So not to alarm you, but an estimated 37% of people who get COVID-19 will just keep on having it … maybe for years.
Well, not COVID exactly, but symptoms that can really suck nonetheless—like brain fog.
Web MD, everyone’s favorite place to visit in the middle of the night when they’re having a random symptom, defines COVID brain fog as “a life-altering condition characterized by slow thinking, confusion, difficulty remembering things and poor concentration.”
WELL GREAT, says every parent everywhere. I’ve been feeling like that since my kid was born.
But this is different.
Scans show people with even mild COVID can lose gray matter in their brains—“equivalent to about one year of normal aging.” And it’s affecting executive function in particular, that part of your brain that juggles and organizes all the things you have to do each day and helps you get them done.
Most people with long COVID will have brain fog as a symptom, and it will look like losing track of a conversation, having a word on the tip of your tongue, looking for the detergent in the refrigerator. That kind of thing.
But you know what else can affect executive function? Surviving a worldwide pandemic featuring mass unemployment, political strife and now a war. In other words, stress and depression and anxiety. So first on the list if you’re feeling foggy is trying to sort out which came first, the chicken or the egg.
A visit to your doctor to make sure there’s not some other underlying health problem is job No. 1. For example, you can get brain fog from other kinds of viral infections.
After those boxes are checked, then you may have some cognitive testing in your future or even cognitive rehabilitation of the sort people do after brain surgery or cancer treatment. Studies have found some success with those kinds of therapies, though of course it is still early days and other methods are also being experimented with.
Aerobic exercise, proper sleep, a healthy diet and an active social life are some other things that could help. (But don’t we say that for everything? ☺ )