Remember, this is about a harm reduction method, it alone will not “cure” you - also feel free to run absolutely all of this by a licensed medical professional and thoroughly review the resources for yourself. As always, it’s been a pleasure having you in the communal Schauer, I hope my STEAM (du-dun-tss) of consciousness (and extended research) provides some refreshing mental clarity.

For more information on my book club visit:

Substack:

https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership

Books:

Horror on the Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction - Austin Lim, PhD

Attention: Beyond Mindfulness - Gay Watson

Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance - Elise Vernon Pearlstine 

Plant Lore and Legend: The Wisdom and Wonder of Plants and Flowers Revealed - Ruth Binney

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihály Csizkszentmihalyi

Articles: 

Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11939997/

The Psychological Conditioning of Brainrot 

https://www.fau.edu/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/psychological_conditioning_brainrot/brainrot/

Defining brain fog across medical conditions

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223625000177

Does Exposure to Air Pollution Cause “Brain Fog”?

https://hudsonvalleypress.com/2025/08/13/does-exposure-to-air-pollution-cause-brain-fog/

Screen Apnea: What happens to our breath when we type, tap, and scroll

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/10/1247296780/screen-apnea-why-screens-cause-shallow-breathing

A New Reason to Stop and Smell the Roses

https://www.bottomlineinc.com/health/mental-health/a-new-reason-to-stop-and-smell-the-roses/

Memory Air Research Page

https://memoryair.com/pages/science

Nasal Respiration Entrains Human Limbic Oscillations and Modulated Cognitive Function

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5148230/

To smell the immune system: olfaction, autoimmunity and brain involvement 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17110318/

The Connections Between smell, memory, and health

https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/connections-between-smell-memory-and-health

Transforming the understanding of brain immunity 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7649

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