Tackling life can be difficult if your brain isn’t up for the challenge. If you experience brain fog, you’ll find that completing everyday tasks is more difficult, focusing at work is nearly impossible, and you may also notice that you’re more irritable than normal. Not to mention, living with brain fog makes life a lot less enjoyable, as you’re unlikely to feel like yourself.
If you want to solve your brain fog issue, you first have to know what’s causing it. Here are a few likely culprits.
An accident
An accident can cause brain fog, especially if you injured your brain. You don’t have to be in a major accident with broken bones and sprained ankles either. A simple slip and fall can result in a mild concussion that will hopefully resolve itself between seven to ten days.
A brain injury is an obvious reason why you might be experiencing brain fog, but other accidents can cause your brain to work a little differently. If your body is focusing on healing after another injury, you may find that you’re more tired and your thoughts are moving a little slower than usual. Give yourself plenty of time to rest so your body can heal and your brain fog will eventually dissipate.
Medical conditions
If you’re suffering from long-term brain fog that you just can’t seem to shake, it’s possible that a medical condition is to blame. For example, many Covid-19 patients describe struggling with brain fog for weeks and months after being infected. Additional medical conditions that are associated with the inability to focus include:
- Diabetes
- Anaemia
- Migraines
- Alzheimer’s
- Hypothyroidism
- Arthritis
- Dehydration
A medication could also be causing your brain fog. Serious treatments, like chemotherapy, are associated with brain fog symptoms, but other types of meds can interfere with your ability to think too. When you pay close attention, you may realise pain medicine and antihistamines affect your ability to focus. Sedatives, bladder control medicine, and others can too. If you suspect that the medicine you’re taking is causing your symptoms, you should definitely talk to your doctor.
Lack of sleep
Sleepiness can affect your health in many ways, one of which is how your brain functions. Just one day without enough sleep can cause you to move a little more slowly, it can increase your chances of experiencing an accident, and it can make you forgetful. A prolonged lack of sleep is associated with serious health consequences, like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
If you aren’t getting the recommended eight hours of sleep every night, it’s time to try and make sure you get enough shuteye. Create a bedroom sanctuary, go to bed a little earlier, and block out light and noise. After just a few days you’ll notice a difference in your ability to think.
Poor diet
A poor diet affects your health from head to toe. It can increase your blood pressure, it can cause high cholesterol, and in some cases, it can even contribute to cancer. Unsurprisingly, it affects how your brain works too.
The bacteria in your gut can have a huge impact on your mood and energy levels. If you feed the bacteria in your gut food that is high in MSG, that bacteria is going to affect your brain in negative ways.
It’s not just fast food that can make your thoughts foggy. You could have a food sensitivity. Whether it’s dairy, gluten, or nuts, if you’re regularly eating food that your body can’t digest well, your brain is going to be affected. Do your research and consider a food elimination diet to determine what’s causing your problem so it can be eliminated.
Stress and anxiety
Are you dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety at work? Or maybe the everyday grind of taking care of your family feels overwhelming? It turns out that mental issues, like anxiety, can contribute to brain fog.
Experiencing things like stress and anxiety take up mental resources, and they constantly interrupt thought processes, making it difficult to think clearly. Dealing with what’s causing your stress and anxiety is the first step towards getting rid of your brain fog. Visiting with a therapist may be helpful, and in some cases, medication can help. Dealing with the challenges of everyday life is enough without also having to deal with brain fog. Whether it’s due to an accident, your diet, or your mental health, pinpointing the problem is the first step to feeling like yourself again.
Featured image: Tim Gouw/Unsplash
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