How is brain fog affecting your work from home life?

You are in the middle of a presentation or a conversation when suddenly, your brain seems to be restless. You forget a word or your mind becomes totally blank, and the world seems to be moving faster than you can keep pace with –  if you’ve experienced something like this, you might be dealing with brain fog.

Simply put, brain fog is synonymous with mental fatigue. Brain fog is the inability to have a sharp focus and a strong memory. While brain fog is a collection of multiple symptoms like mental clarity, major depressive disorder, confusion, etc., it’s also expected to rise in response to everything going on right now. Stress, work pressure, lack of sleep, work from home struggles, and others have all been depleting our mental energy, thus causing brain fog.

Causes of Brain fog while WFH & What you can do

The good news is that brain fog can be treated with modes of self-care and quick fixes. We have listed down some of the reasons of how brain fog affects your work from home life, and how to get rid of brain fog:

1. Lack of physical exercise. Practicing physical exercise is an excellent way to begin your day. However, with work from home, the usual way of living has changed quite a lot. You no longer have the time to devote yourself to any physical activity, which in turn, blocks any blood flow to the brain, thus causing brain fog.
   
   What to do: Add some physical activity in your daily schedule. Be it a brisk walk or a short run. Adding some bit of physical exercise gives you the correct headspace and helps improve your cognitive abilities, such as your ability to learn, think, reason, and remember.
2. Unhealthy diet. In an effort not to miss a second of your time, you usually end up eating poorly – sometimes a quick grab of lunch or munch on unhealthy snacks at your workspace, while on your zoom meeting. This lack of adequate nutrients and proteins lowers your brain function, thereby causing brain fog and a dip in your productivity.
   
   What to do: It’s critical to fuel your body with appropriate nutrients throughout the day. You might want to create a food log and follow a proper diet. With adequate nutrition, your mind and body function in a positive manner, taking away all your physical and mental fatigue. Here is a cheat sheet on what to eat/drink to eliminate brain fog. It also mentions what to avoid as well.
3. Too much stress. Stress can cause havoc in your mind and body, and will always end up in some sort of mental fatigue. When you are constantly juggling presentations, studies, kids, and a personal life, you are bound to be stressed. Stress affects your brain cells directly and leads to brain fog.What to do:Include short sessions of meditation and deep breathing into your lifestyle. Schedule a break in your calendar, even if it’s for 5 or 15 minutes to step away from your workspace. Follow some healthy self-care routines, take a quick midday shower, and take creative breaks to destress yourself.
4. No time for yourself. With work from home, presentations, meetings, and zoom calls, you spend a lot of time talking to others, but how much time do you spend with yourself? Brain fog can usually happen if your mind is overloaded with work, without any self-love.
   
   What to do: Spend time with yourself and journal your thoughts if you feel overwhelmed. If you’re home alone, feel free to talk out loud. Seems quacky at first, but give it a shot. Detach your thoughts from work and talk about yourself. Moreover, talking out loud to yourself also has some cognitive benefits like sparkling your memory and improving concentration.
5. Sleep deprivation. An obvious effect of work from home is the lack of sleep that has an adverse effect on your thinking. In fact, sleep disorders have increased in many people after they started working from home. The sole reason being- you are always glued to your computer screens, and there is nothing called ‘work hours’. Sleep deprivation causes you to lose out on new brain cells formation, thereby affecting your memory and focus.What to do: Start getting a minimum of seven hours of sound sleep. Give yourself some time to break away from work and relax your mind. With sufficient sleep, you will wake up improved creativity, mental focus, and clarity, and surely witness a visible change in your productivity.

Takeaways

All in all, brain fog can be a challenging thing to deal with, especially during this pandemic and the new normal. It is not easy to balance between work and personal life, but you need to show a lot of self-compassion and self-care. You need to practice a healthy routine to keep yourself physically and mentally fit. It could take weeks to get rid of mental fatigue and brain fog, but you can surely achieve it with a dedicated practice. Above are some of the most effective ways to treat this problem. Give it a try and see a difference in yourself.