i can't brain this month, i have too much dumb.

August 10, 2006 11:38 PM

Why am I so scatterbrained? How can I get my brain back?

I moved to another country about a month ago for university, and I've noticed just how scatterbrained I've become. It's completely out of character for me. I don't get what's going on.

I keep losing my bags. Normally I'm really careful with my things, but these days I don't even notice something's gone until I start looking for it and realize "oh, it's not where I thought it was". Right now I'm trying to look for a bag I lost yesterday! I can't imagine where else it may have been; retracing my steps takes me nowhere and i distinctly remember bringing the bag back home.

I also have trouble remembering appointments. Usually I have a good memory when it comes to this. Now I don't even remember it unless someone reminds me. Typing/writing it up somewhere helps, but not much (sometimes I'd forget to write it up!). I'm even having trouble keeping track of what day it is today.

I'm forgetting simple tasks (like buying something I need or getting money off the ATM or whatever) and schoolwork is getting lethargic. It's hard to even READ the material, and it's not even something very jargonny. I usually have very good comprehension skills...

What's going on? Is the big move and transition affecting my brainpower? How can I get my brainpower and energy back? And how do I stop being so scatterbrained?

(I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I used to be treated for panic disorder & depression but I stopped meds about 2 years ago. I have been suspected of having ADHD (by docs) but I've never been officially tested and there wasn't a pressing need to get medicated.)

posted by divabat to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

Is this a country where you have to work in a different language? That's pretty tiring on the little grey cells even if you're perfectly fluent.

Or stress at the cultural transition - just getting used to new routines and ways of doing things.

More sleep, lots of water and a bit of time off would be my advice.
posted by athenian at 11:46 PM on August 10, 2006

Response by poster: athenian: No, it's all in English (I moved to Australia) which is functionally my first language. Even back home in Malaysia I used English mainly.

Might be stress. And I don't have time off until Wednesday, argh.
posted by divabat at 11:52 PM on August 10, 2006

Ritalin.
posted by delmoi at 11:53 PM on August 10, 2006

Major change in diet (less fish, perhaps)? Caffeine intake change?
posted by shoepal at 12:03 AM on August 11, 2006

Chill out: take some time off, go for a walk, go for a swim, go see a film, take some time to hang out. Figure out what your priorities are, and how to make more breathing room.
posted by MetaMonkey at 12:05 AM on August 11, 2006

After you quit your medication for anxiety/depression did you stay pretty stable? Is this the first major stressful event since you came of the meds?
posted by shoepal at 12:06 AM on August 11, 2006

Response by poster: delmoi: I'm trying to avoid MORE meds.

shoepal: Diet may be a big thing - it's less predictable. As for caffiene; I don't drink a LOT of coffee anyway (full glasses make me jumpy), now I just have a shot in my hot chocolate once in a while.

after I stopped meds, I was still adjusting but it's getting better. This isn't the first major stressful event; I've had more stressful events since I came off the meds, but I've been able to cope. The scatterbrain-ness is new though.
posted by divabat at 12:15 AM on August 11, 2006

I'd try to relax (yoga, pilates, long walks, etc.) but also try to stabilize your diet close to what it was in Malaysia. If you ate a lot of fish in Malaysia, but find that you aren't eating the same amount in Oz, you could try fish oil pills. Maybe some vitamin B.

If the scatterbrainedness persists, perhaps meeting with a Doc to test for ADHD might be in order.
posted by shoepal at 12:30 AM on August 11, 2006

I think that it may be due to extended "jet lag"... your body hasn't recovered from being turned upside down and forward.

disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle (such as those that occur with shift work or travelling to a different time zone) cause the physiological state known as fatigue. A fatigued person is accident prone, judgement impaired and more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions. *

It can take three days to recover from just flying from the west coast to the east coast of the U.S., and you've made pretty much the most extreme change in this regard, right? Even the season is opposite.

Also, read this about "chronobiological" issues related to jet lag and depression:

jet lag -- or sudden switches between locations with greatly constrasting day-night cycles -- can have long-term consequences for mood regulation in vulnerable people.

So, if this doesn't right itself, it will probably be a good idea to see a doctor.
posted by taz at 12:35 AM on August 11, 2006 [2 favorites]

I was going to mention circadian/sleep cycles, but a month seemed adequate for establishing equilibrium. Apparently that was an incorrect assumption. Thanks for the info, taz. Fascinating stuff. I'm wont to agree with your diagnosis.
posted by shoepal at 12:45 AM on August 11, 2006

Are there things that you would have been able to do for yourself back home that you're now depending on other people for? That can become a habit very quickly to the point where you lose confidence in yourself and start to feel helpless. If this sounds familiar to you, see what you can do to reestablish your independence. Spend some time walking around the area with a map until you're confident that you know where everything is. Learn the bus routes you need, find out where the best places are for entertainment and where you can buy life's essentials, generally take charge of your environment.

Having said all that, it just is hard moving to a new country or even just a new city - where I work we get people moving in all the time and it is generally expected that people are going to do very little useful work in the first few weeks. It's really hard to sit down and study difficult material when you don't have a permanent place to live and you have a bunch of stressful administrative things to sort out. Be gentle with yourself, but do also make a point of eating well and drinking plenty of water, it really does help.
posted by teleskiving at 3:50 AM on August 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

First of all, focus on pushing these things out of your head. Your mind shouldn't be tasked with managing your twenty things to do that day—it works for some, and things fall through the cracks for other.

Work on transitioning towards a reliable collection system: a PDA, an online todo or even a day timer. Form multiple "buckets" and categorize them in tiers. Large things go into an online system, day to day chores are scratched into the daytimer or PDA you have on hand.

If you find yourself parylized by the abudance of "stuff" to do, begin at the top of your list and write down the next step for each individual task. Don't go any further than that on any of them until you've completed the writing down of the next step. You'll feel markedly more organized and at least as if you're headed in the right direction. A great deal of stress is removed by simply having an idea as to where you need to go.

Next, read Getting Things Done by David Allen. The entirety of the thoughts I've posted above are paraphrased from just the first two chapters of said book, which is all I've thusfar read of it. (I received it last week.)

There are many real principles to managing your time and keeping your brain intact. Mine runs at what seems like 1,000 mph sometimes, and it's frustrating, because I feel like I could be doing anything, but have trouble moving forward with some things. I'm working on the "buckets" system and it's already helping immensely.

(As many buckets as you need but not too many buckets to manage, etc.)

Seriously, buy the book and use it to restructure your way of dealing with things. The scatterbrained elements will come into line on their own if you stop trying to hold so many tiny things in your mind.
posted by disillusioned at 4:06 AM on August 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

I've experienced the same problem (losing purses, jacket, keys, cell phone, bags, you name it) when recovering from emotional stress (i.e. my girlfriend broke up with me).
I think the problem lies in adjusting to a new situation. It is stressful but it will probably get better soon.
posted by Eirixon at 4:57 AM on August 11, 2006

taz: Malaysia to Australia is not a huge shift--if the OP is in Sydney or Melbourne, it's roughly equivalent to going from Seattle to Atlanta. S/he did say that home was Malaysia.

divabat: In my experience (US and UK), starting university studies usually dramatically increases the number of things that one has to keep track of, compared with school or many jobs. Each lecturer or professor has different expectations, each course has different requirements, etc. I know that I get scatterbrained when I begin to take on too many discrete tasks, even if all the tasks are relatively easy. It will probably get easier in a few weeks, but I second disillusioned's recommendation of David Allen's book Getting Things Done, which presents a system for getting all your projects and tasks down on paper so you don't have to worry about them anymore.
posted by brianogilvie at 6:55 AM on August 11, 2006

Ritalin.

Speaking as someone who is ADD, that stuff is forged by the devil himself. It turned me into a zombie and, yeah, sure, my attention span was excellent -- it tends to be when your brain feels like its running at 1/2 speed. I personally think the big R should be a last resort.

I'm a scatterbrain myself. I forget where I put stuff all the time. What I've trained myself to do is when I put something down, or have something I need to remember, I stand there for a second or two and say out loud to myself "dumbass, your keys are right here on the table -- don't forget" or something like that. I find it helps a lot. (You don't have to be as self-hating as I am, that bit is more part of my character.)

When I'm reading something that I can't seem to focus on, I either put it down and try and wait until I can focus better (some times it just depends on time of day, or other stuff I have going on). If that's not an option, I just make a whole lot of rough notes as I read. I find the switching between scribbling and reading sort-of embraces the low attention span, and then I can use my notes to retain the meat of the text I am trying to read. It helped me get through quite a few dry-as-dust programming texts in college.

Best of luck.
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:56 AM on August 11, 2006

I'm moving out of my apartment this week, quitting my job the next week, and moving out of the country the following week, so I have been pretty scatterbrained lately too.

I second the recommendation for TO-DO lists. The more you have stuff in writing, the less you have to keep track of in your head and/or worry about forgetting. On a similar note, maybe get in the habit of using a planner/calendar, even if only for a month or two and even if there are not many entries on it.

To avoid losing stuff, I recommend designating permanent spots where things belong. For example, keys are always to be placed on the kitchen counter, your school bag always hangs on the back of the chair in your bedroom, etc. and make sure you don't deviate from these spots.

Also be conscious of multi-tasking. You're more likely to lose your keys if you are in the middle of an engaging conversation when you set the keys down. - On preview, this is similar to what Dark Messiah is saying about stopping to consciously log your actions when it's something you'll need to come back to..
posted by p3t3 at 7:14 AM on August 11, 2006

I am absent-minded as well. Check out my AskMe thread here.

Becoming scatterbrained in a new country is no coincidence. In familiar environments, absentminded people can get by with a good set of long-established habits and routines (e.g. take the 8:05 train, put my keys in the entrance drawer). These allow us to coast by without having to think about everything as we do it (i.e. autopilot mode). But if we're thrown into a new environment, we no longer have the advantage of these habits, and have to think about every action we take.

My suggestion would be to reestablish your habits. Give yourself a very clear set of rules and protocols about doing things. For example, before you go to bed, here can be a routine:

(1) Make sure you've replied to your emails for the day
(2) Look at your calendar for the next day to see if there's anything special on it
(3) Look to make sure you have clothing for the next day
(4) Make sure you've done all your assignments

Another thing to do is to use lots of reminders. Use an electronic organizer (or one on your cell phone or PDA), and have it default to pop up to give you reminders, say, 1 hour before every appointment.

Also, make sure to finish everything you start. This is key for the absent-minded. Don't half-write an email, then plan your next day a bit, then come back to it. Just get one thing out of the way at a time. Multitasking is anathema to space cadets. Perfectionism might be the cause of this behavior; if you're a perfectionist and don't want to finish things unless they're 100% the way you want them to be, get rid of this behavior. It'll suck up all your free time.

Don't count on remembering something again later; you won't. Either make a note of it now or do it now.

Getting over absent-mindedness is a lot like quality control: you'll always forget about things, but with a good set of 5 or 6 strong habits, you can reduce your catastrophes (holy shit, I have a paper due in an hour) by a good 95%.

Good luck!
posted by lunchbox at 8:08 AM on August 11, 2006

I'm like this, and have been ever since I emigrated, so you may have to accept that this is just the way it is. Living in a different culture and all the things that come with it can be really taxing on your mind, but you tend not to notice because the lifestyle changes and adaptions you're making aren't discrete events with a start, beginning and end that you can process (like exams or Christmas) - they're all around you all the time and your brain is constantly working in the background to adjust to a routine different from the one it took 20 odd years to learn.

Diet is also definitely something to look out for, particularly since on emigrating you've got so much other stuff to deal with that your diet tends to suffer.

For an online to do list, try rememberthemilk.
posted by forallmankind at 8:14 AM on August 11, 2006

I don' t think the move is equivalent to Seattle to Atlanta, given that it's a completely different country. Even without a functional language barrier, there's still a cultural difference. (Though, actually, when my family moved from Chicago to Atlanta there was a fair amount of time getting used to the culture there, too.)

Everyone's got great suggestions, but don't discount culture shock. Even moving back to the US after a year abroad I spent several months severely discombobulated, tired, and depressed.

I would also assume that the university is new, either because you're starting your first year or simply because it's a new school. These are all big changes, and as much as we may try to power through them, they take their toll. Take care of yourself.
posted by occhiblu at 8:31 AM on August 11, 2006

I have had excellent luck with Omega-3 fish oil caps (which aren't *really* meds :-), and slightly less so, but still notable, with ginkgo.
posted by baylink at 9:40 AM on August 11, 2006

probably the stress of being in a new place, but i would also reccomend going to a doctor.. if you have a mild infection of any sort it can cause these symptoms, and allergens that you arent used to can also cause this stuff.
posted by trishthedish at 9:44 AM on August 11, 2006

You've moved to another country, new social scene, new food, new culture, and you've started a new school: I bet you're simply disoriented but otherwise fine. I've become distracted and forgetful from just moving across town or having a new job. The stress isn't acute enough to make you feel bad, but it's just enough to mess up your short term memory storage and concentration. Think of all the new bits of information your brain is trying to process! Worrying that there is something really wrong will add to the stress and make it worse, so like MetaMonkey and others suggests try to slow down at bit, take a few extra minutes each day to close your eyes and collect your thoughts. Try establishing a few new habits, new places for your bag, keys, etc. just for now. Your poor brain is spinning faster than you realize, so give it some love and I bet you'll be fine.
posted by tula at 9:57 AM on August 11, 2006

Have you just started college? My personal opinion is that people change a lot between 18 and 25 because teenagers' brains are still growing. I used to have such a good memory that I *couldn't* forget things... tell me a phone number I used once and a year later I'd still remember it. I never forgot appointments. I slept so soundly that you could set off dynamite next to me and I wouldn't wake up. Now I forget things all the time and sleep normally. I think that I just grew out of these things.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:19 PM on August 11, 2006

Late to the question. Welcome to Brisbane. The scatterbrainedness happens to me when I'm at risk of depression. I increase my exercise and scheduling, take time out to just sit, and remind myself that X is not as overwhelming as I am currently worrying.

Might it also be the change in seasons - moving from summer into winter (tho I know it's not terribly cold).

Good luck.
posted by b33j at 4:11 PM on August 11, 2006