If you suffer from brain fog syndrome, you might start practicing self-improvement habits to revive your brain performance and improve mental clarity. So, what is brain fog, and what are the most effective ways to reduce it? In this post, I will cover simple things you can do at home to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity.
Healthline states that brain fog is a cognitive dysfunction characterized by memory issues, confusion, and lack of focus. While you might think brain fog is a condition, it is instead a symptom of a medical condition known as cognitive dysfunction. According to the Cleveland Clinic, some of the causes of brain fog include hormonal changes, high levels of stress, lack of sleep, vitamin B12 deficiency, medications, and other medical conditions.
How do you know if you have brain fog?
Brain fog usually consists of mental dysfunctions, including poor concentration, memory loss, lack of focus, and lack of mental clarity. While brain fog can be treated medically through your doctor’s recommendations, taking care of yourself is always the best way to reduce it and improve your memory.
Here are 72 practical tips for reducing brain fog and improving memory at home.
1. Maintain a balanced diet
Our brain performance is usually associated with what we eat. Unhealthy and processed foods are some of the main contributors to cognitive issues. Healthy foods, on the other hand, can help improve your brain performance, reduce brain fog, and improve mental clarity. Some of the best foods to maintain a balanced diet and improve brain performance include whole foods, antioxidants, and healthy fats. Also, eat a diet rich in Vitamin B12 and other vital nutrients your body needs to function optimally.
2. Exercise regularly
Regular exercise is one of the best ways to decrease brain fog and improve memory. When you exercise, your brain performance improves, boosting your learning abilities and reducing stress. According to the National Library of Medicine(NLM), in a paper published by Lukasz M. Konopka, exercising increases capillary sizes, enhancing oxygen and glucose delivery to the brain, which are essential to its performance.
More glucose and oxygen to the brain facilitate neuroplasticity and help develop synaptic connections and neuronal networks. These brain activities, in turn, improve your learning abilities and increase your brain efficiency. In short, exercising regularly can help reduce brain fog and increase memory as it helps strengthen your physique and sharpen your intellect.
3. Get enough sleep
Sleeping regularly is an essential remedy for fighting brain fog and increasing memory. According to the National Institute of Health(NIH), sleeping 7 to 8 hours improves your brain’s memory recall, reduces mental fatigue, and regulates metabolism. If you want to enhance your cognitive abilities and reduce brain fog, improve your sleeping patterns, and always sleep enough hours.
4. Stay hydrated
Water is crucial to your brain’s performance. Your entire body depends on water consumption. Water regulates metabolism and acts as a carrier for oxygen and nutrients to your body. It also regulates body temperature, helps digestion, and more.
Hydrating helps your brain function better, reducing brain fog and improving memory. The opposite is also true. A dehydrated boy is always weak and characterized by mediocre performance and lack of memory.
5. Limit alcohol intake
Overindulging in alcohol can impact your mental clarity. You cannot reduce brain fog when you are drunk all the time without a chance to reset. But, if you can manage to cut back on alcohol consumption, your brain activities will also increase and help reduce brain fog.
6. Limit caffeine
While caffeine can help you cope with fatigue during active hours, too much caffeine can negatively affect your sleep, which could worsen brain fog and memory. To reduce brain fog, regulate your caffeine intake and avoid taking it in the evening when you are close to sleeping. This is because you need most of that caffeine flushed out of your body to ensure a good night’s sleep and reset your brain.
7. Avoid smoking
Smoking kills you slowly, costs you money, and robs you of the future. You cannot reduce your brain fog and improve concentration when you can’t breathe and think properly. Smoking impacts your cognitive abilities and your overall health and shrinks your wallet.
According to the Centers for Disease Control(CDC), smoking is linked to cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and it can negatively impact your mental health. For this reason, reducing smoking is one of the best ways to improve your health, reduce brain fog, and improve your memory.
Read more about the negative impact of smoking on the CDC website.
8. Try mindfulness meditation
Try mindfulness meditation if you cannot process your thoughts or have mental clarity. With mindfulness meditation, you focus on how you feel now without analyzing your thoughts or being judgmental. This strategy can help improve your focus and mental clarity.
9. Take up mental exercises.
Regular mental exercises are a great way to increase mental focus and lower brain fog. These exercises don’t have to be complicated or lengthy. Mental exercises help stimulate brain cells and their communications, eventually improving cognitive function, mental focus, and problem-solving skills.
Puzzles, riddles, and Sudoku are some of the best mental exercises for sharpening cognitive skills, reducing brain fog, and improving mental clarity.
10. Try yoga
Yoga is one of the best and most effective ways to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity. Yoga helps you reset your mind, lower negative energy, enhance mental focus, and boost mood.
11. Limit screen time
Spending too much time using cell phones and computer screens can negatively affect your health. Not only can too much screen time affect your sleep and reduce your mental focus, but it can also clog your memory and cause vision issues. Limit your screen time to less than two hours daily to minimize these risks and lower mental fog.
12. Break complex tasks into smaller ones.
Attempting to solve problems without breaking them down usually leads to frustration and unnecessary stress. When you are stressed, you also end up being confused, with a lot of brain fog and lack of mental clarity. Big problems should always be broken down into smaller ones that are easy to solve. This problem-solving strategy minimizes mental effort on each issue, increasing your performance and boosting your morale. As a result, you improve your mental clarity and reduce the risk of brain fog.
13. Try deep breathing exercises.
One of the best techniques for keeping my mind clear, especially when dealing with challenging situations and stressful events, is to take deep breaths. I also learned that breathing exercises help relax and clear my mind. Deep breathing exercises are excellent for regulating the nervous system, shifting it from a stressed state to a calm state due to increased oxygen levels in the brain. This, in turn, helps improve your mental focus and reduce brain fog. Try deep breathing and regular breathing exercises the next time you feel confused and without mental clarity.
14. Listen to music
If you don’t already know, music is like a cure for almost every stressful situation, as long as you listen to the right music genre. This is right, and scientific evidence shows that you can lower your stress level, reduce brain fog, and improve your mood by simply listening to music.
According to Psychology Today and Harmoney and Healing, music is a great coping mechanism for stress and anxiety. Music can help release dopamine, which can improve your happiness level. It also helps decrease cortisol levels, especially when you listen to calming music. The result is a stress-free and stimulated brain, enhancing mental clarity and lowering brain fog. Always try listening to music when you feel low, confused, stressed, or facing difficult situations.
15. Engage in stress management activities.
Excessive mental fog and lack of mental clarity are usually associated with a high level of stress. If you are confused and don’t know what to do or how to move forward, maybe you need to look at the issue from a different perspective. You might be suffering from a high-stress level that might not have anything to do with the problem you are trying to solve. Chronic stress affects your sleep, physical abilities, mental resources, etc., which, in the end, hinders your cognitive function and causes brain fog and lack of mental focus.
For example, you may have difficulty performing better at work if you have family issues. In this case, managing issues causing stress at home can ease your mind, resulting in higher performance at work. Start by evaluating what is causing you stress and engaging in stress management activities or eliminating your stresses to improve your mental clarity.
Read more about tips to reduce stress and improve your mood.
16. Laugh more
Did you know laughing is an excellent tip for reducing brain fog and increasing mental clarity? I can make this claim because I feel good about myself whenever I laugh, and my thought process also gets a boost from laughing. Mayo Clinic says that laughing has many benefits, which can be grouped into short-term and long-term. Short-term benefits of laughing include but are not limited to stimulating many organs, activating and relieving stress, and soothing tension.
The long-term benefits of laughing include improving your immune system, increasing personal satisfaction, relieving pain, and improving your mood. If you did not notice, all these are essential ingredients of mental clarity and high performance. Next time you feel intense brain fog without clarity, try having a sense of humor and laughing more because laughter and humor can lighten your mental load and enhance your clarity.
17. Maintain a routine
Knowing what is expected each day provides a sense of control and helps manage your mental energy efficiently. A routine can also help automate your processes, manage time effectively, and improve productivity. Moreover, routine aids in automaticity, which is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required.
In other words, automaticity refers to the brain’s ability to perform a task effortlessly without conscious thought due to practice or repetition. This leaves your brain with more energy and space for creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making, enhancing mental clarity.
18. Keep a journal
Keeping a journal is a great and cheap way to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity. Taking notes allows you to process and clarify your thoughts, release emotions, and relax your mind. The journal is the most trusted friend to tell your secrets or go to when you have nowhere to turn.
19. Focus on one task at a time.
While multitasking is a great way to improve performance, this strategy is not always the best option for everyone. Multi-tasking can be a big stressor for some people. If you are always confused and struggling with brain fog due to handling many tasks simultaneously, try to tackle one task at a time. This will improve your mental clarity, lower stress, improve performance, and prevent you from having scattered thoughts.
20. Avoid processed foods
A wise man once said, “You are what you eat.” In other words, he meant to say, “Garbage in, garbage out.” Food quality can easily affect your mental capacity, stress level, performance qualities, and problem-solving skills.
When you take care of your body, it takes care of you in return. Processed foods are some foods you should always avoid to reduce brain fog and improve your mental clarity. These foods have added chemicals and additives that harm your body and prevent you from thinking clearly or achieving high performance. That is why you always feel tired when you eat junk and processed foods.
21. Get regular medical check-ups.
Everyone should get a medical checkup at least once a year. This helps catch and treat any medical conditions before it is too late. If you constantly suffer from a high level of stress, tiredness, brain fog, or confusion, you might be suffering from a medical condition.
These could be signs that your body is trying to tell you something. This might be the right time to get checked up to ensure you are not in trouble. Certain health conditions can affect mental clarity, and having them checked by a doctor can make a big difference in your life.
22. Avoid distractions
Are you suffering from a high level of stress and brain fog or lack of mental clarity due to being exposed to too many distractions? This usually happens when a big project requires full concentration, but your environment does not allow it.
If that is the case, isolate yourself or eliminate distractions. For example, if you cannot concentrate because you have a TV in your room, change the room or remove the TV. Simple changes can help you cope with brain fog and improve mental clarity.
23. Connect with nature
Life can sometimes be challenging. If you cannot process your thoughts, solve complex problems, or feel confused, try connecting with nature. Spending time in nature can help reduce stress, which is essential in improving physical and mental health. Nothing is more important than having peace of mind.
24. Detoxify your body
If you haven’t heard of it, detoxification is a great way to improve your mental and physical well-being. Sometimes, your body needs support to eliminate toxic wastes. Detoxification can help you balance your hormones, improve your health, and boost your energy levels. Some things you can do to detoxify your body include eliminating salt and sugar intake, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, staying active, and limiting alcohol consumption.
For more details on full-body detoxification, check out the complete guide on the Healthline website.
25. Develop a reading habit.
Most people underestimate the benefits of reading books. But reading books can help improve your overall intellect and boost your problem-solving skills. Reading books gives you peace of mind, which can, in turn, help you cope with brain fog and improve your mental clarity.
26. Stay away from negative people.
You heard me right. Nothing positive comes from spending time with negative people, even if they are your close relatives. Negative people can make your situations difficult and ruin your life.
If you lack direction and are confused daily, you likely waste your time with people who bring you down. You cannot have mental clarity and overcome brain fog when surrounded by people with bad influences. Always spend valuable time with people who support you, encourage you to grow, and push you to greater heights.
27. Be creative
Creativity helps you exercise your brain and prevents boredom. The more you think about essential things to do, how to improve your life and others’, and come up with solutions, the more your brain is stimulated. This, in turn, helps clear your mind and improve productivity.
28. Stay curious
Have you ever seen a curious person who is confused and doesn’t know what to do? Curious people are always trying to understand how the environment around them works, leading to constant learning and sharpening their intellect. As you know it, the more you learn, the more precise your mind becomes, and the fewer brain fog issues you experience. It is all about training your mind to find answers and staying active.
29. Practice visualization
Outstanding achievements usually result from hard work, the ability to visualize one’s future, and establishing goals to achieve them. Notice that you must visualize what you want to be and achieve before reaching it.
For example, if you want to become a chef, you visualize yourself as a chef before you can become one. In other words, visualization helps you improve your focus and minimize distractions. The more focused you are about your work and achievements, the less brain fog you will have. Hence, improving your productivity, mental clarity, and overall happiness.
30. Practice gratitude
Sometimes, the best answers to your problems come from simple acts, such as practicing gratitude. Gratification leads to positive emotions, which is essential in enhancing mental clarity.
30. Avoid overthinking
If there is something you can do to help yourself and reduce brain fog, it is to avoid overthinking. When you overthink, your stress levels increase, and you waste a lot of mental energy, which can take time to recover.
31. Learn a new language.
If there is one thing I like about improving one’s health and mental clarity, it is learning a new language. As you learn a language and pick up new dialects, you stimulate the brain in a way that has never been done before. This keeps you excited, makes you more intelligent, and improves your social life. In turn, you become clear of things that otherwise confused you and stay positive due to engaging relationships you build with the people you interact with.
32. Take breaks
The thing about being human is that we are made of bones and flesh. This means we get tired after working a few hours. That is why we need regular breaks. If you are suffering from brain fog and lack mental clarity, it is more likely that you have not taken adequate break time. Taking breaks relaxes your brain and restores your mental strength, increasing productivity and ability to focus. This, in turn, leads to lower brain fog and improves your mental clarity.
One of the leading causes of stress and anxiety is isolation. As you know by now, you can not have a powerful and fully functional mind when cast out of society. This is why staying socially active is a great way to reduce brain fog, lower stress, and increase mental clarity. Interacting with others makes you feel alive and belonging. Humans are social animals. The moment that social element is gone, you follow.
34. Have a positive attitude.
Imagine being negative, nagging others, and complaining all the time while having a clear and fog-free mind at the same time. That is impossible. You cannot have a clear mind if your attitude is always negative. More importantly, you cannot reduce brain fog with a negative mindset. Staying positive even during uncertainties is a good way to minimize chemical imbalances and improve mental clarity. Positive changes start with the way you think.
35. Prioritize tasks
Did you know that many people suffer from brain fog and lack of mental clarity because they never prioritize their tasks? When you don’t prioritize and establish a plan for how you will do your tasks, you start doing them randomly. Sometimes, you juggle multiple tasks at once, which lowers your productivity and increases your stress levels. You can avoid all these issues by prioritizing your tasks, as it reduces mental load and enhances clarity.
36. Set realistic goals
Most people get lost and stressed daily because they set up unrealistic goals. You can quickly lose your mind over having goals you cannot achieve. That is why one of the best ways to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity is to set realistic goals. You need specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. This is also known as the SMART goal-setting strategy.
Achievable goals mean you can establish a timeline and plan how to achieve them. If you want to get a college degree, for example, you know it will take 4 years and what classes you will take each semester until the last semester. For every semester that passes, you get closer to your goal. While you can get stressed from homework, you won’t have brain fog or lose mental clarity because you know what you want and how to get it. This is different from trying to make $10 million in one year when your current salary is $50k.
37. Pursue hobbies
Hobbies are activities that allow you to pass the time and increase your enjoyment. In addition, these activities can help reduce brain fog and increase concentration. This is because you are in your zone when doing hobbies. This means you have full concentration and less stress due to the enjoyment of doing what you love. These two states help improve your problem-solving skills and increase your cognitive performance.
38. Practice empathy
One of the best ways to feel good about yourself, reduce brain fog, and increase mental clarity is to practice empathy. Empathy makes you happier, gives you a sense of purpose and direction, minimizes conflicts, and increases your connections with others. In other words, practicing empathy increases your overall life satisfaction and, in turn, helps you make better decisions and improve your overall happiness.
39. Stay hopeful
Lack of hope leads to stress, worrisome thoughts, and a negative mindset. Once these adverse effects take over your mind, you lose your sense of direction, which can easily lead to chronic anxiety. Stay hopeful in what you are doing to reduce brain fog and increase mental clarity. Hope is everything. Lack of hope leads to premature death. Always be optimistic, even if everyone around you has a different opinion.
40. Keep learning
Most people struggle with brain fog and lack of concentration because they have limited knowledge in their fields and other areas affecting their lives. People get lost and confused by what they don’t know, which increases their stress levels and anxiety. This is why learning is a great way to cope with brain fog, increase concentration, and lower stress levels.
You have probably heard that information is power. The more you know, the easier you can navigate life and make better decisions when everyone struggles. Every knowledge you gain stimulates your brain and improves your decision-making abilities.
41. Take a walk
When I am lost and unable to think straight, I take it away. Walking helps clear my mind regardless of what is occupying my thoughts. This works well when I walk outside in a park, by the river, or in a forest. Try this trick when you struggle with complex thoughts or lack mental clarity.
42. Try intermittent fasting
Did you know fasting is a great way to improve physical and mental health? What you put in your body usually contributes to how you feel about yourself and your ability to perform better. Fasting helps you get rid of unnecessary waste and control your weight. Fasting helps cleanse your body, directly contributing to higher energy levels and a clear mind, enhancing cognitive function.
43. Cut down on carbonated drinks.
Your brain fog issues might be related to consuming too many soft drinks and related carbohydrates. If this is the case, try to limit the consumption of these drinks and replace them with water. These drinks can weaken your physical abilities and impact your cognitive abilities. You can’t think straight or solve complex problems when your body is weak and full of too many chemicals.
Prioritize your health first to reduce brain fog and improve your mental clarity. Drinking water is a cheap way to make positive changes in your life. Adults need up to 8 liters of water daily. How much water are you drinking daily?
44. Start gardening
Gardening is therapeutic as it helps reduce stress and improves focus and cognitive function. In addition to improving mental clarity, you can grow your food, essential for eating healthy meals and reducing processed foods. I consider gardening one of the most effective strategies to relax your mind and boost your health. If you are new to gardening, start with a small garden or put a few plants in pots. You don’t need to start big. Even if you live in a city, you can always put herbs on your balcony.
45. Learn to play a musical instrument.
Playing musical instruments enhances cognitive abilities and can help one cope with brain fog. You might have difficulty getting started, mainly if you have never played any instrument before, but with practice, you can learn the basics in a few months.
46. Travel
Traveling allows you to learn new cultures and languages and interact with people from all over the world. Your mind expands as you absorb new information at a faster rate. This, in turn, improves your cognitive function, makes you a better person, and keeps your brain sharp and strong.
47. Learn to manage your emotions.
Are you suffering from brain fog and lack of mental clarity due to having too many emotions? While emotions can help you connect with others and fit in, too many emotions can be deadly. To improve mental clarity, start practicing emotional strategies such as self-regulation, empathy, self-awareness, and improving social skills.
48. Express your feelings
Holding your thoughts and feelings in is not good, as it can lead to unnecessary stress and mental anxiety. While you don’t need to share your feelings and thoughts with everyone, you should at least have someone you trust enough to share them with. Sharing helps relieve pressure and gives you peace of mind. This, in turn, reduces grain fog and enables you to improve your mental clarity.
49. Follow a regular sleep routine.
Besides having enough sleep, you also need to have a sleep routine. The routine allows your body to know when it is time to sleep and wake up. This, in turn, entirely rests your brain, lowers stress, and helps you cope with brain fog.
50. Declutter your house
You might have trouble concentrating because your brain is preoccupied with all the junk in your house. Even if you don’t know this, keeping your home tidy prevents you from spending too much energy finding things and saves you the energy needed for essential projects.
51. Limit your screen time
Too much screen time is not good for your health. The effect is the same whether you watch TV or spend too much time on your phone scrolling through social media. Take some time off and do things other than playing video games or watching TV. Too much screen time increases brain fog and impairs mental clarity.
Take time to read a book, cook, socialize, play outside, work out, or walk in the park. All these activities will boost your confidence, increase your performance, and improve your overall health. You must take care of yourself if you want your brain to work fully.
52. Have a dedicated workspace.
If you experience brain fog and lack of concentration at work, it is probably due to having a dedicated workplace. While you can work anywhere, having a dedicated workplace is essential for mental stability. Even if you don’t use the space, knowing it is there is enough to give you peace of mind.
A cluttered workplace can also lead to brain fog and a lack of mental clarity. That is why decluttering your workplace is a great way to increase your performance, lower stress, and maintain an overall work-life balance.
53. Practice positive affirmations
If you did not know, practicing positive affirmations is one of the best ways to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity. Change the way you talk to yourself and feel about yourself. Don’t tell yourself that you are a loser or always lose. Tell yourself that you have the potential to achieve anything in this life. You are a powerful human being who can be better, stronger, and wiser, and nobody is better than you. That is how you win in life and achieve big goals.
54. Maintain a stable blood sugar level.
If you are having trouble making decisions and always have health issues and stress all the time, it might be time to reduce your sugar intake. You must regulate your blood sugar to have a healthy lifestyle. When you are healthy, you can cope with anything, including brain fog or lack of concentration.
55. Learn new technologies
If you are always lost, stressed out, and submitting your project last, it might be time to start learning new technology. Continuous learning is always the best way to reduce stress, cope with brain fog, and increase mental clarity. The more you know about the technology around you, the faster you will use it to make decisions, deliver your project faster, and increase your overall performance and happiness.
56. Try different recipes.
A wise man once said, “You are what you eat.” That means if you always have trouble making decisions, suffer from brain fog, and lack mental clarity, you might be eating the wrong food. Try changing your diet and starting to eat healthy food. Healthy food boosts your immune system, improves mental capacity, and increases your performance, which is essential in reducing brain fog and boosting cognitive function.
57. Develop a growth mindset.
If you don’t grow and improve your life daily, you give up everything you know and love. A lack of a growth mindset leads to brain fog and a lack of direction. People with small minds suffer from decision-making and are consistently unable to figure out their lives; they don’t know what they want, and those who do never take the first step to achieve it.
This is why engaging in growth mindset activities such as reading books, continuous learning, practicing mindfulness, etc, is an essential way to reduce brain fog and increase mental clarity. Once your mind is strong enough, you will depend on it to make tough decisions.
58. Don’t use drugs
If there is anything that hinders your ability to find fulfillment in life, it is drugs. Most people give up their dreams and lose jobs and everything they hold dear due to drugs. To perform better and avoid wasting your life, avoid drugs. Drugs affect your decision-making abilities. A clear mind, free of external influences, can take you places. That is why avoiding drugs is one of the most effective ways to reduce brain fog and increase mental clarity. Imagine trying to make a difficult decision when you are drunk or high! Drugs impair your cognitive function.
59. Enjoy your life
There is no better way to reduce brain fog than enjoying your life. Your life is yours, and every day that goes by, you get closer to dying. That is why doing what makes you happy is an excellent strategy for maintaining a clear and happy mind. Happiness increases your mental clarity and gives you a sense of direction.
More tips to reduce brain fog and improve mental clarity
60. Stay organized because cluttered houses, offices, and environments increase stress and lower mental focus.
61. Limit the use of social media to avoid brain rot. Social media has been linked to impacting your health and cognitive functions and can easily lead to anxiety and constant stress.
62. Control your anger, as anger does not help your health. Anger only leads to more harm as it increases your stress levels and decreases your overall happiness. Anger clouds your mind and reduces your mental clarity.
63. Be adaptable. The world is constantly changing, and your job is to adapt to new changes and find solutions. Don’t sit down and hope for the best.
64. Practice minimalism, as seeking more can lead to constant stress and a lack of focus.
65. Avoid skipping meals to boost your brain energy. More energy means you can perform better and stay focused for a long time.
66. Stay motivated. Motivation is the key to every achievement. It helps you stay focused, reduce brain fog, and increase mental clarity.
67. Get enough sunlight to maximize vitamin D, as the lack of it can lead to health issues such as osteoporosis, constant fatigue, etc. As you know, a weak body leads to mediocre performance and a lack of mental clarity.
Last few tips to reduce brain fog and improve mental focus
68. Don’t compare yourself with others to avoid seeking more than you need, which can easily lead to stress and anxiety.
69. Manage your time effectively to avoid rushing your projects. Every time you do things at the last minute, you experience a high level of stress that simultaneously increases your brain fog and impacts your mental clarity and focus.
70. Eat brain-boosting foods to improve your performance, problem-solving abilities, and overall health. Blueberries, turmeric, and broccoli are good brain foods that can enhance brain health.
71. Practice mindfulness, as it helps improve focus and mental clarity.
72. Practice self-reflection to help you better understand yourself. Knowing where you are coming from, where you are, and where you are going is essential to understanding yourself. The more you learn about yourself, the more satisfied you will be.
