We’ve all been there. You’re staring at a screen, or maybe just the wall, and your brain feels like a browser with 47 tabs open, and three of them are playing music you can’t find like it’s in your mind but you can’t find words. This is what we call mental fog, and usually, the culprit is overthinking.
Overthinking isn’t just “thinking a lot.” In psychology, it’s often refered to as rumination. It’s the repetitive, unproductive circling of thoughts that leads nowhere except to stress. When you ruminate, your brain’s “executive function”, the part responsible for making decisions, gets totally jammed up. I honestly think we do this to ourselves more than we realize, especially when we’re tired or just super stressed out.
Why Our Brains Do This (The Science-y Bit)
When you overthink, you trigger a mild stress response, which releases cortisol. This makes it even harder to think clearly, creating a literal “fog.” Its kind of ironic, right? Your brain is trying to protect you by “thinking,” but it’s actually making you more stuck. This cycle is often explained through the Cognitive Triangle, which shows how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all tangled together.
The 5-Minute “Circuit Breaker”
In his book The Happiness Trap, Dr. Russ Harris talks about “hooking”, how we get hooked by our thoughts like a fish on a line. If you want to clear the fog fast, stop trying to think your way out of it. You can’t use the same tool that broke the system to fix it. Instead, try this 5-minute routine:
- The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique (2 Minutes): This is a classic grounding exercise used in CBT. Acknowledge 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. This forces your brain to move from the “abstract” (the overthinking) to the “concrete” (the physical world).
- The “Brain Dump” (2 Minutes): Grab a piece of paper. Write down every single thing worrying you. Don’t worry about grammar or if it makes sense. Just get it out of your head. In psychology, this is called externalization. Once it’s on paper, your brain feels it no longer has to “hold” the information.
- The Physiological Sigh (1 Minute): This was popularized by neurobiologist Dr. Andrew Huberman. Take a deep breath in, then a second short “sip” of air at the very top, and exhale very slowly through your mouth. This hack immediately signals your nervous system to switch from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest.” Honestly, this one is a life saver for when you feel that tightness in your chest.
Why This Works
The secret isn’t magic; it’s Neuroplasticity. By consciously shifting your focus, you’re training your brain to stop the loop. Over time, these 5-minute breaks actually rewire your response to stress.
As Viktor Frankl (a famous psychiatrist) once wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” Most people think they need to “solve” their thoughts to be happy. But the truth is, most of our thoughts are just noise. Learning to see the fog for what it is—just a temporary weather pattern in your mind—is the real secret to clarity. I used to think I had to have all the answers, but sometimes the answer is just to stop asking the question for five minutes and just breathe.