What Is Brain Fog?

Stress Management

- Thejendra Sreenivas

Brain fog is not a defined medical condition, but rather it's a term used to describe the feeling of being mentally sluggish, lack of clarity, and fuzzy. It can be due to other health conditions. Brain fog can affect your ability to focus and make it difficult for you to recall things. Brain fog can impact the way you feel about yourself and people suffering from brain fog experience a nasty feeling of losing their mental sharpness resulting in stress and gloominess.

Reasons for Brain Fog - Several factors and health conditions can cause brain fog like,

Inadequate sleep.

Stress due to personal or workplace issues

Depression due to personal loss

Dementia

Medication side effects

Hormonal imbalance like thyroid disorders

Chronic health conditions like multiple sclerosis

Nutritional deficiencies like vitamin B12 deficiency

Viral infections, such as COVID-19, SARS, and H1N1

Brain fog is caused by a combination of two or three of the above factors as they often go hand in hand. For instance, depression can lead to a lack of sleep or vice versa. Or stress can affect your sleep and cause depression.

Symptoms of Brain Fog - The typical symptoms of brain fog are having difficulties with cognitive functions like,

Can't focus on a thought or idea

Not able to recall things

Unable to multitask

Unable to follow conversations

Unable to pay attention to your surroundings

Frequent headaches and mental exhaustion.

Tips and Tricks to Reduce Brain Fog