Struggling With Brain Fog? Here’s How to Eliminate It Once and For All

Many people are overachievers and between facing their careers, maintaining a social life, staying in shape, and enhancing their Instagram feed, it can often be stressful.

A lot of people feel their daily tasks growing and even if you excel at multitasking, burnout, and stress can often leave you feeling exhausted, and tired and can even lead to brain fog. The American Psychological Association determined that millennials are more burned out now than ever.

Nowadays in a competitive market, it’s not as easy as changing jobs or applying for a higher degree, and with the rise of social media’s sense of perfectionism, this has put a lot of pressure on young people.

This has led to them taking on added responsibility, which has led to a lack of sleep, an increase in alcohol and caffeine drinks, and hyper-productivity which ends up backfiring. Not only does this interfere with your body’s natural cycle and rhythm but it can make you feel mentally exhausted and lead to brain fog in the long run.

What is brain fog?

Here’s what you need to know.

Most professionals suggest that a foggy head can often be caused by lack of sleep, a stressful day or week at work along with maintaining the same routine day in and day out. If lifestyle changes are not the cause of your brain fog, it could be an underlying illness or mental condition.

After a study was done at a cognitive clinic, it was found that 22% to 32% of patients that have gone through illnesses and even Covid-19 experienced brain fog even after they got better. It was then determined that brain fog isn’t a mental condition but rather caused due to underlying illnesses and most patients experienced:

• Lack of mental clarity
• Lowered concentration
• Inability to focus on basic tasks.
• Mental fatigue

What to do if you want to get rid of brain fog?

Brain Fog Causes:

Consuming the wrong foods

This can lead to glucose or insulin crashes in your body which ultimately can lead to impaired judgment, mood swings, tiredness, and brain fog. High blood glucose levels can also lead to diabetes and resistance to insulin in the body which is linked to Alzheimer’s in the long run.

In fact, a study found that 70% of older people that have a diet rich in carbohydrates and sugar are nearly four times at risk of developing brain fog and mental impairment. Medical professionals will tell you to increase the healthy fats in your diet as this can help produce the chemicals and raw materials that your brain needs so that it can convert this into fuel.

Look for foods like nuts, olive oil, grass-fed meat, avocados, and coconut oil that are healthy, and avoid vegetable oils like canola or sunflower oil as they can increase your brain fog, anxiety, depression, and memory loss.

Vitamin deficiencies

Even if you are eating healthily and your brain is still fuzzy you may want to investigate vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. These deficiencies are quite common and can result from a lack of certain vitamins in your body which can slow down your brain and lead to brain fog.

Sleep deprivation

Studies done by professionals show that at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders. Sleep is critical for your brain to function both short term and long term and when you sleep well, your brain can ‘power wash’ itself so that you can remember whatever you learned the previous day.

However, with not enough sleep or insomnia, even one bad night can affect your mood the next day and result in a lack of judgment, coordination, and concentration and even lead to stress and a foggy brain along with affecting mental performance.

Inactivity or not enough exercise

Physical exercise can help boost endorphins and get more oxygen and glucose flowing to your brain. It also helps lower stress and anxiety and can drastically improve your health along with your mental function. Studies conducted proved that people that live active lifestyles and exercise daily can delay brain damage, aging, and degenerative illnesses along with diabetes and brain fog.

Causes of brain fog that you didn’t know about

The term brain fog doesn’t only pertain to a single condition and if you’re wondering what causes brain fog, this can be narrowed down to a couple of underlying conditions that can often lead to it.

Not enough sleep

Modern science places a lot of emphasis on adequate and peaceful sleep as it can help keep heart problems, stress, anxiety, and brain fog at bay and help boost your immunity.

However, if you are having poor sleep owing to exposure to blue light from your phone, keeping up late hours to work, and more, this can hamper your melatonin production. More than 25 studies conducted by professionals linked a higher risk of mental impairment and brain fog with poor or disturbed sleep.

The National Center for Biotechnology also concluded that as many as 15% of cases of Alzheimer’s and brain fog are linked to people with sleep problems and poor sleep.

Your diet

It’s a simple fact that what you put into your body or can’t impact your health. One of the main brain fog causes is a deficiency of meat, eggs, B12 vitamins, and other antioxidants which are required to build healthy cells, nerves, and boost blood flow.

Added stress.

Leading health and medical institutes in the world are now looking at stress as one of the major factors when it comes to certain diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. Excessive stress creates more free radicals in your body which damages your brain cells causing them to die along with interfering with new cell formation.

Nearly 78% of adults are struggling to cope with stress, depression, and anxiety and 67% say that they have experienced increased stress over the course of the pandemic leads to exhaustion poor memory, and inability to focus on daily tasks.

Medication

Certain medications and over-the-counter tablets can affect your brain especially if the dosage is high, this can in turn affect your nerve cells and memory function which results in brain fog.

Wait – what does brain fog a symptom of?

At some point in your life, you must have experienced brain fog, and this resulted in you feeling sluggish, tired, forgetting things, making small mistakes, and more. While this is fine once in a way, daily brain fog can lead to affect your lifestyle and can be frustrating to get rid of.

However, once you determine what is brain fog a symptom of, you can talk to your healthcare provider and come up with some solutions.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is one of the brain fog symptoms and is transmitted through an infected tick, this disease can then progress into multiple symptoms if left untreated and leads to mental fuzziness, difficulty keeping up with conversations, memorizing information, and more. If you have been bitten by a tick, seek medical help, especially if you are in expensive brain fog.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

It comes as no surprise that brain fog can often be caused by tiredness and fatigue and chronic fatigue will last more than six months which can often cause patients to feel sluggish and have difficulty thinking and dealing with daily tasks.

A study conducted determined that extreme fatigue that lasts for at least six months can lead to anxiety, depression, and stress which can lead to brain fog and worsen if not improves with rest.

Underactive thyroid

Your thyroid hormone controls your body’s energy levels and if it goes awry most people tend to suffer from weight gain, depression, memory issues, confusion, and brain fog. You might feel that you have trouble concentrating and feel tired easily.

Brain fog caused due to thyroid can leave you feeling distressed and many professionals determine that improving your symptoms of thyroid can help you get rid of brain fog.

Depression and anxiety

Depression and brain fog anxiety may make you feel sad and oftentimes a lot of people lose interest in their favorite activities and have difficulty focusing, making decisions, and remembering things.

Researchers have found that COVID has left up to 30% of patients with depression, memory issues, brain fog, anxiety, and fatigue.

What does brain fog feel like – according to the experts?

Brain fog is different for everyone, and your brain fog might look and feel different from someone else. You might feel tired and confused while they might be unable to focus. When most people wonder what brain fog feels like, here are some things that you might experience.

Cloudy consciousness

One of the main symptoms of brain fog is your lowered ability to think clearly and understand how often feel disassociated from reality and other external events. While this can affect your daily life it can also be dangerous while working or driving. Some people may not even remember what happened during their clouded period.

WMFI scores correlated with brain fog ranked forgetfulness and cloudy thinking and communicating among the top percentage as they were frequently reported triggers for brain fog.

Tiredness

Living with mental exhaustion and fatigue can be stressful and this will not only lead you to feel sleepy all the time, but you’ll also feel exhausted, irritable, forgetful, depressed, and more which can harm your personal and social life.

Confusion

When you’re tired and feel confused your ability to make decisions slows down and you will have a tough time focusing on decisions. You will also easily lose your concentration, sudden changes in emotions, incoherent words, slurring words, and pause for a long time between sentences.

Inability to focus.

People with brain fog often find it tough to focus or direct their attention to a single point.

Your mind might wander while trying to focus on a single task and it takes you a lot more time to concentrate, this can be harmful when it comes to hampering your productivity, forgetting daily tasks, and lowering your motivation and work performance.

Studies conducted concluded that induced brain fog can also be a common symptom of other long-term conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

How to get rid of brain fog?

Take action.

The first thing you need to know when it comes to how to clear brain fog is to keep a record of your symptoms so that you can understand if they are part of your lifestyle or underlying medical conditions.

Get a good night’s rest.

Another tip for how to clear brain fog is to minimize alcohol, caffeine, and exposure to electronics and light. Make sure you have a good eight hours of sleep daily and take time out to relax along with understanding what you can achieve so that you don’t push yourself too much.

Understand your stressors.

Excessive stress can impair your memory, and lead to depression, anxiety, and more. Make sure that you can identify your stressors and instead of turning on the TV look for other ways like meditation, doing a crossword, yoga or even playing a memory game.

According to professionals when it comes to the brain learning something new or even engaging can help give your brain a tune-up and lower brain fog.

Exercise more

Working out a couple of times a week can help improve the function and structure of your brain, just make sure you balance it out with enough rest.

Treatment for Brain Fog

Secrets to fixing brain fog.

When looking for how to fix brain fog, your medical professional will help you first determine the underlying cause before they give you brain fog treatment. In many cases, patients just require basic lifestyle changes to help overcome depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

As a part of brain fog treatment, it is crucial to lower your stress levels. This can help you refocus your energy and gain back mental clarity. Your doctor will first test you and see if you have any underlying medical condition like Alzheimer’s or any other type of mental illness.

Once this is done, the doctor will then give you certain steps to help you manage your symptoms starting with short-term strategies and daily tasks to longer strategies until you can maintain focus, feel more energetic, and de-stresses, and take up projects and finish tasks.

Your healthcare provider might even encourage you to exercise and set a certain sleep and diet schedule for you along with a range of foods that can help you improve your brain health.

Researchers have found that brain fog is reversible and if taken care of immediately you can regain full mental focus. It’s important that you seek professional help and talk to a trusted therapist to help you figure out how to better manage this condition.

The link between vitamin D and brain fog

Can lack of vitamin D cause brain fog?

Scientists have found that a deficiency in some vitamins or nutrients can lead to brain fog. Some patients do not have a balanced diet and lack certain vitamins like C, E, D, and B12. These vitamins can help improve fatigue and prevent stress and inflammation.

There is a reason why soaking up the sun always puts you in a great mood. This happens as your body makes vitamin D which can help to lower depression, and Alzheimer’s and help boost the function and development of your brain.

It was discovered that these vitamins for brain fog are essential and according to the Cleveland Clinic, about 35% of adults in America have a vitamin D deficiency which can affect their mental health, immunity, and bone health.

Vitamin D can also help improve brain health and has been linked to improved cognitive function, hormone control, and lowered depression and anxiety which reduce the symptoms of a cloudy brain.

But wait! I’ve tried those things.

If you’ve tried all that you can then here are some strategies to help you bust up your cloud mind and get your mental focus on track.

Mediation and deep breathing

If you tend to be busy during the day, devote around 10 minutes to taking a walk, trying deep breathing exercises, or even running around a couple of blocks. This can help you calm down and shift your mindset.

Put on your favorite movie.

Sometimes a movie is all you need to disconnect and immerse yourself in the moment rather than being stressed or feeling anxious.

Relax

Treat yourself to something nice like a massage, blow-dry, or even your favorite food and books. Research has shown that relaxing can help lower the activity in the brain’s amygdala which can remove any stress, threatening stimuli, or anxious thought.

Thinking of talking to a doctor?

Now that you’ve understood brain fog meaning. So, if you find yourself feeling overtired, anxious, forgetting certain things, or feeling stressed, look to switch up your lifestyle and get enough sleep, food, and exercise.

In case this persists then you can go ahead and consult a qualified medical professional who can help you narrow down the underlying cause and help you work towards getting better by eliminating the brain fog you are experiencing.

About Patients Medical

PatientsMedical.com is headed by Dr. Rashmi Gulati, MD who is a board-certified physician with over 20 years of integrative, functional and internal medicine experience.
Patients Medical is a holistic wellness center dedicated to helping its clients discover health and rediscover vitality. Their physicians combine the best of conventional and holistic medicine with state-of-the-art equipment to provide comprehensive care and treatment to their patients. They focus on the root causes of secondary medical conditions, integrating modern medicine, holistic practices, and natural supplements to fast-track healing and prevent disease. Every year, thousands of existing and new patients continue to visit the center, seeking an alternative medical approach to a variety of health issues.

In addition, Patients Medical provides access to over 15,000 affordable supplements on their affiliated website: www.MySupplements.Store