When Your Mind Feels Wrapped in Cotton Wool

I'm standing in front of the fridge, door open, cold air on my face. I know I came here for something. I just have no idea what.

This happens more often than I'd like to admit. I'll start a sentence and lose the words halfway through. I'll read the same email three times and still not absorb what it's saying. Someone asks me a simple question and my brain just stalls.

It's not just being tired. It's deeper than that. My thoughts feel like they're moving through something thick and heavy, like there's cotton wool where clear thinking used to be.

For a long time, I thought this was just me. That maybe I wasn't focused enough, or trying hard enough. That other people weren't walking into rooms and forgetting why, or losing their train of thought mid conversation, or feeling like their brain had simply clocked out whilst their body kept going.

Turns out, I was wrong.

When It Got Harder to Ignore

I was in a meeting. A colleague asked me about a project I'd been working on for weeks. I knew the answer. I could feel it sitting somewhere in my brain, but I couldn't access it. The words wouldn't come. I stammered something vague and felt my face flush.

Later, sitting alone at my desk, I felt frustrated tears prick my eyes. What was wrong with me?

That evening, I started researching. Not because I had some grand plan, but because I genuinely needed to understand what was happening. This had to be something real. It couldn't just be me failing at basic functioning.

What I discovered was both validating and eye opening. Brain fog isn't a character failing. It's biochemical. And for someone juggling work deadlines, social commitments, irregular sleep, and the low level stress that's just become background noise, it's almost inevitable.

What I Learned About My Brain

Your brain uses roughly 20% of your body's entire energy supply despite being only 2% of your body weight. I'd never thought about that before. It's metabolically expensive to run all those thoughts, memories, and mental processes.

And when you're stressed, not sleeping well, eating meals on the go, and generally running on fumes, your brain starts running out of what it needs to function properly.

I'd never thought about neurotransmitters before. But these are the chemical messengers that allow your brain cells to communicate with each other. Every thought, memory, and emotion involves neurotransmitters doing their job.

The thing is, your brain has to constantly make these neurotransmitters. They don't just exist forever. And to make them, your brain needs specific building blocks.

When you don't have enough of those building blocks, your brain struggles to produce what it needs. That's when things start feeling foggy.

The Pieces I Was Missing

B vitamins aren't particularly exciting. They're not trendy superfoods or exotic ingredients. They're just vitamins. Basic, unglamorous vitamins.

But they're crucial for brain function.

When I read that Vitamin B6 helps your brain make serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, all those things that affect how you feel and think, something clicked. When you're running low on B6, your brain struggles to produce these neurotransmitters efficiently. No wonder everything feels harder when you're depleted.

Vitamin B12 is essential for nervous system function. It helps maintain the protective coating around your nerve cells. B12 deficiency can cause memory problems and cognitive difficulties. The tricky bit is that symptoms often show up before blood tests reveal a deficiency.

Here's the part that really got me: when you're chronically stressed, you burn through these vitamins faster than usual. Your brain is working overtime, processing everything, staying alert, managing your stress response. All of that requires more B vitamins.

And at the same time, when I'm stressed, I eat worse. I skip breakfast, grab whatever's convenient for lunch, maybe have a proper meal for dinner if I can be bothered. I'm taking in fewer nutrients exactly when my brain needs more of them.

As I kept researching, I found other nutrients that support cognitive function. Citicoline was one I'd never heard of. It supports the production of acetylcholine, which is crucial for attention, learning, and memory. Studies showed it helps with mental clarity and focus.

Then there's Ginkgo biloba, which has been used for centuries and is known for supporting blood flow to the brain. The research showed it supports neurocognitive function and memory.

Lion's Mane mushroom supports nerve growth factor. Korean Ginseng and L Tyrosine have both been studied for their effects on mental performance, especially during stressful periods.

Reading about all of this, I felt something shift. This wasn't about me being inadequate. This was about my brain not having the resources it needed. And that felt like something I could actually address.

What Brain Fog Actually Feels Like

I want to be specific about this because I think we sometimes dismiss brain fog as just being a bit tired or distracted.

For me, brain fog feels like forgetting why I opened the fridge door, walked into a room, or picked up my phone. Not occasionally. Multiple times a day. It's reading something and realizing I have no idea what I just read, even though my eyes moved across every word.

It's losing words mid sentence. I'll be talking and suddenly the word I need just vanishes. I'll fumble around trying to describe it whilst feeling increasingly flustered.

It's taking ages to make simple decisions. Standing in the shop staring at two nearly identical products, unable to just pick one and move on. Feeling exhausted even after sleeping. Waking up already tired, like my brain never properly switched off.

These aren't huge, dramatic symptoms. They're small, everyday struggles that add up to feeling like I'm not quite functioning at full capacity. Like I'm operating at 60% whilst everyone else is at 100%.

When I Started Supporting My Brain Properly

I started being more intentional about nutrition. Eating breakfast every day, even if it's just something simple. Making sure I had proper meals with vegetables and protein, not just carbs and coffee.

I also started taking a supplement specifically formulated for cognitive support. One that included B6 and B12 in forms that are well absorbed, plus citicoline, Ginkgo, Lion's Mane, Bacopa, Ginseng, and L Tyrosine. Everything I'd read about in my research, working together.

I didn't wake up the next day feeling like a different person. Brain fog doesn't disappear overnight.

The first week, I didn't notice much change at all. Maybe a bit more energy, but I wasn't sure if that was real or just wishful thinking.

By the second week, things started shifting. The profound exhaustion I'd been carrying began to ease. I wasn't constantly fighting to stay alert.

Around week three, I realized I'd had a whole conversation without losing my words. I'd read a document and actually retained what it said. Small things, but significant.

By week four, the difference was clear. Not dramatic. Not life changing in some transformation way. Just steadier. More present. More like myself.

I could think more clearly. I could remember things without that frustrating feeling of information being just out of reach. I could get through my day without feeling like I was pushing through thick fog.

Where I Am Now

I still have foggy days. Usually when I've been sleeping poorly or when work stress is particularly high. The difference now is that I recognize what's happening. I'm not depleting my brain's resources quite as aggressively, and I'm supporting the recovery process.

I've learned to pay attention to the early signs. When I start forgetting why I walked into rooms more frequently, or when I find myself rereading the same sentence multiple times, I know I need to take better care of myself.

Some weeks are better than others. Some weeks I'm on top of everything: eating well, taking my supplements consistently, managing stress reasonably well, getting enough sleep. Other weeks, life happens and I'm just doing my best to keep my head above water.

Supplements help, but they're not magic. They support your brain's function, but they can't replace actual rest, proper stress management, and consistent nutrition.

The goal isn't perfection. It's just being slightly better at recognizing when my brain needs support and actually providing that support before things get really foggy.

What Actually Matters

Brain fog is real. It's not laziness. It's not a personal failing. It's your brain trying to function without adequate resources.

I'm in my 30s, juggling work and life and everything in between. Managing the mental demands whilst also supporting my brain's actual biochemical needs is a real challenge. Add hormonal fluctuations into the mix and it's no wonder so many of us experience brain fog.

You're not imagining it. And you're definitely not alone.

Supporting your cognitive function isn't about becoming some optimized, high performing machine. It's about giving your brain what it needs to function reasonably well so you can get through your day without constantly struggling through fog.

It's about being able to remember why you opened the fridge door. About finishing sentences without losing your words. About reading something once and actually absorbing it.

Small things. Everyday things. But they matter.

There's something deeply relieving about discovering that what you've been experiencing has a name, a cause, and potential support. Brain fog felt so nebulous and personal. Understanding the biochemistry behind it made it feel manageable.

If you're struggling with brain fog, if you feel like your thoughts are moving through something thick and heavy, if you're tired of forgetting simple things and losing your words and feeling like you're not quite yourself, you're not alone. And there are things that can help.

I'm not going to tell you that supporting your B vitamin levels will transform your life. That would be overselling.

What I will say is this: if your brain is struggling, it deserves support. Not because you need to be perfect, but because being a bit clearer, a bit steadier, a bit more yourself makes all the difference.

It did for me.