Do you only have sinus congestion at night? If so, there might be something in your bedroom (material, substances,diffuser etc.) giving you a small allergic reaction. Hence the congestion. I suggest thyme (tea or herb sprinkled on food). It’s one of the best solutions to resolve congestion of the (nasal) airways.
Having gone through the neurotyping courses multiple times, my analysis would be that mertdawg has a lot more type 3 than 2A characteristics: not a risk taker, tendency to get depressed under chronic stress, needs to be alone more often than the average person to be able to ventilate all the sensory information coming in from the environment/talking to other people on top of your own endless stream of thoughts, ruminating and worrysome tendencies, being able to spreak publicly but only when you’re extremely comfortable talking about the subject and in an environment that you have control over, not handling variety very well (off all kinds, basically everything that deviates too much from your daily routines, especially if it happens on the spot and you don’t have time to prepare yourself or recalibrate the situation), not being able to break down adrenaline well whenever it is released and binds to the receptors (in other words, once you get amped up/stressed/frustrated the anxious feelings tend to linger for a long time).
The type 3 subtypes are 1A and 2B, another confirmation that mertdawg is probably a type 3 with a fast twitch muscle fiber dominance. Hence the good amounts of muscle and urge to do neurologically dominant work.
People who are not efficient at breaking down adrenaline are naturally anxious (meaning low natural levels of serotonin and gaba) and will often have an autonomic nervous system that is sympathetically dominant, meaning you are very sensitive to your surroundings, your own thoughts/convictions and stimuli of different kinds that cause stress. Once you get amped up, the stress response is often more intense than normal and can last for a long time due to low inhibiting neurotransmitter activity (serotonin and gaba).
That’s also the reason why, in my opinion, low volume neurological work might feel better or give better results to an experienced type 3 lifter than higher volume work. The reason being that volume increases the need for energy. Cortisol and adrenaline are responsible for that. The more volume you do, the more cortisol and adrenaline you need to produce. A type 3 already overproduces cortisol and adrenaline, that’s why high volume training actually can make them feel worse instead of better. Now the catch is neurological low volume work only works for a type 3 lifter thats comfortable doing the main lifts with heavy loads. That’s an important detail to remember because sense of control dictates a type 3’s mental state (stressed or not). Mertdawgs numbers are very decent (despite his age) so to me that means he has a lot of experience and can therefore tolerate neurological work better than volume work.
Almost everyone eventually builds up a tolerance towards caffeine due to beta-adrenergic desensitization, meaning you become less sensitive to your own adrenaline. This can contribute to brain fog because dopamine and noradrenaline (both contribute to attention, drive and concentration) get depleted when adrenaline production increases (adrenaline is made from dopamine and noradrenaline). When you drink coffee, beta adrenergic desensitization might actually increase adrenaline production because you’re less sensitive. You can use the insulin analogy here. If you eat a lot of processed sugars often, your insulin receptors become less sensitive to insulin because they get flooded by insulin all the time. The body’s response is one of producing more insulin to be able to stuff all that excess glucose into the muscle when the receptors are less sensitive. It is my belief that the same process happens with adrenergic desensitization. That’s why overtime you need to take more caffeine to experience the same stimulating effects. Your liver also needs to catch and break down all that excess adrenaline which can contribute to toxic overload. When toxins escape the liver and enter the bloodstream inflammatory reactions can occur (like the sinus congestion which is an inflammatory response).
It is normal to have a drop in cognitive performance after eating a meal. More blood needs to go to the digestive system and yes a big portion of carbs increases serotonin production which makes you more relaxed and less driven to do work. However, it is my belief that brain fog has a different cause, depending on the person’s neurological dominances and deficiencies.
For example someone who is very dopamine dominant, usually has high gaba and serotonin activity as well. This is the kind of person that loves a high protein/high fat/low carb breakfast because the lack of carbs increases dopamine and adrenaline production and makes him/her feel more focused, driven, active. His/her nervous system will not easily get overstimulated due to high inhibiting neurotransmitter reserves. IF that person would eat a high carbs breakfast, they would experience brain fog like symptoms or just fall asleep altogether.
If you have a person who is adrenaline dominant and has low inhibiting neurotransmitter reserves, that person will be naturally anxious and cannot tolerate stress well. The brain fog like symptoms this person experiences are not coming from a high carb breakfast but from a drop in dopamine, noradrenaline (and probably acetylcholine as well because it needs to jump in when dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin and gaba are low) and a chronic overproduction of adrenaline. The inevitable consequence would be a drop in cognitive performance because most of your activating neurotransmitters are depleted and you’re less sensitive to your own adrenaline. There’s basically no way you’ll be able to concentrate or perform properly in this scenario.
That’s why frequent carb meals are actually very important for a person with this neurotransmitter profile because they lower cortisol and adrenaline production, build up serotonin production (which in turn protects gaba) AND the body likes balance between dopamine and serotonin so a higher serotonin production will result in a decreased conversion of dopamine to noradrenaline to adrenaline, bringing back focus and drive.
My apologies for the long rant, I’m not mertdawg. I just thought these insights might interest you to be able to understand the physiology behind adrenaline sensitivity as well as the difference between brain fog for someone who is dopamine dominant and someone who is adrenaline dominant (neurotype differences). Off course there can be more causes for brain fog, I’m not disputing that.