Savvy solutions for smart woman
Misplaced your mobile or arrived in a
room with no clue why you’re there? Experts call it ‘brain fog’ and we’re all
falling victim. Here’s how to clear it
Give your brain a workout
Are you forever losing things or forgetting
names? It’s caused by a lack of attention, says Linda Blair, psychologist and
author of Say Calm Stay Healthy: Defend Yourself Against Stress and Improve
Your Health (Readers Digest, $19.5). ‘If you can’t find your keys, you weren’t
concentrating when you put them down. If you can’t remember someone’s name, you
weren’t making a conscious effort to retain it when you met’.
How to do it: interact and focus
‘Having a designated place for your keys
and phone will make you mindful of what you do with them’, says Linda. ‘To
retain facts, work on embedding the information at the time’, she says. ‘If
you’re introduced to someone called Florence, repeat it our loud and use it in
conversation: “Please d to meet you, Florence. That’s a nice name, I bet you
get loads of and the Machine jokes”’. You might sound over keen, but it’s less
embarrassing than calling her Fiona a few hours later.
Put your brain on a diet
‘Being constantly distracted is the leading
cause of brain fog and it’s on the increase’, says Linda. ‘You open your mouth
to make a point in a meeting, then realize you’ve no idea what you were going
to say. You stop work every few minutes to read emails and half face to face
conversations to check texts. We’re all slaves to social networks, always
contactable, always checking and our brains can’t keep up’.
How to do it: have a daily digital detox
Set aside ten minutes a day to turn
everything off your computer, phone, Kindle. Go back to basic and make a paper
list of what you need to remember or simply give your brain a breather. Also,
always put everything on silent at night. ‘Let people know you’re doing it’,
says Linda. Otherwise you’ll be wondering if people are trying to contact you,
which is distracting in itself. ‘Set an email response or voicemail saying you
pick up messages twice a day. It will stop you feeling so in demand’.
make
a paper list of what you need to remember or simply give your brain a breather.
Wake up your brain
Your brain needs oxygen to function. ‘When
you’re tired, your breathing becomes shallow, which inhibits blood and oxygen
flow to the brain’, says Linda, which, in turn, makes you forgetful. ‘When
you’re stressed and tense, you hold your breath which gives the same result
brain fog’.
‘When
you’re tired, your breathing becomes shallow, which inhibits blood and oxygen
flow to the brain’
How to do it: get moving
‘Exercise is the single best solution for
an oxygen starved brain’, says Linda. ‘If you’re regularly leaving home without
your lunch or forgetting to buy that birthday card, step up your physical
activity each week, even if it’s just a brisk walk between bus stops’. If you
really can’t leave your desk, do some simple stretches on your chair. ‘You’ll
soon shake off the cobwebs, get that blood flowing and your neurons firing
again’.
