How Stress Causes Brain Fog
Whether you are thriving or just surviving all depends on your adrenal glands.
These are two glands that sit on top of your kidneys. These glands, though tiny, have a massive effect on how you handle stress.
Your adrenal glands make the hormones responsible for getting you through a crisis – cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. Your adrenals also regulate your blood pressure and balance your electrolyte levels.
When your adrenal glands are functioning properly, you will feel energetic throughout the day, when they are out of balance you can feel drained of energy, emotionally exhausted, and feel unable to respond to even the most basic stresses.
How To Get Rid Of Brain Fog And Improve Focus
At Parsley Health, we work with our members to get to the root cause of their issues and resolve brain fog for good. Your doctor will work with you to understand your complete health history, symptoms, and then order the appropriate lab work to test things like your thyroid function and heavy metal levels. With this information, your doctor can craft a personalized health plan to address your brain fog and any other symptoms you may be experiencing. These are a few recommendations our doctors and health coaches may have to help you get rid of brain fog.
Fatigue Slows Down Whole Body
So, can burnout cause brain fog in women?
Yes, it absolutely can.
Because when the brain changes, when its struggling through oxidative stress and imbalanced hormonal signals, itll have trouble firing at a healthy rate.
One reason for this is that, when the adrenals slow down, liver detoxification processes slow down. Metabolic waste removal slows down . And toxins, excess hormones, and waste continues to circulate in the blood, to the brain.
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Fixing Keto Brain Fog
First of all, remember that brain fog isnt always related to keto. Maybe you simply need more sleep, more exercise, or more clarity on a health condition.
If youre foggy during your first week of keto, dont panic. Its normal, and probably will resolve naturally within a few days.
If the brain fog persists, it may be a hydration issue. Be sure to get plenty of electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. Take them along with fluids to replace whats lost on keto.
Once youre keto-adapted and properly hydrated, your keto brain fog should lift. You may even feel cognitively enhanced. Enjoy it.
How Anxiety Taxes The Brain
Anxiety takes up a lot of your brains precious resources. When anxiousness fills the corners of your mind with worrisome thoughts and fears, its akin to something researchers call cognitive overload. Thats when your brain is bombarded with too much information to be able to process it all effectively.
When stress and anxiety hit, your brain is so busy processing those nervous thoughts that it drops the ball on the other cognitive tasks you need to handle. It makes it hard to concentrate, difficult to pay attention, and gets in the way of memory formation. This leads to feeling spacey, being easily distracted, and being forgetful. And thats a recipe for brain fog.
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Adrenaline & Blood Sugar
Sometimes you may go through a work day and realize you skipped lunch. You may start to feel shaky, irritable and slightly sick. This is what happens when your blood sugar drops too low.
In addition to dealing with stress, adrenaline is also used when there is not enough food – it is how your body ‘pushes through.’
Every time your blood sugar drops, the adrenals have to release adrenaline to bring your blood sugar back up to normal.
Adrenalines job is to keep your body functioning. Optimal cognition can only take place when your blood sugar is balanced, not too high and not too low.
Adrenal function can suffer if your body constantly has to produce and release adrenaline. Eventually, the adrenal glands can no longer keep up with the demand for these hormones. Lower and lower amounts of stress adapting hormones are produced.
During this period of ‘adrenal fatigue’ it can feel as though you don’t have any reserves, your body cant seem to handle even small stressors and your sleep becomes less restful. You may even develop anxiety or panic attacks.
Adrenal fatigue can lead to insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, or diabetes making it even more difficult for your body to utilize glucose for fuel.
Listen To Soothing Music
Music can help you relax, calm anxiousness, and improve focus. In a fascinating study in the journal Brain and Cognition, research subjects rated Mozarts Sonata for Two Pianos and Beethovens Moonlight Sonata as happy and sad, respectively. Listening to happy music increased activity in the brains left hemisphere, associated with happiness and motivation, and decreased activity in the right hemisphere, often associated with anxiety and negativity. Beethovens piece did the opposite. Create your own playlist to counteract times of stress and anxiety and to increase focus and energy.
Anxiety, chronic stress, brain fog, and other issues cant wait. At Amen Clinics, were here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834or visit our contact page here.
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What Is Brain Fog And How Does It Relate To Mental Illness
Experiencing brain fog can make you feel like youre lost in a maze. You might feel confused, alone, frustrated, disoriented, bewildered, unclear, and adrift. Brain fog can also affect your emotional well-being. Being unable to think clearly may make you feel powerless, irritable, and downcast. Constantly feeling this way can put a damper on your mental health. Having a mental illness can trigger brain fog, as can other conditions. Understanding brain fog, its causes, and how it relates to mental illness can help you better understand the relationship between brain health, mental capacity, and emotional well-being.
How To Get Rid Of Brain Fog Foggy Head
When brain fog and foggy head are caused by an active stress response, calming yourself down and containing your anxious behavior will bring an end to the active stress response. As the active stress response ends, it will bring an end to the stress response changes and their effects, including having brain fog and foggy brain.
When brain fog and foggy head are caused by chronic stress , such as from overly apprehensive behavior, working to reduce your bodys stress, containing your anxious behavior, and giving your body ample time to recover will bring an end to symptoms of hyperstimulationin time. As your body recovers from hyperstimulation, all stress-caused symptoms diminish and eventually subside, including brain fog and foggy brain.
Because brain fog is a common symptom of anxiety and chronic stress, it neednt be a cause for concern. It will subside when the bodys stress has returned to a healthy level.
Yes, brain fog and foggy head can be uncomfortable and interfere with thinking. But, they arent harmful. Again, brain fog and foggy head are common indications of chronic stress. Nothing more. Eliminating hyperstimulation will eliminate the brain fog and foggy head symptoms in time.
Chapter 4 in the Recovery Support area provides a list of natural and practical ways to reduce stress and give your body what it needs to recover.
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How To Cure Brain Fog
A cure for brain fog isnt the correct term since its not a medical condition. But there are ways to limit or reduce the symptoms. It all depends on what is causing the brain fog in the first place.
Many of the first steps to take are general healthy habits everyone can benefit from exercising, eating a well-balanced diet and getting enough sleep. Strive for fruits, vegetables and lean proteins when eating. The Mediterranean diet, which focuses on plants and seafood, has been shown to be beneficial for cognitive function.
Exercising can not only reduce stress and help your mental health, it also helps increase blood flow and nutrients to your brain. You dont need strenuous activity, either. Try a combination of yoga and meditation to establish a positive mindset. A healthy brain is more equipped to stay on track to perform daily routines instead of being pushed to the side by brain fog.
For those struggling with sleep hygiene, shoot for eight hours of sleep per night. The extra time in bed will keep you refreshed and recharged each day. If anxiety or depression have a strong grip on your life, consider talking to a counselor or a licensed therapist to minimize stressors in your life. Here are some tips on how to prepare for your first mental health visit.
What Was I Saying Again Six Common Causes For Brain Fog
Darn it! Where did I park my car again?
Wait, what was I saying?
At some point or another, weve all had these thoughts. Whether youre unsure where you parked at the grocery store or youve lost your train of thought during a great story, brain lapses happen to us all. Its called brain fog, or among some parents, mommy brain.”
But why does this happen and is it something to be concerned about?
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Brain Fog Foggy Head Anxiety Symptoms
Brain fog is often a symptom of anxiety disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and others.
To see if anxiety might be playing a role in your anxiety symptoms, rate your level of anxiety using our free one-minute instant results Anxiety Test or Anxiety Disorder Test. The higher the rating, the more likely it could be contributing to your anxiety symptoms, including having brain fog.
This article explains the relationship between anxiety and having brain fog.
Changes In Your Brain
Long-term burnout changes the neural circuits in your brain, and adjusts the size and consistency of certain areas within. For example, your prefrontal cortex shrinks, and your brain tissue thins. The amygdala, a main controller of mood, enlarges, leading to irritability, anxiety and mood swings.
With these changes come problems with forming new memories and recalling old ones. Our attention spans shortens and were easily distracted. And, of course, our emotional health suffers.
Which answers the question, can burnout cause brain fog?
Yes, it very much can.
And its the main reason for brain fog.
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Diagnosis Of Brain Fog
Brain Fog could be an emergency if the symptoms begin suddenly and worsen as time passes by. It would be wise to and let him decide about the further diagnostic tools.
The right doctor to deal with your cognitive functions and mental health is the neurologist. He can perform some neurological tests and nerve stimulation to check your ability to perceive and react to the external environment.
The most common diagnostic tools for neurologists are:
- The electroencephalography, showing them how your brain works while you sleep and when you are awake.
- The CT-Scan and MRI, is going to show your doctor if you had a head injury. It may also exclude the presence of a brain tumor responsible for brain fog.
- Blood smears analysis to test if you have elevated cancer markers or hormone changes that lead to mental fatigue and cognitive disease.
Psychologists and therapists are competent at diagnosing Brain Fog syndrome. They can ask you questions about your life and extract useful assumptions about the possibility to suffer from stress, anxiety, or even depression.
These experts follow specific protocols to diagnose Brain Fog and give you the right mental or physical treatment for your case. It is needless to visit a hospital to diagnose brain fog. It would be better to ask your doctor any further questions relevant to this situation, especially if you are under unbearable pain.
Easy Ways To Boost Your Physical Activity
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What Then Are Some Specific Brain Hacks You Can Use To Mitigate Anxiety And Keep It At An Optimal Level Instead Of Exhausting You
The number-one strategy I recommend for keeping anxiety manageable is to understand what it is: a powerful source of information and energy.
When you can view anxiety as a resource, you open yourself up to how it can help you. You can stop being afraid of it and can use it, rather than driving it up.
Feeling a flutter in your stomach as you think about that tough conversation you need to have with your friend? Recognize its trying to signal something that matters to you, and allow it to motivate you to stay alert and focused.
Anxiety isnt a bad thing in fact, far from it. Moderate anxiety has long been correlated with optimal performance. It is easy to mistake the discomfort of anxiety for danger, but fundamentally anxiety is there to help. It isnt a bad thing as long as you keep it moderate and useful something you can ensure by not being afraid of it.
If you are afraid of anxiety, you will fight and escalate it. Fearing anxiety can drive it into threat-response territory, which makes it harder to utilize effectively.
Feeling anxious about meeting that deadline at work? Rather than succumbing to the panic feelings brewing about crunch-time, use the power of your anxiety to focus and motivate you to the finish line.
Photo credit: Jared Rice on Unsplash
Anxious Meditation Can Help You ‘relax Into The Uncertainty’ Of The Pandemic
The rise in symptoms of anxiety and depression, which include exhaustion, is a predictable response to the trauma of the pandemic, says Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University.
“The definition of a trauma is an event that threatens people’s sense of safety and stability,” which this pandemic is, he adds.
Nearly all of us are grieving the loss of life as we knew it, says Dr. Jennifer Payne, director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins. “We’re just in a completely different world right now,” she says. “A lot of things are not going to go back to the way they were. And so that causes grief and is a normal reaction to a big change.”
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