Anxiety Brain Fog is Real- and You Can Fix It
If you are a person with any type of anxiety or stress, you may have experienced anxiety related brain fog. Learn more about this phenomenon and how to reduce it.
WHAT IS ANXIETY BRAIN FOG?
Brain fog is a common term used to describe a certain fuzzy, unclear head feeling. It can be described as:
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- Mental Fuzziness, or
- Lack of Clarity, or even
- “Brian Farts”. If you don’t mind some bathroom humor.
While experiencing brain fog, you might have:
- Thoughts that don’t feel or appear clear
- General lack of motivation or interest in things
- Exhaustion, either mental or physical
- Trouble concentrating or focusing on tasks
- Difficulty putting thoughts or words together.
Brain fog is not generally anything to worry too much about. There are a number of benign reasons for brain fog, and anxiety is one of them. Another common reason for brain fog is that it can be a side effect of many psychiatric medications. Typically a short lived one, but sometimes persistent.
Anxiety is exhausting, I don’t blame your brain for getting a bit weird after dealing with all of that.
WHY DO I HAVE BRAIN FOG IF I DON’T FEEL ANXIOUS?
Anxiety is not just a feeling that lasts for a few minutes and then goes away. For many people, anxious thoughts are always around, running back and forth in our minds, popping out to scare us sometimes, but otherwise just chilling.
All of that anxiety causes mental fatigue, as well as hormonal changes and physical stress, all of which can cause brain fog symptoms.
The Brain fog that you are be experiencing might actually be causing you more anxiety, because you’re worrying about it. I call this an anxiety cycle. You are anxious so you get a physical symptom, so that physical symptom makes you more anxious, then you get an additional symptom, and so on and so on.
You do not want to get stuck in one of those. Trust me.
Here are a few tips for resolving anxiety brain fog.
Figure out what’s causing it – There is likely something in the background causing your brain fog. Anxiety, depression, some medications, physical illness, and taking poor care of yourself are the biggest. Visit your doctor to discuss, they may be able to offer some assistance.
Go out and do things – Sometimes you just need to shake it off, literally. And even if brain fog isn’t relieved by living your life as normal, the act of ignoring it can limit its effects.
Get some extra rest – More sleep can cure many ills, but in the case of brain fog, it’s often caused from ineffective sleep. Aim to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night, and work on your sleep hygiene so that your sleep is more effective. Avoid caffeine and heavy foods before bed, and limit screen time as well.
Take care of your body – Eating a well balanced diet that limits added sugars and refined carbohydrates can improve brain clarity. Along the same vein, you may be nutritionally deficient in some things if you haven’t been eating a well balanced diet for some time. Try adding a daily multivitamin, and consulting your physician to see about other potential issues such as Vitamin D, or B12 deficiency.
Try Meditating – Meditation helps us train our brain and our breathing to relax, rest, and work better. Meditation can help with mental clarity.
Manage your stress better – without getting too scientific here, I read that excess levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) can lead to cell death in the brain. This could lead to brain fog and mental fatigue.
Try Therapy – Talking out your issues with a qualified therapist is almost always going to be helpful. Therapy can help you get to the bottom of why your brain feels so fuzzy, and offer coping mechanisms for tolerating that better or clearing it up.
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