[Closed] Terrible brain fog impacting ability to do job. Anxiety?

I am going to go with Anxiety.

If anything, exercise clears the mind. Unless you're not refuelling properly.

Being an IT contractor I am now getting worried that I will not get renewed as sometimes I feel like I am in a totally confused state for the whole day and feel really spaced out.

Permie, lead for a full HQ move, feel like this all the time for the last few months 🙁

It's anxiety. I can't help much as I'm not sure how to help myself beyond getting this done or myself sacked (I don't want to leave), but you have my sympathy - the joy is really out of life right now.

have always questioned my ability at how well I do my job

Likewise. I think it's a good thing.

What bongo said.

Does it only happen at work? Thinking not affected when dealing with issues at home or other settings? Feel panicky as well?

Anxiety makes itself known in a variety of ways. Talking to the GP when I had problems has seen some fairly effective treatment, and got work to try and put appropriate support in to get me back up to speed

Agreed with anxiety.

There is a well known syndrome called 'imposter syndrome' or something like that where you are certain you are rubbish at your job even when you are doing well. Its common among people on contracts

I used to get very similar issues. As a scientist/academic my sceptism was overiding my ability to believe any results, was constantly looking for where I'd made a mistake rather than looking at what the results meant. As someone constantly working on 1-3 year short term contracts with a pretty brutal measure of career success (publications/citations/grants won), its easy to assume you are not good enough.

While I still get similar feelings, the more excersize I do. the less I am affected.

If possible try to go for short walks in fresh air at coffee time, lunch (longer walk) and mid-afternnon. Makes a massive difference.

Edit. I've not tried it but a friend with worse anxiety than i had really recommended mindfulness.

Also perhaps improve your sleep quality? No coffee/caffeine late at night, no screens (blue light) for 1-2hrs before bed etc.

yeah I'm going to suggest anxiety too. With perhaps a side-order of fatigue.

18 months ago I started a new job which I didn't really have a clue how to do, and was putting in a fair amount of stressful extra hours while I tried to get my head around it. I found the brain fog coming on (quite an odd feeling, had never had it before) and it affected my sleep too - which was annoying because sleep was the best cure.

Fortunately as the job got easier it receded after a few weeks. But it made me realise I'm not cut out to do a real high-pressure job long term!

That does sound like anxiety, i get that and have let it get bad enough in the past to have panic attacks.
Sit back and plan what do you actually need to do to get the job done and put it into basic tasks, start with No.1 on your list so you can tick something off. Makes life a lot easier on yourself and you can see progress.

Try not to think about work outside of work as well, that will only exaserbate things. Distract yourself by doing something where you can relax and switch off, maybe go for a pint with a mate or go to the cinema. Let your brain relax and process things and it'll get clearer

Is this something that typically kicks in September to April? It could be a symptom of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Other symptoms include depression; erratic sleeping including not feeling refreshed after sleep; anti-social tendencies; bad stress management etc.

Probably anxiety.

Though I can get a heavy brain fog if I'm properly exhausted, near the end of a heavy training block for example or after days of poor sleep with the kids. Often wfh so will sometimes go for a nap, can be more productive to nap for half an hour and work for the rest of the day rather than sitting in a brain fog the entire day.

I am definitely affected by the seasons. When it's 30c and sunny I feel alive, when it gray and cloudy I feel very different. The thought of summer ending is always something I struggle with. I don't think that is the cause of my issue.

Maybe it is time to reevaluate things and consider a different direction. Impostor syndrome is something that I have struggled with for many years and being honest I don't think I will ever get over those thoughts. At 44 and being in IT dev, those thoughts only get worse as you are constantly battling with those 20 years younger and trying to keep abrest of technology.

It's nice to earn a good day rate, but sometimes the urge to step into something different which does not have those challenges is very strong.

I recently had blood tests done with the GP and they came back all fine. But I wonder if anxiety at work and exercising too hard for too long just creates adrenal fatigue?

I don't stress about things outside work, but I do constantly think about working in IT and getting out of it.

Breaking tasks down into small chunks does seem like a good idea, otherwise, my brain just becomes like scrambled egg and I flit from one thought to another before ending up confused and ready to run for the door screaming "I can't do this" 🙁

I suffer from this terribly. Was on secondment this time last year and had real bad anxiety as I wanted to do the job well but felt (understandably) out of my depth - imposter syndrome was mentioned, that gets me leading to paranoia, increased anxiety, irrationality - its nasty circle. My memory suffers terribly as well which doesn't help when you have people asking for details from emails 6 months back...

On the exercise thing, it has mixed effects for me. On one hand it just contributes to fatigue which increases anxiety and low mood. Occasionally it has the opposite effect but generally if I feel low when exercising it doesn't do much to improve things beyond the period I'm exercising for.

I hate it, genuinely a black cloud over my non-existent "career".

There are books to help get your head into shape - The Chimp paradox is the only one I've stuck with and it has a positive effect, albeit not lasting.

@Jimmy - I can relate to everything you have mentioned in your post. Memory is shocking and I struggle to remember conversations with work colleagues from just a few days ago.

Do you feel it has got worse as you have got older?

I know exactly what you mean and Jimmy's post above is good as well. The fog of panic descends and if you're in the right mood it can be quite exhilarating but mostly it's a big handicap to clear thought.

I avoid it by making sure I get enough sleep, deal with issues as soon as possible and keep my work environment calm, collected and well organised by writing myself notes and keeping records. I've been getting this for 30 years and at just over 60 I don't think I'm heading for dementia yet, so don't worry about it; it's normal.

Has it got worse as I've got older? Well, I've only really worked it out in recent years as it got ridiculous after starting my current job 6 years ago. The team I came into was very cliquey and one person was just a bully which heaped the pressure on me and intensified everything. I now have clarity on it and would just tell her to **** off, but back then I felt like the whole department was against me and I had to stop and work out why I was getting depressed on a regular basis. Whether I'm now suffering the lasting effects from that, I'm not sure but because of it my confidence is pretty much shot in my day job (EDIT: although I should add its not a job I've ever been particularly enthralled about so have no motivation to succeed in it).

The silver lining is that the way things have worked out, I currently have **** all to do at work so no stress meaning I can get home to enjoy time with my daughter.

I think key to it all is realising there are many people in the same boat and many genuine imposters. The fact you get anxious means you probably care and that counts for a lot more. Just relax and remember its all a big game of bullshit bingo!

anxiety

I recommend mediation. Its a skill you need to learn, but if you put a little (and I do mean a little) its magic. Try the calm app for starters.

Interesting...

Always associated "brain fog" / difficulty in focusing with physical and or mental exhaustion - after big rides, 24hr races, cumulative days of work travel or periods of silly long work hours. Resilience to long hours / hard work has definitely reduced over my 40s. I can put the extra effort in (exercise or work) but definitely pay more for longer afterwards 🙁

Never really considered anxiety (same as stress?) as a cause - but would certainly contribute to poor sleep when otherwise dog-tired, but unable to get meaningful rest and recovery. It's recognisable in colleagues as well, but difficult to remedy... with any line manager intervention often contributing to more anxiety 🙁

and energy levels through the floor... Which prompts coffee, chocolate, sugar, less sleep and less fitness 😐

I heard an admissions tutor at a Cambridge college describe how he suffered from imposter syndrome, only arrogant onanists don't suffer from it (he didn't say that exactly).
Get a SAD lamp from Maplin for your desk at work and 20 mins of that in the morning will be quite helpful.

and energy levels through the floor... Which prompts coffee, chocolate, sugar, less sleep and less fitness

yes, add all that that into the cycle.

I've currently got this. I'm a Salesman in a US Corp at 40% to target. For the first time in my life I'm worried I might not have a job soon.

I'm desparately in a fog trying to work out alternative ways of selling something, as I'm about to go 2 quarters in a row without selling more than 5% of my target.

So er yes, anxiety.

Single task breakdown and completion helps a lot if you're feeling that the whole thing is too much. You just have to be ruthless with the thought of 'I'm doing this bit till its finished, the rest can wait till its done'. Over time, the completed bits add up, and you start to see progress, which gives you confidence and the cycle improves.

As for the exercise, yes, it does help, but maybe you're doing too much or trying too hard when you're out and about ? On the 3hr mob ride, do you put pressure on yourself to try harder, go faster, beat the last time? And do you get frustrated when you don't go harder, faster or beat the times? All those thoughts add to your stresses and anxiety, even though its your home life/recreation time away from work.

I'm a firm believer in downing tools and taking time out on occasion. You have to have a break where you can recover from all your stresses - both at work AND at home.

So perhaps a wee change in life strategy for a short while might help. For example

At work - simple task breakdown / completion / rest - think of what you need to do, break it down into its simplest steps. At the end of each step, stop for a minute, look away from the tasks, , close your eyes, breathe smoothly and think good job, that steps complete. Re-compose yourself, and start moving onto the next simple step and repeat. Don't rush into the next step.

At home - chill out with the cycling. You're anxious about work, so you could try and make a point of making your home time a place where you can relax and de stress. Yes, exercise is great, but as mentioned a hard hard cycle can add more stress on you rather than de-stress. - thus leading you to stressing at work and hom. Why not make a point of a relaxed cycle ride for 3 hrs. Sit up, don't try as hard, stop every 10 mins and take a breather, listen to the sounds around you, look at the scenery. Stop at the tea shop for a brew. Take a camera and make a point of taking a photo of something you see that interests you each time you stop. Make the cycling relaxing and not something you put requirements of yourself on. When you get back from the ride, just think that was a nice ride. Who cares how long i took, I enjoyed it.

This easier pace gives your mind time to de-fog. As you're immediate task of easy pace cycling is not working to a target, it doesn't need to concentrate too much on the cycling , allowing it to switch off and sub conciously process background tasks and information - such as defogging the work issues. It sounds daft, but i've been there and to me thats what happens.

Yes, when you're bimbling along, thoughts of work will pop and you'll have a wee think about them, but they'll drift away again and you'll think of something else, and this will happen a lot. But to me, thats you're mind just sorting out, having a wee think, and filing the clutter and clearing up the background issues.

In fact, its during such times of chilled out riding that some of my best thoughts of how to deal with work have come to my head. You might get a wee spark of idea of how to do something and when you get to work, you can use it.

Its not easy being stressed, but my experience is that you have to give the mind time to sort its clutter, and for me, the best way is to head out and do something where you're not held to task of any sort that lets you take your mind off things.

At work - simple task breakdown / completion / rest - think of what you need to do, break it down into its simplest steps. At the end of each step, stop for a minute, look away from the tasks, , close your eyes, breathe smoothly and think good job, that steps complete. Re-compose yourself, and start moving onto the next simple step and repeat. Don't rush into the next step.

Stopping to reflect on the progress of a task no matter how small is a great idea. I will start trying that as of now.

At home - chill out with the cycling. You're anxious about work, so you could try and make a point of making your home time a place where you can relax and de stress. Yes, exercise is great, but as mentioned a hard hard cycle can add more stress on you rather than de-stress. - thus leading you to stressing at work and hom. Why not make a point of a relaxed cycle ride for 3 hrs. Sit up, don't try as hard, stop every 10 mins and take a breather, listen to the sounds around you, look at the scenery. Stop at the tea shop for a brew. Take a camera and make a point of taking a photo of something you see that interests you each time you stop. Make the cycling relaxing and not something you put requirements of yourself on.

I never stop on MTB or road rides. MTB rides tend to be me on my own for 3 hours taking in every mountain climb I can find in the area. Getting a buzz from 10 minute climbs where my HR is not far off max (188 bpm).

I suspect that adds a fair degree of stress to the body. Stopping to take in the surroundings or even for a drink is something I should also try rather than trying to get a KOM on a section.

Like your muscles, your mind needs recovery time. Concentrating hard in cycling is not letting that happen. Having to process the trail, the speed, the effort (including the push yourself when climbing) places a tremendous workload on your mind, it's not getting a rest, when really, it needs to.

Cut it all back and just granny gear the hills and look around you and take it in. You'll notice a lot of thing you hadn't before. You'll likely think about a lot of things when you see those new things too.

Give it a try, cut it right back and go for a bimble.

Sometimes this forum really comes up trumps. I recently started a new job after a looong time out (and not really working at my last place knowing redundancy was coming). New job couple of months ago and so much anxiety. A lot of the time just as described here. I get a techy guy on the phone and suddenly the screen in front of me shows a load of nonsense! He tells me stuff and I just sit there going duh yeah. Imposter syndrome is the perfect description and I'd never heard of it before. Have taken a couple of days off at the moment to chill out and I think the stuff in this thread is going to really help from Monday onwards. Welll done fellas.

Fatigue is a symptom of anxiety and when you add excercise, which stresses the body on top of it you can definately make things feel worse.

You need to learn to ignore that little voice in your head as well as the brain fag - it will eventually go away.

What a lot do is battle the thoughts and symptoms, thus creating more stress which creates the symptoms. Vicious circle.

Mayby worth one trip to the Dr to confirm?

I used to have really bad anxiety and the symptoms you get are pretty strange - quite easy for you to worry it is caused by something else.

I suffer a bit here and have always had a rubbish memory - I had memingitus when 5 and the prognosis was either dead or a vegetable so I can't complain too much.

I am also getting divorced and having to deal with the paperwork and finances, buying/selling houses, haven't exercised for ages (wallowing in the situation a bit) and my new kitten is robbing me of sleep as I have to keep her away from the other cat at night otherwise they are just running round after each other all night, yowling and squealing when under attack, and I get no sleep.

So here's my tips :

Monster energy will kick you out of it if desperate.

Green tea works well, and if you have to drink a lot of it then just think of the stats that people that drink over 5 cups of it live longer.

Not all forms of exercise are equal. At times I am feeling a bit depressed atm but a run will do wonders to combat it, whereas a cycle or turbo session will only be partially successful.

Often forcing myself to write stuff down works well, instead of attempting, and failing, to organise it in my head.

In IT just make sure you keep reading decent books, this will put you ahead of most people in the workforce by a long way, even these days.

You cannot learn everything on the job, particularly if there aren't good people around you. You can, however, learn a lot from keeping up with the prominent 'players'.

If you can VPN in to work then offload some of your workload onto a Saturday, or weekend mornings before everyone else gets up. This relieves some of the pressure during the week so you don't have to do such long days, and coding at a weekend can be quite calming as you know you won't get any interruptions.

The wkend thing is true. I used to actually enjoy the work early on a wkend morning with a big coffee. It's a way more relaxing way to work.

coding at a weekend can be quite calming as you know you won't get any interruptions.

I always find Friday afternoons unusually productive, no idea why, possible as everyone is winding down and it's a less busy time of the week. Often work late on a Friday for this reason....

This thread is impeccable timing and very interesting experiences showing similarities is proving to be quite a relief ("at least I'm not the only one").. It also shows that some people are more susceptible to self doubt than others. Never heard of 'imposter's syndrome' until now and reading I can see parallels. I had a meltdown a couple of weeks ago but reflecting on it, it was principally work-related through a combination of events over a three year period leading to feeling as though I've had a massive 'fall from grace'. Having been driven like the wind and a workaholic as a junior consultant, then promoted to team leader role (which is fine) but now the expectation is for winning new business which went great for a while. Picked up new clients through early successes but after several months on and I couldn't meet their expectations = massive self doubt, getting more confused about what I needed to do to meet the client's brief despite these being well within my comfort zone = stress and increased anxiety. So then getting more nervous and anxious, drinking a lot of coffee (generally don't drink coffee), having a beer every night after work to calm down. To combat the anxiety, I upped my riding to/from work from a mid-tempo potter to high tempo with hilly intervals in training for a SDW sub-24hr double. Straight out of a meeting, long day travelling back, late night then next day at 4am I was on the SDW. After that (bailed on the return journey but did manage a sub-12 hour one way), then a few days off and now booked some time off to re-evaluate my career. It sounds corny but I keep thinking about Cougar 'throwing in his wings'! This thread has helped to put the experiences into context.

Much of this rings true with me also.

Variety of things I put it down to with me.

Anxiety on and off (which rarely is directly down to something obvious to be anxious about, it just kicks in for no rational reason). Anxiety does weird things and puts the body in a lot of stress and then when it wears off, it's like I've been running a marathon, utterly shattered. Though got it fairly under control these days and ride it through. Bike rides are a major relief hence ride more. Though that itself becomes addictive.

Tiredness due to poor sleep patterns. Tiredness possibly due to post ride come down, especially if I've done a fair few rides in the week and then there's a gap as I seem to crash a day or few days later.

Possibly food related. I love my pasta but it's not doing good things I think, digestively and mentally. Beer/wine isn't helping either.

Comes and goes. Some days feeling bright and alert, some get a fog and feel very tired.

Any coincidence that also an IT contractor? 😉 I can certainly identify with the impostor syndrome though. As a contractor you distance yourself from politics and corporate affairs and events, which is good, but then you feel an outsider. But then you think of the money and how many bikes that will buy 😀

Re "imposters syndrome". I suffer from this also, it takes people outside me to tell me how lucky I am, and even when I'm looking round to try to find the social riders I've left behind, I don't believe I'm in any way a good competitve cyclist.

It's worth having a read of the short book "the power of accepting yourself" by Michael Cohen. It's on Amazon for about£2 recently. Met has a great section on "Pefection Paralysis" but also judging yourself by your ability, not your outcomes.

Vis a vis, is a good Salesman better for selling a £1m deal in year one than not selling that deal in year 2? He may have worked just has hard and be just as skilled but circumstances didn't go his way in year 2. So , is that person now worthless and rubbish at their job? Only if you judge by the outcome but not if you analyse the individual (in the majority of cases of course)... Is my summary of one of the examples. So the Salesman in question should not feel worthless, his skills and experience did not suddenly diminish.

Sounds flippant, but are you getting enough Vitamin D3? I'm noticeably more relaxed and happier since I started taking D3 supplements.

Cutting out "zero calorie" aspartame drinks helped me a lot.