Being a thoughtful adult human in America today often means being in a constant state of worry—for the country, for your family, for the environment, and so much more. All that stress can leave you feeling fuzzy-brained and forgetful, even if you’re years away from being at risk for dementia.
“It’s tempting to think that brain fog won’t happen until you’re much older,” says Jessica Caldwell, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute. “But I see it in so many patients at every age—and stress is a known trigger,” she says.
Delia Lewis,* a marketing strategist from Manalapan Township, N.J., started feeling foggier than usual a few years back, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She’d sit down at her desk and begin doom-scrolling instead of answering emails. Time slowed down for her, as tasks that used to take 10 minutes stretched out over an hour. When she spoke with her manager, she scribbled down a mess of notes so she could remember her to-dos. “Usually I can keep all the balls in the air,” says Delia. “But then I was like, ‘What did you want me to do?’”
Whether you’re worried about work, politics, your children, or your aging parents, those frazzled feelings create toxins that can build up in your brain and affect your ability to focus, concentrate, and remember multiple things, says Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas. “We all do things that wear out the brain, and then we wonder why we’re not as clearheaded as we used to be,” she says.
You know very well that after an exhausting run or workout, your body needs to rest. “But when our brains are tired, we tend to slog through,” Chapman says. Yet the more you ignore brain fog, the more it builds up—and the more likely it is that you’ll keep having unproductive days and many “it’s on the tip of my tongue” moments.
Take a deep breath, and consider this: If you take time for some simple strategies that will give your gray matter a rest, you’ll start feeling clearer—quickly. “Science has revealed the surprising truth that you can actually do more to make your brain healthy than any other part of your body,” says Chapman. Here’s how.
Symptoms of Brain Fog
When Delia started feeling less sharp and more distracted than usual, she figured some extra sleep would help her get back in her mental groove. But when her symptoms persisted, she grew concerned and made an appointment with her doctor, who told her she was most likely dealing with brain fog.
In addition to feeling more absentminded and less sharp, and having difficulty focusing, other symptoms you might experience include being more forgetful than usual or sluggish when you’re trying to remember things. You may feel your brain chugging along but not firing on all cylinders, says Caldwell.
There’s a physiological reason why brain fog is so common, adds Gayatri Devi, M.D., a neurologist at Park Avenue Neurology in New York and a clinical professor at Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell Health. Of the trillions of neurons in your brain, just 10,000 to 20,000 secrete a neuropeptide called orexin, which research shows is one of several circuits that keep us awake and alert. “It’s astounding that our wakefulness and arousal are controlled by such a small number of nerve cells—and easy to see how this part of the brain system might be easily impacted,” says Dr. Devi.
Our brains are actually hard-wired to be alert, so we can react quickly to our environment—an important part of our species’ survival. Yet the fact that such clarity is our brain’s go-to mode helps explain why brain fog can feel so disorienting and stressful.
“When my brain fog is bad, I get overwhelmed way faster than I otherwise would,” says Lila Jones*, a wellness coordinator for a nonprofit who has been dealing with brain fog for a few years. “Driving is more stressful, multitasking at work is nearly impossible, and I’m not as with it in conversation. My brain feels like it’s stuck in molasses.”
Causes of Brain Fog
There are multiple reasons you may feel foggy, says Chapman. When Delia’s brain fog settled in and nothing she tried—extra sleep, meditation, even a week off from work—seemed to help, she got a little nervous: “I started wondering if I was really sick.”
First her doctor ruled out COVID and some other common illnesses: “Brain fog is especially common in infections that affect the upper respiratory system, because reduced oxygen flow to the brain and fever can lead to mental impairment,” Dr. Devi says.
In fact, in the years since the pandemic, brain fog has become a recognized symptom of long COVID, along with fatigue, depression, and heart palpitations. But outside of medical causes, factors affecting the ability to concentrate include:
✔️ Stress
When we perceive that we’re in danger (from an approaching bear or an angry boss), the brain releases a cascade of neurochemicals and hormones to help us symbolically run away from that predator or fight back. But this cocktail is only meant to pump through our bodies for a limited time, Caldwell says; they exhaust our brains when they stick around longer than they should.
“That’s why there’s a feedback loop built into the system,” she says, “where your brain eventually gets a message that says, Let’s shut this stress hormone release down—there’s no acute threat anymore.”
One part of the brain that gets this shutoff signal is the hippocampus, which is responsible for taking in new information and consolidating it into long-term memory storage.
Unfortunately, when stress becomes chronic, the brain stays in protection mode and doesn’t get the message to turn off that cascade of stress hormones. The hippocampus winds up getting tired out, and over time, its cells start to die off, and brain fog can set in.
✔️ Not enough sleep
When you’re staring at the ceiling all night trying to figure out if you’ll ever have enough money to retire, or bingeing Love Island at 3 a.m. because you just can’t fall asleep, you’re certain to feel groggy and foggy the next day. But that’s just one of the effects of not getting enough zzz’s: It also means you miss out on important brain cleansing that happens when you’re in deep sleep, says Caldwell.
Research in the journal Science found that the ebb and flow of blood and electrical activity that takes place during sleep actually triggers cleansing waves of blood and cerebrospinal fluid—prompting scientists to call sleep the brain’s “rinse cycle.”
“Sleep is also when your brain reviews new information and consolidates it, helping you form more stable, long-term memory,” Caldwell says, adding that stuff you don’t need is cleared from the brain at the same time. This cycle is also when the brain clears amyloid, the substance involved in Alzheimer’s, from the brain, research shows—a crucial factor in pushing back dementia.
✔️ Menopause
Dr. Devi says brain fog is a major menopause symptom that’s often overlooked. “I’ve actually had patients misdiagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease when really it was menopause-related brain fog,” she says.
Estrogen gives the female brain a big advantage in a number of ways. The hippocampus—the part of the brain important for memory and speech—is also home to a slew of estrogen receptors. “Those receptors are like little docking sites for estrogen that are spread out across the hippocampus,” says Dr. Devi.
But when estrogen takes a major dip during perimenopause, those sites don’t get the estrogen they’ve long relied on, and the brain has to adjust, which can feel like brain fog, adds Caldwell. “It’s your brain figuring out how to work without as much estrogen as it’s used to.”
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✔️ Medication side effects
It’s worth going over your daily medication regimen with your primary care physician or pharmacist: Several medications can cause brain fog, including migraine and antiseizure prescriptions, as well as over-the-counter drugs for sleep or allergies. And if you drink any alcohol while taking these meds—even a single glass of wine per night—you might feel even foggier, says Caldwell.
How to Treat and Prevent Brain Fog
It’s tempting to wait out your brain fog and see if it gets better after you get a little sleep, but if it’s affecting your daily life, you’ll want to start taking steps to combat it right now. “It’s really important not to just say, Oh, well, I’m a little foggy today—tomorrow will be better,” says Chapman. “The brain is an amazing machine that will rebound, but will it return to the same level? It’s important to do something proactively to help.”
Take Control of Your Stress Reaction
Stress is a part of life, but you can do something to keep it from overwhelming you. “It’s easy to get into a mindset in which everything is negative and it feels like there’s nothing you can do about stress,” says Caldwell. “But if you look at what’s making you feel the most anxious, you may see things you can take off your plate or different ways to cope.”
Finding ways to dial down the stress every day—by doing deep breathing exercises, taking a short walk in nature, or just calling your funniest friend for a few minutes of laughter—can really help your brain turn off that cascade of stress hormones.
Nail Your Sleep Routine
“Too many of us think of our brain like a motor that can be switched on and off, but the brain is more like a plant that’s growing and changing all the time,” says Dr. Devi. And you need sleep to feed that plant and keep it healthy, she adds.
While a night or two of poor zzz’s won’t have a huge impact, chronic sleep trouble is worth fixing. “There are many proven ways to treat insomnia these days,” says Dr. Devi. “You can train yourself back into a good sleep routine.” Talk to your doctor about options.
Move Your Body
What’s good for your heart is good for your brain, and that includes getting some heart-pumping aerobic exercise most days of the week (walking briskly, biking, playing pickleball, or even going out dancing with friends are all good options). That’s because upward of 40% of blood from your heart ends up circulating to your noggin, says Dr. Devi. “It’s proof of how much energy your brain requires, and how much it relies on your heart to get that energy.”
If your heart isn’t pumping blood properly, your brain won’t get the oxygen-rich blood it needs to support memory function and alertness. Plus, exercise improves your mood and reduces stress.
Check In With Your Brain
Try an exercise Chapman prescribes to all her patients, which she calls “five by five”: Set an alarm to go off at five intervals throughout the day and spend five minutes stopping all brain activity (don’t even meditate!) and just being in the moment. You might close your eyes and take a rest or sit outside and look at trees. Go for a walk (without listening to a podcast!) and zone out. “Just five minutes with no major input is the best way to reset your brain,” says Chapman.
Stop Multitasking
It may make you feel super productive, but multitasking actually irritates your brain, ultimately slowing it down, says Chapman. Instead of trying to juggle multiple things at once, focus on one goal at a time—and make it doable in a 30-minute chunk of time.
Overthink One Thing Every Day
While letting your brain rest is important, challenging it to work hard can also be a big help! “Thinking deeply is like push-ups for your brain,” Chapman says.
When you read an interesting article, spend 15 minutes thinking about how you might apply it to your life. If you and your partner watch a movie, talk about its deeper message and how it connects with your life rather than just rehashing the plot.
Chapman’s research has found that when people engage in deeper levels of thinking, they increase the speed of connectivity across the brain’s central executive network, which is where decision-making, planning, goal-setting, and clear thinking happen, by 30%. “That’s like regaining almost two decades of neural function,” says Chapman.
Excite Your Brain
Your brain gets rusty doing the same old, same old every day. So change one thing up every day! This can mean driving a new route to work, listening to a different kind of music than what’s typically on your playlist, or even cooking a recipe from a cuisine you haven’t tasted yet. “This prompts the brain to produce norepinephrine, a brain chemical that makes us excited to learn,” Chapman says.
Delia Lewis decided to bake banana bread when her brain fog got really bad. She says spending time in the kitchen gave her a surprising shot of joy—and a chance to turn her brain away from the worry and stress. “Baking has become a chance to give my brain a break,” she says. “Plus, it helps me feel like I’ve accomplished something on days I don’t get enough done on the work front.” And that has helped her feel sharper all around.
When Your Brain Fog Signals Something More Serious
There are times when brain fog might be the result of a health issue such as a head injury, thyroid problems, or even the early stages of multiple sclerosis. If you’re experiencing any of the symptoms below, see your doctor to get a sense of what’s going on:
- You’ve felt foggy for months and nothing you try (more sleep, less stress) makes it go away.
- You’ve made uncharacteristic mistakes at work, with your finances, or in other ways that have significant negative impacts on your life.
- Brain fog is accompanied by other new symptoms, such as balance issues or pain.
- You don’t remember conversations you’ve had with family and friends (though they say you were perfectly coherent).
*Names have been changed.
This article originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Prevention.
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