Mental Health Focus: Let’s talk about ‘brain fog’

Either encountered as “COVID fog” or “brain fog”, some have read about it, some have experienced it and others may have heard it by someone close to them who contracted the disease.Amid an ongoing discussion on the long-term cognitive repercussions from COVID-19, “brain fog” or cognitive impairment, was unveiled among the top three most common symptoms for young people after COVID-19, along with fatigue and anxiety, says Helen Lavretsky, MD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA. But what does “brain fog” exactly refer to?

What is brain fog?

Brain fog is not an official scientific term but is used by patients to describe a sense of fuzziness and unclear thinking. The range of symptoms of brain fog include, but are not limited to:

• thinking more slowly than usual
• poor concentration
• impaired memory
• feeling confused
• inability to multitask
• fuzzy thoughts
• lost words
• lack of motivation
• mental fatigue

A recent study by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City showed that brain fog can persist more than 7 months after diagnosis. Another first-of-its-kind study by Northwestern Medicine on the neurologic symptoms of COVID-19 to 100 non-hospitalized COVID-19 long-haulers, showed that 85% of patients experienced four or more neurologic symptoms and in some of them, their cognitive abilities.

What causes brain fog?

The potential cause of brain fog in people after COVID-19, as well as the reason why some people develop neurological symptoms after COVID-19 and others do not, are still under scientific investigation. The virus is neuro-invasive, meaning that it can enter your brain tissue. However, the phenomenon existed also before COVID-19 and has been typically attributed to lack of sleep, poor diet, increasing stress or anxiety, lack of exercise, hormonal changes, side effects of medication, radiation from electronic devices, and others.

How can I cope with brain fog post-COVID?

The bad news is that it is yet to be determined whether brain fog is permanent after COVID-19. Some patients reported brain fog insisting for weeks or months after their other COVID-19 symptoms have gone away. In the Northwestern study, about five months from the onset of symptoms, on average, only 64% of patients said they felt recovered. But the good news is that there are always ways to cope with it.

The most important thing you can emphasize on is to consider the golden rules of mental wellness onboard and ashore:

1. Take care of your body: Eating well, getting a quality sleep, and exercising are the A and Z to physical wellness, which is key to mental wellness.
2. Find time to do something you enjoy: Enjoying yourself helps beat stress and possibly self-esteem.
3. Be present: Relaxation techniques, such as mindfulness meditation, can help in managing stress and find inner peace.
4. Remain vigilant: Make sure you see poor mental health or cognitive impairment signs to yourself and others.
5. Ask for help: We all get tired or overwhelmed by how we feel, or when things go wrong. If things are getting too much for you and you feel you can’t cope, ask for help.
6. Avoid tobacco and alcohol: Refraining from tobacco and alcohol can help minimize inflammation in the brain.

You may also try to:

• Keep lots of notes: Writing down everything on a piece of paper, post-its or your phone, can help significantly with the brain fog, as you do not have to worry about forgetting something important.
• Minimize distractions: Smartphones and social media are an endless source of information that bombard us every day, impeding concentration on any task. Turning of the Wi-Fi or even your phone could be extremely helpful to the creational flow of work.
• Identify brain fog sources: Apart from COVID-19, brain fog may be exacerbated by external factors, such as extreme use of electronic devices or consuming a specific aliment or many others mentioned above. Try to keep track and compare several actions of your everyday life to the moments you feel the symptoms as worse, in order to identify what are the potential triggering factors.
• Challenge yourself cognitively: Cognitive stimulation, such as puzzle, chess or other games of the same nature, as well as learning a new language, can help a lot as brain training activities.