Unpacking Anxiety: Brain Fog

Anxiety. It is Those sticky thoughts that just won’t go away, the incessant worry, the overthinking and rethinking of situations, the racing heart feeling, the shakiness, the shortness of breath.

But could anxiety be causing your symptoms of brain fog? In this series, we are taking the time to work through some of the lesser-known anxiety symptoms and unpack how anxiety may take on different forms for different people in the population. Today we are taking on the symptoms of brain fog and hopes of understanding the connection between brain fog and anxiety even better. 

So what is brain fog?

Brain fog is a term that is commonly used for challenges in cognitive function that are not associated with long-term cognitive deficits, or medical impairments. Brain fog symptoms may include 

• Difficulty concentrating

• Being more easily distracted than normal

• Challenges in reading and retaining information

• Difficulty in problem-solving or application of information

• The inability to recall information 

• Forgetfulness of tasks

• General challenges in cognitive processing

• Feeling that thoughts or processes in the brain seem to be moving slower than normal

(To be very clear, it is important that these challenges in cognitive processing are not associated with other medical causes. There are many medical challenges associated with cognitive impairment as well, and it is important to talk with a medical provider should you have concerns in cognitive functions to rule out medical concerns.) 

So can brain fog be connected with anxiety?

Brain fog can be associated with several different types of mental health disorders, including anxiety-based disorders. 

The exact connection between brain fog and anxiety is a bit challenging to define, but there are multiple aspects of the anxiety experience that may contribute to the occurrence of brain fog. Here’s what we do know:

• There is research that is able to connect anxiety and stress with impaired performance in working memory. (1) this means that the stress response associated with anxiety-related disorders likely does have an impact on the brain’s ability to perform tasks associated with working memory. This can include things like temporary memory storage of information, application of information, and problem-solving tasks involving the retention and application of information.

• We also know that anxiety experiences are often highly associated with the fight, flight, freeze responses are part of the safety mechanisms of the brain. These fight, flight, freeze responses are connected with high cortisol levels. When these portions of the brain are activated, the brain will automatically move towards a more automatic response-based system, which disengages many of the parts of the brain associated with complex thinking, problem-solving, and memory retention. (2)

• We also know that a common symptom associated with anxiety-based disorders is insomnia or challenges with sleep. It’s likely not a surprise to most people that lack of sleep or poor sleep is associated with some level of cognitive impairment. (3) sleep is a major part of our ability to perform cognitive tasks, so when sleep is compromised, it makes sense that our cognitive function may be compromised as well.

• And finally, anxiety is often connected to thought rumination, overactive thoughts, and invasive thought patterns. Our brain only has the ability to think about one thing at a time, and if these thought patterns are quite invasive, it may inhibit our ability to focus our full attention on the tasks at hand, as portions of our mental energy are being used to entertain the thought ruminations or those invasive thoughts.

So what can you do about brain fog?

The great thing about brain fog and its connection to anxiety is, that effective treatments for anxiety may have an impact on the brain fog symptoms that the individual is experiencing. Some potential places to start in addressing brain fog include:

• Implementing mindfulness practices

• Implementing cognitive coping techniques to create a structure for thought processes (there are some great anxiety therapy techniques that are extremely effective with this one). 

• Minimizing extra stimuli in the work or study environment

• Limiting your attention to one task at a time

If you’re interested in addressing anxiety symptoms even further and would like a professional to join your team, we would love to connect with you. Our Arlington Texas-based therapy group offers anxiety therapy through several different evidence-based intervention models.