

It leaves us feeling sleepy and impairs our mental performance first thing and can last about 90 minutes, or even up to four hours in some people. Sleep inertia is the name for that groggy feeling you get right after waking up. Sleep inertia: There is one form of short-term brain fog that hits us all each morning: sleep inertia.We cover ways to feel more energetic after an all-nighter here. When you’ve been awake for about 18 to 20 hours, you’ll have the same level of cognitive impairment as if you had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1%, which is higher than the legal driving limit. The “recycle rate” of the brain is about 16 hours, meaning staying awake for longer than this can cause your mental performance to start taking a hit. Staying up late or pulling an all-nighter: You don’t need high sleep debt to build up over time for a lack of sleep to cause brain fog, however.


Sleep debt from sleep disorders like sleep apnea can also cause brain fog symptoms. Insufficient sleep can even cause symptoms that look a lot like concussion. If your sleep debt is higher, this might be behind your brain fog as sleep deprivation can cause lapses in attention, a decline in cognitive abilities, memory loss, and fatigue. We recommend keeping sleep debt below five hours to maximize your energy and mental performance. The RISE app can work out your individual sleep need and how much sleep debt you’re carrying. High sleep debt: Sleep debt is the running total of how much sleep you owe your body compared to your sleep need - the genetically determined number of hours of sleep you need.
