BEAT BRAIN FOG IN 30 DAYS
A neuroscientist shows us how
Dr Sabina Brennan, author of Beating Brain Fog (Orion), is a health psychologist and neuroscientist at Trinity College Dublin, where she leads the Brain Fit Study, covering brain health, lifestyle and dementia risk. She hosts the Super Brain podcast, is married and has two grown-up sons.
Complain of brain fog to a doctor and you’re likely to be told that it isn’t a recognised condition. But if you mention brain fog to your friends, they’ll know exactly what you mean: fuzzy thinking, trouble concentrating, a sense of grasping for the right word, feeling like your brain has somehow slowed down. In truth, brain fog is not a diagnosis in itself, but a sign that things aren’t right in your body.
There are multiple causes of brain fog, from hormonal changes, medications, ill health and, of course, the restrictions and repercussions we’ve all experienced as a result of the pandemic. Mostly, though, it occurs as a result of our failure to look after our brains with good quality sleep, the right nutrition, mental as well as physical exercise and stress management.
The most common symptoms are loss of mental clarity, inability to focus or concentrate, problems with learning and remembering, slow thinking, issues with language or word-finding and trouble navigating spaces, which many people would describe as clumsiness. Depending on which area of brain function is affected, you can also experience brain fatigue, exhaustion or irritability.
Symptoms of brain fog can come and go but when they occur regularly, they can interfere with the quality of your life, your relationships and your work and, crucially, can railroad your normal capabilities.
PINPOINTING PROBLEMS
It’s important to talk first to your GP to rule out any underlying physical or mental health issues. Instead of saying ‘I have brain fog’, you could be more specific so, for example, say: ‘I’m having problems with my word-finding and my brain function but my memory is fine.’ This helps to isolate symptoms.
My own experience of brain fog was caused by stress and an initially undiagnosed autoimmune disease. I’m the youngest of five and was the only one still living near my mum in the area where we grew up. When mum, who’s sadly passed away now, was diagnosed with dementia, my husband and I were happy to care for her but family members, who lived far away, wanted control. This led to a split in my family and huge stress. I had to prioritise my own health over certain family relationships. It was painful but I think it’s important to discuss as these disputes are not uncommon.
The other factor in my history of brain fog was an autoimmune condition called
Sjögren’s Syndrome (pronounced ‘show grins’). I’d never heard of it before I was finally diagnosed after several years, although problems with cognitive function are often the first symptom. It affects parts of the body that produce fluids like saliva and tears and is the second most common autoimmune rheumatic disease; 90% of patients are women aged 40 to 60.
In my case, it wrecked my memory and created extreme exhaustion, in the form of mental fatigue. My husband would be talking to me and I’d sometimes say, ‘I’m so tired,
I just can’t think straight.’
I still sometimes experience brain fog now because of this autoimmune condition but it’s not bad if I manage my lifestyle properly. And that’s what I’d like people to recognise – there are things you can change to help your brain function and be sharper.
CLEARING THE FOG
It’s relatively simple to cultivate a new craving for a healthier habit
Changing your habits in just four areas of your life can boost brain health and dispel brain fog: sleep, stress, nutrition and exercise, including mental fitness.
To create new healthy patterns, it helps to understand how habits are formed. First, there is the trigger, which can be almost anything, such as a time of day, a person, a place, a mood or scent. The action or reward may be eating, drinking, exercising, going outside, checking your social media.
This sequence becomes routine over time. The trigger and the reward combine and a sense of anticipation emerges, cravings develop and a habit is generated. Once embedded in your brain, habits can be reactivated at any time, especially during periods of stress.
The good news is that it’s relatively simple to cultivate a new craving for a healthier habit. For example, if you want to work on going to bed at a regular time, you pick, say, 11pm as your trigger. Reinforce this by setting an alarm on your phone. Your reward each night is then to apply your favourite body lotion before getting into bed. You can cultivate a craving for the scent and sensation of that body lotion by thinking about it throughout the day. By anticipating the reward, you can develop a craving to drive the habit loop of going to bed at 11pm.
Work through each of the following four areas of your life and see what habits can be replaced by brain-friendly strategies in just 30 days…