Optimism and enough sleep can go a long way when it comes to brain health. While many people may believe their daily choices have little impact on their mental clarity, research from the New York Times reveals that simple actions like taking regular brain breaks and creating healthy habits can significantly boost cognitive function and help clear the mental haze that often clouds thoughts. This mental haze is known as brain fog and many have experienced it without even realizing.
What is Brain Fog?
Brain fog, also known as fuzzy-headedness, is a list of symptoms that affect memory and thinking skills. Some of these symptoms include being tired, confusion, forgetfulness, etc. These symptoms can make even day-to-day tasks difficult. Some people find it like walking through mud all day while others just have trouble concentrating. “To me, it feels like being lost in a slow-moving haze while the rest of the world speeds past.” Journalist Kendra Cherry states in her article Can’t Focus? Same. These Five Tips Will Cure Your Brain Fog Stat. Brain fog makes it difficult for people to get work done or simply think clearly. Stop brain fog today by understanding these triggers and treatments.
Causes of Brain Fog
Brain fog can come to the mind because of an amount of reasons. Some common ones include; sleep deprivation, being sick, anxiety or even unhealthy eating. However, other culprits could be underlying medical conditions. Most of the time these causes work together to contribute to brain fog.
People test their limits everyday on what they can do to their bodies without permanently hurting them. By testing how little sleep one can get or how quickly they can go back to work when they are sick puts people at risk of brain fog creeping into their minds. Sleep deprivation disrupts our brain cells from communicating with each other. This leads to the mental missteps that frustrate our days.
Unhealthy eating causes a lot of health problems with brain fog being one of them. This is due to the fact that high sugar and carbohydrate intakes cause harm towards the brain.
Anxiety can also cause brain fog since when a person is anxious they tend to hold their breath. This simple habit causes the brain to get less oxygen which allows for more carbon dioxide to get into the blood. Not enough oxygen to the brain is a source of brain fog.
However, the most common cause for brain fog is coming back from a sickness. When our body is healing from a sickness, inflammation has arisen in the brain. This inflammation is what causes brain fog. It will take from a few days to three months for your body to successfully get rid of the inflammation. When our bodies have multiple of these causes brain fog can be indestructible.
How to treat
The first step to clearing brain fog is to take a look at your life and ask yourself these questions. Have you been sick lately? Have you been anxious? Have you been getting enough sleep? By recognizing the stressors and triggers of brain fog it is easier to treat. Massachusetts’s School Psychologist Sarah Westerdale states, “Improving brain fog begins with taking care of your basic needs like sleep, relaxation, and healthy nutrition.” These three treatments can go a long way to treat brain fog no matter the cause. Make sure to get seven to nine hours a night as an adult and eight to ten as a teenager. If one is anxious, meditation has proven to help ground people and reduce stress but it is also a perfect way to clear brain fog and start a journey of mental happiness. Some may think meditation includes hours of stretches or sitting on a yoga mat; however, a simple ten minutes out of the day can do wonders for the brain. Yale studies show that meditation decreases activity in the brain network that controls mind wandering. This will allow a person to focus on what they are doing. It will also give a person a moment to sit and breathe instead of getting stuck in their heads.
Connecticut’s Health teacher John Liscio explains, “Recognizing what stresses you out and making a plan for it.” Making a plan for your day, as Liscio explains, can lead to a less anxious and more relaxing day. This can help brain fog be more manageable since the causes are being limited. Simple adjustments to anyone’s schedule can lessen the effects of brain fog and make life so much easier.
