In today’s busy, highly complex world, it’s not difficult to find yourself struggling with your memory or recall, ability to organize your thoughts, or concentration.
Brain fog is a state that may occur as part of your post-COVID infection, or due to things like sleeplessness, jet lag, or recovery from another condition. It’s a feeling of being spaced out, confused, or unable to focus or concentrate, affecting general thinking power.
Here are five ways that you can reclaim your brain power and fight brain fog in everyday life.
- Make Changes in Your Routine
Change things up! In order to strengthen existing pathways in your brain as well as build new ones, you can do so by making small adjustments to your routine. Some examples include taking a different route to work, executing a different workout routine this time, or using your non-dominant hand for a number of daily tasks.
With these steps, your brain is “forced” to think creatively and form new neural connections in the process.
- Explore New Things
Try something new each time; this helps your brain create new connections. Along the way, your neural pathways work through a neurotransmitter, and firing up that chemical messenger can do you good. Dopamine, a “feel good” neurotransmitter, is one example. It can make you more excited to learn something new, as well as enhances your motor control, motivation, and inclination to learn.
In this vein, it will be helpful to seek out new activities that engage your body and mind in fresh, exciting ways. May it be via art, design, or dance, it’s a way to make you more cognitively engaged and flexible.
- Do as Ayurveda Does
The ancient system of health and wellness in India has enough to suggest in boosting memory, concentration, and brain power. When it comes to diet, fresh fruits and vegetables that are chock-full of antioxidants help against brain fog and its symptoms. Yoga and meditation can help combat stress, depression, anxiety, or brain fog, as well as work great wonders on immunity.
To repair your body cells, it’s crucial to sleep from 11 pm to 5 am, the time when your body regenerates itself and improves its network of nerve cells. Certain herbs and plant extracts also help boost overall thinking power; they are easily available via high-quality organic supplementation. Finally, treat yourself to a whole body massage with medicated oil for stress release.
- Challenge Yourself and Your Brain
Modern life is filled with shortcuts that enable us to navigate our various tasks and live a little more easily. While this is fine and everyone could use a break, there are benefits to challenging yourself regularly in order to improve your cognitive flexibility.
In lieu of GPS systems, for instance, you might consider using a regular map when traveling. You might also consider writing or journaling instead of typing your thoughts on a computer like you’ve been so used to. Doing so – finding the harder way out – helps fire different pathways in your brain.
- Change Your Worldview and Experience Life Differently
What does having a diversity and some divergence in thinking and living your life have to do with fighting brain fog and enhancing your cognitive power?
Interesting thoughts: did you know that initiating a dialogue that fights your deeply entrenched ideas forces you to have a more free-flowing thought pattern? This way, you produce varying ideas within a short span of time. Unconventional thinking then decreases mental rigidity and ups your cognitive flexibility.
In addition, challenging your set beliefs and embracing diversity across areas of your life can vastly improve your social life as well as knowledge and understanding of cultures. Not only do you help build more neural connections, but you also enrich your patterns of thought, habits, and feelings about the world at large.
Brain enhancement is a science that gets more exhilarating by the minute. Know and learn more on this blog!
