Ever feel like your brain's in a fog? Like something is off and your brain is not firing on all cylinders? This is something I come across a lot when working with clients, and particularly in doing brain maps.
What might be underlying our brain fog, and importantly, what can we do about it?
Mindset is important.
Our belief in our ability to change our brain is a key to actually changing our behaviors because it changes WHAT we notice and HOW we interpret what we notice.
BUT… if we don't set the stage with certain aspects of our life and certain conditions, it can make that change a lot more difficult. If we're not complementing our mindset with other aspects of life, it just robs our brain body system of the resources it needs to create change and to do what it needs to do.
Please note: None of the suggestions in this article are intended as medical advice. If you're concerned about your brain health, please talk to your doctor.
Why Brain Fog Happens
There are a few things that I see contributing to brain fog based on self-report measures and brain maps I have seen. One is an imbalance of brainwaves. If you're feeling foggy, it's possible that you have too much slow-wave activity (like theta waves) and not enough fast-wave activity. The theta brainwave is a slow wave, and is related to a state of sleepiness - it’s the state we’re in right before we drift off to sleep. It’s not a ‘bad’ brainwave - it is also related to deep states of meditation, and creativity and daydreaming...but if we are trying to learn or pay attention, it’s not ideal to feel like we are in a fog or drifting off.
There are four things that can be helpful for us to explore if we want to accelerate desired changes in our brain body system. There are many others, but i’ll just cover four that come up in terms of patterns I see in brain maps and what people self-report from the surveys they answer in conjunction with the brain maps.
Listen to this article as a mini episode on:
or directly on this media player:
What and when you eat.
When I worked as a school and family counselor, I was often asked to work with students who were falling asleep, who were very drowsy. One of the first things I always asked was what they had for breakfast that day. Too many times, the answer was nothing or sugary cereal or maybe a soda. And that was hours before the lunch period.
Making a small adjustment such as adding a bit more protein and hydration, and lowering processed food and sugar made a big difference in the behaviors and mental stamina of those students.
I can say that for me, personally, anything with a lot of sugar, processed food, can really deplete my energy and mental stamina. Having too many sugars or carbs especially in the morning results in feelings of brain fog, and having protein especially early in the day helps sustain better mental clarity and energy. I’m also a fan of Time-Restricted Eating (also known as intermittent fasting). I find that this helps me have my highest levels of mental clarity in the morning. See also: UC San Diego research on time-restricted eating in humans , Time Restricted Eating and Gene Expression
How well you sleep
If we do not get enough restorative sleep, what i often see is a depletion of delta brainwaves. When there is a lower than average amount of activity in the delta frequency, it’s a sign that a person’s brain is not getting enough overall energy to fuel necessary functions in their brain. If these brainwaves are not being produced in adequate amounts, it means that energy for the brain is an issue, and it makes it harder for many systems to function properly.
Dr. Matt Walker has a lot of information and resources about this.
Your social interactions
The interactions you have with people might be leading to stress responses without you really knowing it, that then later make you feel depleted and foggy. Something I notice in a lot of the different brain maps is that people who have a significant amount of dysregulation in brain activity often have a history with adverse childhood experiences or trauma, and even recent trauma. Virtually all this trauma is related to social relationships.
Because of this...
Many unconscious triggers can activate us into a stress response.
Everyone has different responses to this, but it might look like a type of hyperarousal (feeling agitated, anxious), followed by a shutting down, collapse, or simply depleted energy and lower ability to focus.
This is why it is really important for our brain and nervous system to find time to be around people who help us enter a relaxed nervous system state - this is one where we don’t feel vigilant, or protective - we can feel like our guard can come down.
It may seem unrelated, but brain functioning and brain fog can be affected by our social environments without us even realizing it. Social interactions affect our nervous system regulation - and all of that can affect brain functioning and brain fog. Nurturing, and psychologically safe relationships in your life can boost your brain power.
Most importantly: notice patterns.
We are pattern recognition creatures. We are designed for this.
The more that we can start to notice the different rhythms that we have in our brain states, the better we can get at cultivating the right conditions to deal with them ahead of time in a preventative way.
As we notice patterns, we become NOTICERS. That is a metacognitive strategy that activates powerful networks in our brain that can help us get better at recognizing what works for us, what doesn't... and then how to problem-solve finding new ways to achieve more of what we want, rather than stay stuck in patterns we don't want.
Here are three questions to spark some ideas of how to activate more meta-cognitive networks:
1) Are there certain times of day or certain days where you notice a particular amount of mental fog or drowsiness?
2) Are there certain interactions you’re having with people where you notice a higher level of fatigue shortly after?
3) What kind of tool could you use to take an inventory of your internal states and how your brain is performing? (Examples: journal, 5 minute end-of-day reflection, making a note in your phone’s calendar when you notice a lot of fatigue)
I also cover some of these ideas in this article and the video below:
On the topic of fog and clarity...
Just had an AMAZING workshop with an incredible group of coaches, educators and leaders from all over the world this past Saturday!
We dove into the topic of CLARITY.. what it's like to feel lack of clarity (words that came up were "indecisiveness, confusion, too many options, fear of not knowing what each option will bring, uncertainty"). We explored brain profiles of what can happen when we take ACTION WITHOUT CLARITY.. and why it can keep us feeling stuck. We also looked at a concrete system coaches, teachers, leaders can use for themselves and with clients/students/teams to help them tap into higher levels of clarity and understand their own emotion patterns so they can have more mastery over their energy and bran functioning.
p.s. - I’ll be holding a few small group meetings for those of you who are interested in getting advanced training on how to integrate embodied neuroscience into your work through the Neuro Coach/ Neuro Mapping Program.
There are 3 phases to the program, which we will move through as 2 intensive training days plus office hours and 1-on-1 sessions with me:
Nervous System Audits
Client Journey Brain-Body Maps
Legacy Clarity
We’ll explore these during the group chat as well as any questions you have, and logistics for the program.
To accommodate the international time zones, I currently have two small group chats available:
If you'd like to join me in a small group chat,
PLEASE CLICK ON EITHER OF THE DATES BELOW
Thursday January 30th at 10 AM Mountain Time
Saturday February 1 at 1:00 PM Mountain Time
I'll send you a zoom link the day before!
Some of you have already confirmed you’ll be attending - I will send the zoom link to you this week!
I'll be holding another one in February!
