How I Fixed My Brain Fog

Many struggle with symptoms for years before finding the root cause. Never stop trying.

Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock

This is a personal story of one of the biggest transformations I’ve experienced in my life. It’s not medical advice, and I have no idea if it will work for others in a similar situation. I share it mostly to spark conversation or give someone an idea for a new avenue to look into.

I try to avoid hyperbole in my writing, and I don’t often write from deep personal experience—but in this case, what I’m about to share has been life-changing for me.

The Backstory

Starting about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, I noticed a symptom I can only describe as brain fog. If you’ve had it, you know what I mean. If you don’t, it’s like a grogginess that never quite goes away. You feel as if your brain is filled with molasses and just doesn’t work as quickly as it normally does.

To give you some perspective, I’ve heard and read about people who’ve had cases of brain fog far worse than mine. Mine had been chronic and frustrating, but it had not fundamentally changed my ability to do the things I wanted to do.

I could still work when I needed to, hang out with friends, and pursue leisure activities. But it was something I thought about almost every day and researched.

My Theories

For the longest time, I thought my brain fog was linked to bad sleep. I have long struggled with falling asleep at night, often taking hours to do so. Not only did I miss out on sleep, but also, I found it stressful not being able to sleep when I wanted to. I figured that the brain fog was the effect of poor sleep finally catching up to me in my mid-30s.

I tried all sorts of ways to improve my sleep, and eventually, I did (that’s another story), but I was surprised that my brain fog was unaffected. The next thing I did was go to my doctor, who ordered a series of blood tests to see if there were any glaring deficiencies or undiagnosed issues such as Lyme disease or other chronic maladies.

Those results came back empty, with nothing pointing to a particular cause. My next theory was that mild stress was causing the brain fog. Now, let me be clear: I don’t actually think my life is that stressful.

I like my job, have great relationships, and have a sense of purpose in my life, but, admittedly, I did many days feel a sort of background level of stress or anxiousness that I could never really put a finger on.

I tried to think through this, seek out a root cause, and practice being more at ease, without any real progress.

Fixing My Breathing Cleared the Fog

One evening, I was sitting on my couch reading after a particularly good day. I had been sleeping well, feeling good, eating well, and exercising well, but for some reason, I was dealing with a particularly bad case of brain fog. While I was reading, it struck me that I felt a little bit out of breath, as if I was holding my breath while reading.

I have long known that I am somewhat of a mouth breather, and that’s because my nose is almost chronically blocked—not because of allergies or a stuffy nose, from what I can tell, but simply because the air doesn’t flow very well.

It seems silly now, but I had never once thought that there might be a connection between my breathing and the brain fog I had been experiencing for years. I walked into our hallway, opened our closet, and put on a nasal strip, wondering if it would help at all with the breathing. I had worn a nasal strip only a few times in my life, and that was when I was sick and overwhelmingly congested.

But this time, when I put it on, I felt instant relief, as if stress was being lifted off my shoulders. I kept the strip on my nose almost constantly for the next three days and enjoyed the first days without brain fog that I had experienced in years.

I can’t think of another time in my life when I have ever experienced such instantaneous relief from a long-term symptom. To say that I am grateful is an understatement.

Now I could go on from here and talk about what comes next, and honestly, I’m not sure yet. Perhaps at some point, I will need to consult my doctor about potential nose surgery. Until then, I’m just bouncing back and forth between nasal strips and dilators to keep my passageways open. If that seems annoying to you, it’s only because you don’t know the enormous relief it is to be able to breathe through your nose without thinking about it.

The following is a short list of the profound changes I experienced in my body and mind within about 24 hours of making this change. Thanks for reading my personal story. I hope this post is an inspiration for anyone experiencing any type of chronic frustration, especially those more significant than my own. Please consult your doctor before making any meaningful changes to your own health regimens.

What Happened When I Fixed My Breathing

• I finally got rid of the brain fog that had been plaguing me daily for more than three years.
• I began falling asleep faster and sleeping more soundly than I can ever remember.
• I felt more relaxed and eliminated a vague feeling of anxiousness.
• I had more energy throughout the day and an increased ability to focus.
• My mood lifted, and I became more optimistic about other areas of my life.