Brain fog describes a mental fuzziness or lack of clarity.
When dealing with it, you might experience:
- trouble putting thoughts together
- difficulty concentrating or remembering what you were doing
- physical or mental exhaustion
- lack of motivation and interest in the things you’d usually do
- thoughts that seem hazy or difficult to grasp
While brain fog is pretty common, it’s not a condition on its own. But it can be a symptom of several issues — anxiety and stress among them.
If your brain is a computer, ongoing anxiety and stress are those programs that run in the background and use up tons of memory and make everything else run slowly.
Even if you don’t actively focus on anxious thoughts, they often still run in the background of your brain and might contribute to physical symptoms like uneasiness, stomach upset, or fatigue.
Anxiety-related brain fog doesn’t just make it hard to get things done. It can also give you another thing to feel anxious about, especially if it’s been happening for a while.
Here are a few tips for lifting the fog.
Identifying the causes of brain fog can help you figure out how to address it more effectively.
Temporary sources of stress — like a big project at work — can contribute to mental fatigue. Those causes are often fairly easy to identify.
But if you’ve been dealing with anxiety or stress for a while, you might have a harder time recognizing what’s affecting you.
If you can’t quite pinpoint what’s creating all the background noise in your mind, working with a therapist can be a big help (more on this later).
Sleep deprivation can make it difficult to think clearly during the day, regardless of whether or not you’re dealing with anxiety.
A night or two of less sleep than usual probably won’t have a long lasting impact, as long as you get enough sleep most nights.
But if you regularly don’t get enough sleep, you’ll likely start to notice some negative consequences, including irritability, daytime sleepiness, and — you guessed it — difficulty concentrating.
Caffeine can help you feel more alert temporarily, but it’s not a good permanent solution. Aiming for at least 7 hours of sleep every night is a good start, but you may need up to 9 hours for optimal function.
Stress often happens when life becomes busier than normal.
If you have so many responsibilities you don’t know how to manage them all, it may seem counterproductive — if not impossible — to take time to relax or enjoy a favorite hobby.
If you don’t make time for self-care and relaxation, though, you’ll just keep adding to your stress.
Try setting aside 30 minutes to 1 hour each day for a calming, enjoyable activity, like:
- gardening
- playing a video game
- yoga
- spending time with loved ones
- reading a book
Even if you only have 15 minutes to spare some days, spend that time doing something you love. This can give your brain a much-needed chance to recharge.
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