You can’t find your keys. You forgot the new neighbor’s name. You don’t remember why you went upstairs or what you were planning to make for dinner.
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you chalk up your mental haziness to late nights or serious partying. But when you’re a little older, you worry that “brain fog” means early Alzheimer’s is setting in.
Although not a recognized medical condition, brain fog is typically a term people use to describe symptoms of mental haziness. In addition to forgetfulness, symptoms that people report might range from fatigue and headaches to crankiness and lack of energy.
“Brain fog is an inability to really punch through,” Mady Hornig, M.D., tells Prevention.
“It’s a vague sense of what you’re trying to retrieve, but you can’t focus in on it,” she says, “and the effort to harness the thought can be as draining as physical activity.”
Health care providers say they’ve seen an uptick in the number of younger people, often baby boomers, who report mental fogginess.
I – Word Understanding
Chalk up – to say that something is caused by something (else)
Mental haziness – forgetfulness, lack of concentration
II – Have Your Say
1. What are some things you often forget? Are you worried about it? Some people with mental fogginess panic that it might be a sign of Alzheimer’s, the most common for of dementia.
2. What are the causes of brain fog? Let’s take a look at some possibilities:
– Not enough sleep
– Drug side effects
– Hormone issues
– Some health issues
“These people are in the prime of their lives, and the very thought of having dementia is causing them to panic. They are particularly fearful of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, knowing it is incurable and difficult to detect early on,” writes geriatric psychiatrist Marc Agronin in the Wall Street Journal. “Everyone needs to take a deep breath.”