February 22, 2021

Weekly Reflection – Brain Fog

Brain fog and mental stress affects everyone. We are all looking for ways to create more meaningful lives that include less “chaff” to distract us. This is especially important when one is working toward academic achievements such as those offered by NationsUnivesity. Most NU students study and hold down a job, building a family, and are active in church-related activities.

A starting point for Christians is from scripture; renewing our minds (Rom. 12:2) and taking our thoughts captive (2 Cor. 10:5).

Successful academic work requires one to become very effective and efficient in how he or she integrates their studies with their other responsibilities. The following article offers some suggestions on improving clear thinking and reducing what the author calls “brain fog.” I hope it will be of help to the reader.

Blessings,

Want to reduce brain fog and improve clear thinking? Consider these things immediately.

We are all looking for ways to create more meaningful lives with less to distract us. Brain fog or mental fog is often described as a “cloudy-headed” feeling. Common conditions of brain fog include poor memory, difficulty focusing or concentrating, and struggling with articulation.

Imagine if you could concentrate your brain power into one bright beam and focus it like a laser on whatever you wish to accomplish. Many people struggle to concentrate their thoughts. And when you can’t concentrate, everything you do is more challenging and takes longer than you’d like. Here are some suggestions that can help improve your concentration.

Give Up the Clutter

Mess creates stress. There’s a strong link between your physical space and your mental space. Clutter is bad for your mind and health. It can create long-term, low-level anxiety. We are all looking for ways to create more meaningful lives with less to distract us.

Get rid of clutter at your office, on your desk, in your room, and you will send a clear message of calm directly to your brain.

Start decluttering today in small, focused bursts. You’re not going to clean up your entire space in a day, so start small to make it a daily habit that sticks. Set yourself up for success by making a plan and targeting specific areas you’re going to declutter, clean up, and organize over a prolonged period of time.

Multi-Tasking Doesn’t Work

The ability to multitask is a false badge of honor. Task switching has a severe cost. Your concentration suffers when you multitask. It compromises how much actual time you spend doing productive work because you’re continually unloading and reloading the hippocampus/short-term memory.

Research shows that switching tasks burns more calories and fatigues your brain – reducing your overall capacity for productive thought and work. Commit to completing one task at a time. Remove potential distractions (like silencing your mobile phone and turning off email alerts) before you start deep work to avoid the temptation to switch between tasks.

Use the 3-to-1 method!

Narrow down your most important tasks to 3, and then give one task your undivided attention for a period of time. Allow yourself to rotate between the three, giving yourself a good balance of singular focus and variety.

Give Up the Urgent Distraction

Disconnect. Your productivity, creativity, and next big idea depend on it. Urgency wrecks productivity. Urgent but unimportant tasks are major distractions. Last-minute distractions are not necessarily priorities. Sometimes important tasks stare you right in the face, but you neglect them and respond to urgent but unimportant things. You need to reverse that. It’s one of the only ways to master your time.

Your ability to distinguish between urgent and important tasks has a lot to do with your success.

Important tasks are things that contribute to your long-term mission, values, and goals. Separating these differences is simple enough to do once, but doing so continually can be tough.

Stop Feeding Your Comfort

Comfort provides a state of mental security. When you are comfortable and life is good, your brain can release chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which lead to happy feelings. But in the long-term, too much comfort is bad for your brain.

Without mental stimulation, dendrites, connections between brain neurons that keep information flowing shrink or disappear altogether.

An active life increases dendrite networks and also increases the brain’s regenerating capacity, known as plasticity. “Neglect of intense learning leads plasticity systems to waste away,” says Norman Doidge in his book, The Brain That Changes Itself. Michael Merzenich, a pioneer of plasticity research and author of Soft-wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life, says that going beyond the familiar is essential to brain health. “It’s the willingness to leave the comfort zone that is the key to keeping the brain new,” he says.

Seeking new experiences, learning new skills, and opening the door to new ideas inspire us and educate us in a way that improves mental clarity.

Don’t Sit Still

Sitting still all day, every day, is dangerous. Love it or hate it, physical activity can have potent effects on your brain and mood.
The brain is often described as being “like a muscle.” Its needs to be exercised for better performance.

Research shows that moving your body can improve your cognitive function. 30–45 minutes of brisk walking, three times a week, can help fend off the mental wear and tear. What you do with your body impinges on your mental faculties. Find something you enjoy, then get up and do it. And most importantly, make it a habit.

Stop Consuming Media and Start Creating Instead

It’s extremely easy to consume content. You are passive. Even relaxed. But for each piece of unlimited content you consume, it stops a piece of content you could have created. Limit your mass media consumption. Embrace the creation habit. Start paying attention to the noise that you let seep into your eyes and ears.

Ask yourself these questions; Is this benefitting my life in any way? Does all this information make me more prone to act? Does it really make me more efficient? Does it move me forward in any significant way?

Let Creation Determine Consumption.

Allow curiosity to lead you to discover and pursue something you deeply care about. Make time to create something unique. The point is to get lost in awe and wonder like you did when you were a child. When you achieve that feeling from a certain activity, keep doing it! Share your authentic self with the rest of us.

Thomas Oppong is the founder of AllTopStartups and writes on science-based answers to problems in life. Edited for the Weekly Reflections.

Read more Weekly Reflections: Chaplain’s Corner