How To Think More Clearly And Stop Brain Fog Fast

*This is an ever-growing list, so if you have a method that helps you think more clearly, please leave it in the comments!* 

Our minds are precious things and it’s easy to take them for granted. I took my healthy mind for granted before I started experiencing really bad anxiety. One of the symptoms of anxiety is brain fog. It can stop you from thinking clearly and you can easily lose touch with what is going on around you.

In this post, I want to talk about the things that help me to think more clearly, declutter my mind and clear up brain fog.

1. Turn off the news

There is so much happening in the world. There’s so much you can’t change. The problem with the news is, you only hear about things when they go wrong. And if you ask me, that’s a problem. We’re inundated with drama, crime and economic scaremongering all day long from the moment you flip open your timeline to the minute you turn off the 10 o’clock news.

Everything is scary. Everything is screaming at you.

We’re sitting ducks to this endless bombardment. It can feel like you can’t escape it.

But there’s a simple way to avoid the noise so you can find a little sanity and clarity. Turn the news off.

One of the best things I have ever done for my mental health is to ease off on the news, take a quick glance at it in the morning and leave it at that. I choose to take everything I hear and read with a pinch of salt and focus on more productive things.

2. Let go of the things you can’t control

Much of what I used to fret over was things that were out of my control. My mind was so cluttered with these things that I found it difficult to get things done that were in my control. The way around this was to practice letting go, a mindful approach to decluttering the mind.

And you can do this too.

Make a list of all the things that typically play on your mind. These could be things like what other people think of you, something you said that you regret or worries about the future.

Whatever these things are, write them down. Then sort them into groups of things you can control and things you can’t.

Make a conscious choice to let go of the things you don’t have any control over. Whenever these things enter your mind, remind yourself that you can’t do anything about them and therefore you choose to let go of them.

3. Eat well

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, you’ve been told this a million times – ‘eat healthy food and you’ll feel good.’

I approach this statement a little differently than most people though. I’ve always been interested in how food affects my body and muscle growth (I’ve worked out since my teens) but I’m more interested in how the food I eat interacts with my mind. Can the food you eat really help you think more clearly?

I think it can.

We’ve all had big meals where we feel stuffed and can barely move (Christmas?) but have you noticed how your mind feels too? Food affects everyone differently. So, let me tell you how eating specifically junk food affects my mental state as an example.

When I have a big meal, maybe a takeout or just a huge meal, I start to feel tired afterwards. Your body draws a ton of energy resources to your stomach so you feel more tired and generally feel a bit weaker until the food is broken down.

I know that when I feel very tired I’m more agitated and generally grumpier. What I also notice is I start to experience brain fog and a lack of concentration. If you’re constantly eating junk food, and a lot of it, you’re going to experience these side effects more often leading to you having a jumbled-up mind.

This has become one of the reasons why I have started to eat healthier options (and quit sugar), not just for the physical benefits, but to also stop my mind from being overstimulated and cluttered.

There has been evidence which shows that diets that are high in simple carbohydrates and sugars can impair cognitive ability and memory. These are the things that we find in junk food.

This 2007 study reinforces what we already know about healthy eating – eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and fish improves overall health, but also improves cognitive function as we age.

4. Find your quiet time

You may be thinking, “Duh!” but this is so overlooked these days.

I have a love-hate relationship with the 21st century. I love it because I’m able to reach and connect with millions of people across the world, but I struggle with it at the same time because there are so many distractions, and so many things screaming at you all day.

Here’s some of them;

• Your boss is riding you
• Your phone keeps yelling at you
• Social media apps are pinging left, right and centre
• Netflix keeps you hooked
• Your friends are constantly messaging you

I’ve always enjoyed my own company, mainly because I often find that I need the time to recalibrate and re-focus. No matter how social you are and how much people rely on you, you have to find some quiet time in your week to allow your mind to catch up.

Finding stillness in today’s world is a superpower. It’s the antidote to the constant noise.

Think of quiet time as the ying to the yang of the hustle and bustle of modern life. You need it to keep your mood and mind balanced.

A time to find some quiet before you get going is in the mornings. Wake up half an hour earlier. Before turning on the TV, pour a warm drink and pick up a book, complete a breathing exercise or stretch.

The point is to find time where it’s just you.

5. Turn off the gadgets

One of the biggest distractions these days is all the flashing gadgets that take up so much of our time. Every day I check my Facebook, YouTube, and Emails. It can be really tempting to just binge on content for hours and hours whilst getting drawn into things that you don’t really care about.

You probably have a TV, phone, and Computer in your household and if you don’t – what have you been doing with your life!? Ha, I joke…

However, in all seriousness, these things take up so much time in our daily lives that we forget to just relax and switch off. They keep our minds preoccupied. It’s difficult to escape all of these gadgets that live in your household, and I don’t think you need to chuck them out.

Gadgets are here to stay. You don’t want to be the weird one that does own a phone.

So I think it’s important to use them responsibly. And this is a challenge. After all, they are very addictive. There’s now a thing called ‘infinite scrolling’, for example, keeping you distracted for hours upon hours.

Give yourself a time limit on your phone each day and stick to it.

6. Go on a ‘friend detox’

Do the people you know cause you a ton of drama? As I’ve got older I’ve pulled back on the amount of people I hang around with. A lot of this is because I’ve had my time filled up with family duties, but some of it has been intentional too. There will always be those who cause us a lot of unnecessary drama. It’s just the way some people work. The problem with these people (aside from the fact they create drama out of thin air) is that they usually want to involve you in it. You already have responsibilities you need to take care of, without having someone else’s drama to take care of too.

This is not to say ‘you need to lose some friends’, rather, be mindful of who is creating stress in your life where it isn’t needed. Who gives you a nervous feeling when they message you?

Taking a break from responding to them can do wonders for your mental health.

It all comes down to being honest with yourself. If you want to think more clearly, cut out the excess noise in the form of toxic people that make you feel overwhelmed.

7. Tidy up

What does your place look like most of the time? I’ve always found that my thoughts are more clogged up when the environment around me is messy. A messy space seems to translate into my mind becoming super frazzled. If your place is untidy a lot of the time, make sure that you spend enough time tidying up and keeping things as nice as you can.

Your environment directly influences how you think and feel. I know tidying up isn’t sexy, but you’ll be surprised how much better it can make you feel.

It can be difficult when you have children to always keep a clean house or apartment, but it will allow you the space to think more clearly when the space around you is open and clean.

If your place is a mess, tackle one room at a time. When you’re looking to throw things away, ask yourself, “How often do I use this?” and “Is it likely I will use this in the next three months?”

If the answers are, “Never” and “Unlikely” it’s probably time to throw things out.

Clear your environment and your mind will follow.

If you’ve got any of your own tips on how to think more clearly, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Here’s to your success – Sean