Have you ever had a rough day when you can’t seem to make any decisions or focus on an important task? Your inner monologue might feel overwhelming to the point where you can’t finish a thought, let alone anything on your to-do list.
I assure you that we have all been through this at some point in our life. While one day is natural but if you have been like this for quite some time then it’s time to do something about it.
First of all, what you need to understand is that what you are going through is brain fog. It’s characterized by forgetfulness, confusion, distraction and lack of mental clarity. If left untreated, it can seriously affect the quality of your life.
What Causes Mental Fog?
For you to address this issue, you need to understand what’s causing this mental fog. Here are 4 possible causes that might be contributing to your brain fog.
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Stress
Even though stress can be constructive sometimes that helps you push your limits while you have a big task ahead of you but chronic stress can be detrimental for you. It can cause mental fatigue over time and when your brain is exhausted, it can be hard to focus, think and reason, leading to brain fog.
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Lack to Sleep
Sleep plays a vital role in restoring our bodily processes like neurotransmitters, hormones and immune system while getting enough sleep lowers our risk of getting serious diseases. Not having enough sleep can cloud your thinking and cognitive process.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), being awake for more than 24 hours affects your brain in the same way like having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
That’s why a continuous lack of sleep can cause you to develop brain fog while blurring your mental clarity.
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Medical Conditions
A variety of health conditions associated with fatigue, inflammation and changes in your blood glucose levels can result in brain fog. One of the very common conditions that cause brain fog is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in which you will feel tired and fatigued for most of your day.
Although CFS is a very common cause but there are plenty of other health conditions that can result in mental fog. These conditions are:
- Dehydration
- Hypothyroidism
- Anemia
- Depression
- Autoimmune diseases
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
Some of the neurological conditions can damage neurons in our brain. Parkinson’s disease is one of those neurological conditions which can result in memory difficulty and a sense of brain fog.
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Medications
We take medicines to get rid of some disease or unwanted conditions but some of the medicines can alter the chemistry of our brains causing brain fog. Sometimes it’s just for a short time but sometimes it won’t seem to go away, so you need to watch out which drugs are causing the issue.
Some medications associated with causing mental fog are pain meds, antihistamines, bladder control medicines, and sedatives. Even though anti-depressants are given to help with brain fog but some of them can cause mental fog as a side effect.
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Nutritional Deficiencies
As we know that diet plays a vital role in maintaining the functions of our bodies. Lacking a healthy diet can have dire consequences on our health. Vitamin B-12 not only supports a healthy brain function but it also helps form our red blood cells and DNA. Its deficiency can lead to fatigue, confusion and poor memory.
Similarly, vitamin D is also responsible for optimal brain and cognitive functioning. That’s why a deficiency of Vitamin D can also contribute to poor cognition leading to mental fog symptoms.
Why is Mental Clarity Important?
Well, most of people might not take mental fog very seriously because it doesn’t sound like a dangerous disease or very concerning. However, it can affect our life in such a way that we can’t seem to move forward with our normal life. Here are 5 reasons why mental clarity is essential.
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It Keeps Us Focused
When we aren’t mentally clear and we have a big to do list in front of us, even the wall in front of us seems interesting to us instead of the tasks ahead. It’s very easy to drift into never ending thoughts and external noise when we don’t have mental clarity. We can’t seem to focus on a single important task and when it starts piling up, it gets overwhelming for us to get anything done.
To achieve anything good in life we need to be focused on the important tasks ahead of us. Only then can we expect to grow and accomplish things. That’s why mental clarity is very crucial to keep us laser focused on our goals and challenges ahead of us.
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It helps Us Prioritize
A foggy brain will harbor indecision. You won’t be able to decide what’s most important for you at this point in your life and this will eventually lead you to feel stuck in a place. On the contrary, mental clarity will help you understand the big picture to get your priority straight.
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It Helps to Clear Doubts
Self-doubt is neither uncommon nor a bad thing. We have developed it during evolution as a survival mechanism and it helps us avoid bad things that might happen to us.
However, if our self-doubt starts clouding our judgment and we stop taking necessary and calculated risks, we are destined to fail in life. Mental clarity will help us clear doubts and build a better judgment that eventually leads to better outcomes in every situation we might face.
How to Achieve Mental Clarity
As we mentioned earlier that there are plenty of factors that might be causing the lack of mental clarity in you so there can’t be a single way to achieve mental clarity. You need to understand the reasons behind your mental fog if you want to achieve clarity of your thoughts.
There are certain steps you can take to support your mind and body for achieving mental clarity.
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Start Getting Quality Sleep
Everyone is familiar with the importance of a good sleep but not everyone gets enough of it. The quality of your sleep directly affects the energy you’ll have throughout the day.
Even if you are the busiest person on earth, you need to find time to get enough sleep if you want to improve mental clarity. Even if you work 14 hours a day but don’t have the mental clarity you need to be productive, it’s of no use to you. With clarity, you can achieve more in less time. So, make it your priority to start getting enough sleep to restore mental clarity.
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Manage Your Stress
If you are experiencing high levels of stress in your life, it might be one of the factors for your lack of mental clarity. That’s why it’s important to address this issue. Everyone has their coping mechanisms for stress so you can work on finding your own.
Along with that, you can try some techniques like meditation, yoga or diaphragmatic breathing to cop up with your stress. If the underlying reason doesn’t seem to be easy to understand for you, it’s always a great idea to seek professional help. Not only will it help you reduce stress but it will help you get clarity of mind as well.
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Take Charge of Your Nutrition
There is a very strong link between your diet and our well-being so a well-balanced diet is a must when it comes to mental clarity. There are plenty of foods packed with nutrients that can help us cultivate mental strength and focus. These foods include green veggies, fatty fish, pumpkin seeds and berries.
If are someone who doesn’t have a lot of time on their hand to put in improving your nutrition, you can consider using a dietary supplement like Neuro Plus that’s specifically made to improve our cognitive functions and improve mental clarity.
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Exercise Regularly
Exercise is known to have a lot of positive effects on our health. Among these benefits, what’s great for our brain is that our body produces endorphins during exercise which can improve our concentration, resulting in better focus and mental clarity.
Apart from directly affecting mental clarity, exercising regularly can improve the quality of our sleep which can indirectly help us getting a clear mind.
To Sum It Up…
Brain Fog is or inability to think straight is a general term and can be because of multiple reasons. We have discussed some of the causes of mental fog and how you can get mental clarity by making some changes in your lifestyle. However, it is always a good idea to consult your doctor if you are experiencing mental fog to see if it’s not because of something that can have serious effect on your life.