Seven tips to eliminate brain fog, develop concentration and improve mental clarity

Do you feel like you're thinking more sluggishly and inattentively? There are a number of methods that can help you restore your cognitive functions.

For example, you went into a room but forgot what you wanted to take, or important issues were discussed at a meeting but you forgot what they were. You may have noticed that it now takes you longer to complete even the simplest task that you used to do very quickly. One of the reasons could be a foggy head.

According to Daniel Wilhour, MD, associate professor of neurology at the University of Denver School of Medicine in Colorado, brain fog is not a medical diagnosis. Rather, it is an informal name for the condition that describes a combination of cognitive symptoms.

Among other signs, fog in the head can be indicated by factors such as:

• difficulty concentrating;
• difficulty finding the right words;
• feeling disoriented;
• memory impairment.

This type of cognitive dysfunction can occur due to stress, poor sleep, poor nutrition, and other factors. Also, fogginess in the head can signal health problems that require specialist intervention. If the fog in your head does not go away for more than 2 weeks, and the symptoms interfere with your normal life, you should consult a doctor.

In the meantime, there are several recommendations for lifestyle changes that can help get rid of brain fog and restore mental clarity. Let's take a look at how to clear brain fog using seven different techniques.

Get enough rest, especially after an illness

When you move from one task to another during the day and without an appropriate rest break, your brain becomes overloaded and cannot function properly. Shehru Pudumji, PhD, neuropsychologist at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Cleveland Clinic, believes that a person's cognitive performance improves if they take short breaks during the workday.

This is important for people who perform many different tasks every day, especially if they are not feeling well. For example, during the recovery period after COVID-19, you may feel foggy in the head, even if your physical condition is normal. This may be due to inflammation from the virus, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

It's natural to want to improve your life, advance your career, and carry out your daily responsibilities, says Dr. Pudumji, but it's also important to keep in mind that you may not return to your normal cognitive state. To maintain a stable mental state while working with a foggy head, prioritize only the most important tasks and schedule time for breaks and rest.

Brain fog can be a secondary symptom of more serious conditions such as stress and anxiety. To rule them out, it’s essential to recognize other symptoms, and for proper diagnosis, consulting a doctor is recommended.

Automate your to-do list

In order to properly manage your active life, you need to constantly work on it, but you shouldn't worry about the little things that aren't very important. Dr. Pudumji believes that you should use various cognitive aids to help solve the problem.

For example, you can set an alarm for a certain time, use a voice assistant to remind you of important things, set up automatic bill payments, and schedule appointments by marking them on your calendar. This will eliminate some of the stress associated with brain fog. According to the doctor, if a person forgets something, they get angry at themselves for it, and this state does not help to cope with the problem of fog. If he or she can remove something from his or her life, it will help to avoid self-humiliation and self-criticism.

Eating anti-inflammatory foods

According to Dr. Wilhour, one of the mechanisms that causes fogginess is inflammation. Therefore, she advises to follow a diet with anti-inflammatory foods. Thus, it is necessary to limit or eliminate highly processed foods and red meat from the diet. At the same time, you should eat whole grain bread, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats containing Omega-3, following a plant-based or Mediterranean diet.

Certain autoimmune diseases can cause fogginess, says Dr. Wilhour. According to the Arthritis Foundation, people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis complain of forgetfulness and inability to concentrate. Also, according to Duke Health statistics, about 40-80% of patients with fibromyalgia and lupus have the same problems.

According to the results of a study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a study of patients with multiple sclerosis, it became known that anti-inflammatory nutrition helps to eliminate some of the symptoms of these diseases, improving the cognitive functions of people.

The researchers also concluded that a diet with minimal consumption of inflammatory foods helps protect the brain from the effects of aging.

Movement is life

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends that people do about 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week. This will help keep your heart and brain in good condition.

Exercise helps increase blood flow to the brain. They also cause some changes in the cerebral cortex, increasing the amount of gray matter and neurotrophic factor, a molecule involved in creating neural connections that are responsible for learning and memory.

With intensive work, a person's memory, executive control, and attention gain a certain momentum. Also, physical activity is a good stress reliever and, as numerous studies show, it helps to increase cognitive reserves, helping the brain to become more resilient as a person grows older.

Regular mental activity

The brain is one of the human organs that can function like a muscle, meaning that the more it is used, the stronger it becomes, says Dr. Wilhour. To stimulate and maintain the cognitive functions of the brain, you need to read more books, solve crossword puzzles, play various intellectual games, play musical instruments, and follow current events in life.

Just like in the case of sports, the sequence of actions is of great importance. To maintain your daily practice, you need to do your favorite things. If you don't want to learn to play the piano or violin, that's fine. Perhaps you want to learn a foreign language.

Listening to your favorite music or songs can be another trigger for improving brain function. Studies show that your favorite music helps to stimulate the brain and reduce stress and anxiety.

Healthy sleep

Good, healthy sleep keeps your mind sharp and your thinking clear. If you are experiencing cognitive dysfunction, analyze your sleep quality.

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep can lead to symptoms similar to brain fog, including problems with short-term memory, concentration, information processing speed, and alertness. Not sure how to get rid of brain fog? The solution is to improve your sleep hygiene (for example, avoiding gadgets in the evenings and creating a relaxing atmosphere). This will help to relieve fatigue and restore such a function as mental clarity the next day.

Apnea - sleep apnea is another problem that negatively affects sleep quality, according to the CDC. The main symptom of sleep apnea is when a person feels like they slept well, but they feel drowsy during the day. Dr. Pudumji recommends that people with insomnia and sleep apnea undergo an appropriate course of treatment.

Identifying and eliminating health problems

While lifestyle changes can help get rid of dizziness, they are only a small part of the treatment if a person has other underlying physical conditions. Therefore, the treatment of brain fog is closely related to the treatment of other ailments. According to Dr. Wilhour, health problems that contribute to brain fog include such conditions as chronic fatigue syndrome, anemia, depression, diabetes, mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and a number of autoimmune diseases.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, decreased concentration, lack of understanding, difficulty finding words, and other disorders are symptoms of brain fog in multiple sclerosis. Often, confusion is the first symptom of the disease.

Studies have also shown that brain fog is observed in hypothyroidism (decreased thyroid function), in which about 80% of patients experience a constant feeling of fatigue, drowsiness, and complain of poor memory.

These are just some of the examples that can lead to fog in the head, so proper treatment and control of underlying diseases can help reduce the cognitive symptoms of foggy mind.

It should be remembered that foggy brain is not only a sign of aging or an overly active lifestyle, so it should not be overlooked. It is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and, if necessary, seek help from specialists who can help you gain clarity of thought.

Conclusion

The term “brain fog” is used by experts to describe cognitive symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, difficulty finding the right words, a sense of loss of orientation, and some memory problems. It can occur for a variety of reasons, including stress, lack of sleep, and poor nutrition. To reduce the symptoms, you need to change your lifestyle. But if they don't go away within 2 weeks, you should seek help from a specialist.

For more information on mental health and well-being, visit our main page.