Struggling to Focus or Think Clearly? Therapy Tips to Reduce Brain Fog
By Cheyenne Ling
Understanding Brain Fog: A Psychological Perspective on Why Your Mind Feels Scattered
As a counsellor, I often see brain fog as a symptom of stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion caused by the constant demands of life. For some, brain fog shows up as difficulty concentrating, feeling scattered, sluggish, or forgetful. You might find yourself sitting at work with looming deadlines, or at home with endless chores, yet your mind feels too scattered to focus on any task.
Unfortunately, long work hours, stress, and constant digital distractions cause many people to experience brain fog. In this blog, we’ll explore some common psychological contributors to brain fog, how stress and anxiety tie in, and strategies to regain mental clarity, calm, and focus.
When Your Mind Feels Cloudy: How Stress and Anxiety Create Brain Fog
While physical issues can contribute to brain fog, emotional and psychological stress are often significant factors as well. For many, brain fog is tied to chronic stress, anxiety, and a cycle of self-criticism.
Stress can disrupt sleep, affect emotional regulation and strain our ability to process information effectively. Imagine your mind as a desk piled high with papers, sticky notes, and half-finished tasks. Your brain is trying to juggle everything at once, but nothing stays organized or gets completed. The clutter makes it hard to focus, decisions feel overwhelming, and thoughts blur together, creating the foggy and scattered feeling we call brain fog.
To cope, many people beat themselves up, thinking, “What is wrong with me? Everyone else seems fine. I should be able to handle this.” This inner critic traps us in a cycle of stress, amplifying anxiety and leaving us even more exhausted and distracted.
From a counselling perspective, brain fog is a sign that your mind and body are overwhelmed and need care. Recognizing brain fog as a signal rather than a failure helps shift from self-criticism to self-compassion. It highlights the need for strategies that calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and restore mental clarity.
Regain Focus and Mental Clarity: Practical Strategies to Clear Brain Fog
Stress, anxiety, and overwhelm can make your mind feel like a cluttered desk, where focus feels impossible. The goal is to “clean the desk” in your mind and create space for clarity.
Brain Dumping
Brain dumping is an effective way to start organizing mental clutter. It involves writing down every task, worry, idea, or responsibility in your mind. When thoughts compete for attention, focus becomes scattered. By getting them onto paper, your brain unloads, creating more mental space. Once written down, you can prioritize tasks into manageable to-do lists. This simple act frees up cognitive energy and improves clarity.
Self-Care and Joyful Activities
Brain fog often signals that your mind and body need rest. Practicing self-care, which includes activities that bring joy or calm, helps recharge your mental and emotional energy. Self-care can look different for everyone, but generally includes activities that promote well-being, such as going for a walk in nature, watching a funny show, listening to your favourite music or podcast, or connecting with loved ones. These practices reduce stress hormones and allow the brain to reset, making it easier to think clearly.
Sleep
Sleep is the foundation of mental clarity. Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with brain fog, yet many people respond by cutting sleep further to “catch up” on work. Instead, brain fog should be seen as a signal to prioritize sleep quality and quantity.
Helpful tips to support sleep include:
· Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day
· Create a relaxing wind-down routine each evening, such as a shower before bed.
· Turning off electronics an hour before sleep
· Limiting caffeine in the afternoon and evening
Exercise
Exercise works like a windshield wiper for the brain. Physical activity helps flush out stress hormones and clears away the mental “grime” that clouds focus while boosting neurotransmitters that improve mood and attention. In the cluttered desk analogy, exercise is like clearing off the desk, reorganizing scattered papers, and wiping away the dust, refreshing your mind so you can think clearly, feel energized, and focus on what matters.
Clear the Clutter: How Therapy Can Help Lift Brain Fog
When your thoughts feel scattered and your mind foggy, it may be your brain’s way of signaling that it needs a break. Practices like brain dumping, self-care, quality sleep, and exercise can help reduce mental clutter and restore focus.
As a counsellor in Kitsilano, Vancouver, I work with clients to identify the emotional and psychological factors contributing to brain fog. Together, we develop personalized strategies that calm the nervous system, ease anxiety, and strengthen focus. Therapy provides a supportive space to explore how stress and self-criticism contribute to brain fog, and to implement habits that restore clarity and calm.
Meet Cheyenne Ling
Cheyenne, RCC, creates a compassionate space where clients can explore stress, anxiety, trauma, and self-esteem challenges without judgment. Her trauma-informed, person-centred approach weaves together CBT, emotion-focused therapy, and Internal Family Systems to help clients understand the deeper messages behind their emotions and restore clarity.
