Everything You Need to Know About Brain Fog and How It Can Affect Your Rides
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Maybe you have a hard time concentrating, or you feel inexplicably disoriented. Perhaps your memory is fuzzy, or you struggle to find the right word in conversation. Possibly, you experience all of the above. This is life with brain fog.
Though not a medical diagnosis, brain fog describes an array of cognitive challenges.
An untold number of people struggle with brain fog. Though it’s not new, the phenomenon is becoming more talked about these days due to its association with COVID-19, as research suggests more than half of people who contract the virus later struggle with brain fog. But there are many other causes, too.
We tapped three experts to uncover the basics on brain fog, including the definition, symptoms, common triggers, tips for managing it, and whether it’s a smart idea to hop in the saddle when your mind is cloudy.
What is brain fog and what are the symptoms?
As mentioned, brain fog isn’t a medical condition, Jessica Caldwell, Ph.D., director of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center at Cleveland Clinic, tells Bicycling. Rather, it’s “a way people commonly describe difficulty with their thinking,” she explains.
Uma Naidoo, M.D., a nutritional psychiatrist and author of Calm Your Mind With Food, describes it to Bicycling as “an all-too-common constellation of symptoms that impair our ability to think efficiently and to focus.”
A 2022 research analysis of more than 700 Reddit posts on the subject, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, found that people pointed to a host of symptoms when describing brain fog, including forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, dissociation, fatigue, communication challenges, cognitive “slowness” and excessive effort, and “fuzziness” or pressure.
Because brain fog isn’t a diagnosis, there isn’t a certain amount of time you need to experience these symptoms in order to qualify as having brain fog. Danielle Wilhour, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, tells Bicycling she’s had patients who are affected by brain fog for a day or two and others who struggle with it for months or years.
Currently, we have some understanding of brain fog, including typical causes and ways to manage it. But researchers are really just “scratching the surface,” says Wilhour. “There’s still a lot more to be fully understood.”
What are the common causes of brain fog?
A host of things can contribute to brain fog, including lifestyle factors like sleep and nutrition, says Wilhour. Certain medical conditions, injuries, and infections can predispose you to brain fog, and so can taking some medications, she adds.
To get more specific, lack of sleep or poor quality sleep can contribute to mental haziness, and so can disorders like sleep apnea, says Wilhour. Hormonal changes caused by pregnancy and menopause can also play a role. And so can dietary deficiencies, including low levels of B12 and iron.
Other causes include stress, food allergies and sensitivities, like those involving gluten, head injuries like concussions, and medical conditions including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), fibromyalgia, depression, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, hypothyroidism, and various autoimmune diseases such as lupus, says Wilhour.
Other possible culprits include ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and undiagnosed cases of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), says Naidoo. Moreover, viral infections, like COVID-19, and bacterial infections are also linked with brain fog, adds Wilhour.
On the medication front, chemotherapy treatments are “widely known to contribute to brain fog,” says Wilhour, and taking other medicines, like antidepressants and some antibiotics, can play a role, too.
Dietary habits can influence cognition as well. Meals high in both fats and carbs, where most of the high-fat foods are highly processed, “have shown to contribute to fatigue as well as increased inflammatory markers in the blood after eating,” says Naidoo. And caffeine intake can contribute to dwindling energy levels too, she adds.
How do you manage brain fog?
Brain fog can feel overwhelming and perhaps impossible to deal with, especially given all the potential causes. But good news: There are a number of lifestyle tweaks that help many folks with brain fog improve their functioning.
To start, though, it’s important to understand the cause of your brain fog in order to manage it, says Caldwell. If you’re not sure of the trigger, then making the above changes to your sleep, exercise, diet, and stress management strategies can be a good place to start.
Now, a lot of the advice on addressing brain fog may sound familiar, as it covers the basics of living a healthy life. But it’s worth repeating: Aim for eight hours of shut-eye a night; exercise 150 minutes per week; keep your brain active by reading books and doing puzzles; and engage in regular social activities, says Wilhour. Curb alcohol intake to one drink a day or less for women and two drinks or less for men, and limit caffeine consumption to about 200 milligrams a day (about one to two small cups of coffee) with an occasional day of 400 milligrams, she adds.
Eat a balanced diet with protein, healthy fats, and ample fruits and veggies, says Wilhour. Naidoo, for her part, recommends reaching for foods high in vitamin C, which helps produce brain chemicals that govern mood, mental state and attention, as well as luteolin, a flavonoid compound with antioxidant and anticancer properties. Vitamin C-rich foods include citrus fruits, kiwi, and red bell peppers, and those packed with luteolin include celery, parsley, apples, cabbage, and peppers.
Naidoo also recommends staying hydrated; spending regular time outdoors to boost vitamin D levels which can help support a clear mind; and managing stress and anxiety with tools like breath work and meditation.
If brain fog is interfering with your ability to function on a daily basis—for example, you’re struggling to work or take care of yourself or your family—then it’s wise to seek medical treatment, says Wilhour. A doctor or other specialist can help you get to the root of your brain fog and recommend strategies for curbing it.
Should you ride a bike with brain fog?
If you’re recovering from a concussion, make sure you’re fully healed with no signs of lingering brain fog before you hop on your bike again, advises Wilhour. But if your brain fog is unrelated to a head injury, the advice varies.
For folks with mild brain fog—the kind that doesn’t interfere with your ability to work or take care of yourself or others—biking is probably a good idea, says Wilhour, who encourages such people to aim for 150 minutes of exercise a week. Just make sure to wear a helmet and avoid pedaling on busy roads if possible, she says.
Those with severe, debilitating brain fog—the kind that makes it tough to navigate daily life—would be wise to avoid riding, unless on a stationary bike, says Wilhour. Even then, they may want to start slowly, pedaling for just a few minutes at a time, before gradually building up their abilities.
And if brain fog is new for you, or comes on suddenly, “it may be best to get it checked before riding,” says Caldwell.
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