Finding a route to get through brain fog

Brain fog is something many of us have experienced but few of us want to admit to. It has been variously described as fuzzy thinking or lack of mental clarity, difficulty focusing or concentrating on the task in hand or even struggling to find the right word in a sentence.

Not a condition in itself, it is, however, a troubling experience which Dr Sabina Brennan, neuroscientist and health psychologist, throws light on in her new book, Beating Brain Fog: Your 30-day Plan to Think Faster, Sharper, Better (Orion Books).

Already well known for her best-selling book 100 Days to a Younger Brain and her work on brain health, dementia, migraine, menopause and multiple sclerosis, Dr Brennan has turned her attention to brain fog partly because it can often be dismissed by doctors but also because she has experienced it herself when suffering from the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s syndrome, fibromyalgia and migraine.

“I know what it’s like to think the symptoms might be caused by a life-threatening brain tumour or early-stage dementia. And I understand the difficulty people have voicing their concerns and how people hide symptoms and hope no one else notices for fear that they think you can’t do your job or mind your children,” she writes.

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Dr Brennan says she was motivated to write the book because brain fog is an issue that’s not tackled. “It really leaves people at sea with nowhere to go and doctors often aren’t interested if they’ve ruled out life-threatening reasons for it,” she explains.

She also says that more women suffer from it than men and suggests that some doctors either don’t understand or don’t take some female symptoms seriously. “Doctors are more likely to ascribe psychological reasons for women’s health problems than for men’s. Yet, your brain is an organ and if it’s malfunctioning, it’s a signal that something is wrong and doctors need to help people figure out what to do,” she says.

Brain fog can be a symptom of many conditions including migraine, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic Lyme disease and long Covid – in which some people continue to suffer months after the initial Covid-19 symptoms have passed. Brain fog can also be experienced from lack of sleep, high levels of stress and overwork coupled with poor nutrition and inadequate physical exercise.

Keen to dispel any myths that brain fog is simply part of the ageing process, Dr Brennan dedicates a chunk of her book to explaining the different functions of the brain and how hormones work. “Because your brain is the master controller, I argue that if you look after your brain health, physical and mental health will follow. And, if you understand how your brain works, you can understand your behaviours better, which is empowering in itself,” she says.

Different approaches

In her book, Dr Brennan introduces readers to the different types of brain fog, explaining how each of them is linked to a different cognitive domain and therefore requires a different approach to solve. So, for example, when you have difficulty concentrating, you need to remove distractions and develop a routine to train your attention. Whereas if you struggle to find the right word, you need to stay calm and relax and give your brain the time and space to do what you need it to do. Or, if you struggle to solve problems, make decisions or be organised, you need to plan your time, make lists and avoid multitasking so your brain can declutter.

“Once you pinpoint the specific brain function (attention, processing speed, learning and memory, language, etc) that are giving you trouble, it is far easier to identify and adopt appropriate strategies to improve your symptoms or compensate for lost functioning,” she writes. And one thing I particularly liked is her suggestion to have a “one-drop spot” for all the important things such as keys, glasses, wallets, passports and driving licences that can so easily go missing.

The book includes questionnaires to help people understand which type of cognitive function is impacted, followed by a frank and honest look at whether you are overstressed, getting enough sleep and exercise and/or not eating healthily. Thereafter follows a 30-day plan in which Dr Brennan suggests a way to clear the brain fog.

Her survival strategies are “focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do, know when to persist, when to resist and when to relax and work with your natural rhythms (eg are you a morning lark or a night owl?)”.

She also includes her personal rituals which keeps her balanced and well. “As soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I make a big smiley face. I suspect that I look a little crazy but I don’t care. Honestly, I can’t tell you how much benefit this first smile brings me,” she writes.

Early-morning rituals

She talks about her other early-morning rituals such as 16-second meditation and feeding the birds in her garden before starting work. Home-based partly because the dementia research project she’s working on has been suspended due to the pandemic, she works in one room for the morning and another in the afternoon – taking an exercise and lunch break in between. “I still have pain but it isn’t as debilitating as it was; but I’ve learned that if I don’t behave [correctly] I could go back to having terrible pain,” she says.

Interspersed throughout the book are real-life experiences of people of all ages who have suffered from brain fog. As a follow-up, Dr Brennan asked people to read the book and give her feedback. One 31-year-old health professional suffering from long Covid said the book gave her a sense of hope. “I feel positive that my brain fog symptoms will improve. Taking part in the 30-day plan helped me find the parts of me that I thought may never come back after being unwell for so long. I am starting to feel like me again,” she said.

In the epilogue to Beating Brain Fog, Dr Brennan writes: “I’m hopeful that the medical profession will start to pay more attention to brain fog and the significant impact it can have on our lives. Brain fog is something that can be reversed quickly through lifestyle changes. We need more education and public awareness about brain health in general and we need to bust the myth that cognitive decline is a normal part of ageing.”