You’re Not Making It Up–Hormonal Brain Fog Is Real

Thinking about all the times I’ve just...blanked since becoming a mother

Have you ever opened your mouth to say something and immediately forgotten what it was? Okay, same. Between motherhood, hormonal changes, sleep disruptions, and just the general everything-ness of life, mental sharpness can feel elusive.

After childbirth comes the largest drop in hormones a human will ever experience in their lifetime.

I remember agreeing to do a big work project just weeks after my son Ozzie was born. I was just sitting home breastfeeding and monitoring naps—how hard could it be? I’ve always been a good student, but despite my best efforts to research and prepare, I just wasn’t nailing it. It was a frustrating, almost out-of-body experience. Why couldn’t I figure this out?

And then I got it: Oh, this is why people genuinely take time off after having a baby.

Hormonal fluctuations throughout a woman’s life—like those in early motherhood and perimenopause—can have a major impact on how your brain feels and functions. You might experience it as a mental fog, forgetfulness, trouble focusing, a lack of creativity or motivation, or plain old fatigue. It’s easy to brush off as “just being tired,” but these shifts are rooted in real biological changes.

If any of this sounds familiar, I’m glad you’re here. You can turn this around—from key nutrients to supportive lifestyle practices, there’s plenty of tools you can use to feel more focused, clear, and like yourself.

So what’s really going on?
Though they happen at different life stages, the root causes of that foggy, forgetful feeling are surprisingly similar: hormone fluctuations, nutrient demands, poor sleep, and stress—lots of stress. During pregnancy and postpartum, estrogen and progesterone levels rise and then plummet. After childbirth comes the largest drop in hormones a human will ever experience in their lifetime. Let that sink in. In perimenopause, estrogen begins a slow, chaotic decline. These hormonal shifts impact everything from mood and memory to how your brain processes information.

And as women, we tend to push through. We deprioritize ourselves when we need it most. I’ve had so many clients and friends tell me they’ve just “accepted” this fog and fatigue as their new normal—motherhood is just exhausting, right? But there’s a difference between tired and depleted. And when that depletion builds up, it often shows up in our choices: more caffeine, sugar, wine, takeout—you know what I’m talking about. It’s a vicious cycle that can feel impossible to break.

What can you do? (That actually works)
When you feel strong in your body, you’re more likely to feel strong in your mind. So, I like to take a full-court-press approach to tackling this: optimize your nutrition, dial in your lifestyle routines, and support your body where it needs a little extra help through smart supplementation.

Nutrition—eat for brain health
Eating a whole foods, blood sugar balancing diet rich in plants and high-quality protein (and low in sugar, alcohol, and processed foods) is a powerful foundation for cognitive support (and just general overall health). Here are a few key nutrients for brain health:

What is a neurotransmitter? Basically your brain’s communication system. They help your brain cells talk to each other and play a big role in how you feel, focus, sleep, and handle stress. And, they’re made from nutrients like amino acids, B vitamins, and choline.

I know, I know—it’s a lot. But eating a balanced, whole foods diet should cover most of your bases (I’m sure there are many foods on this list that you eat regularly). And if you need to fill in a few gaps, some strategic supplementation can really help.

When it comes to supplements, I always advocate for a food-first approach, but sometimes we need a little extra support. Needed has become one of my go-to supplement brands because their formulas are thoughtfully made, research-backed, and designed for women across life stages. If you’re looking to optimize your nutrient intake, here are a few options:

• Cognitive Support: Includes Alpha-GPC (a bioavailable form of choline), adaptogens like lion’s mane, reishi, and ashwagandha, and antioxidants like lutein, and zeaxanthin. It’s designed to support memory, focus, a healthy stress response, and long-term brain health.

• Women’s Multi: Provides b vitamins, zinc, vitamin D, antioxidants, and more to help optimize your cognitive health. If you’re breastfeeding, keep up with your prenatal, which also contains choline.

In a Needed in-market study of 90 women, 92% of women taking Cognitive Support saw an improvement in overall cognitive function, while 78% reported an improvement in their mental clarity and ability to concentrate.

• Sleep + Relaxation Support: A gentle, melatonin-free blend of magnesium, L-theanine, glycine, and chamomile to help you unwind and actually rest.

• Omega-3: Delivering 1000 mg each of brain-supporting DHA and EPA (most products don’t come close), using sustainably sourced, third-party tested fish oil.

• Prenatal Choline: Choline is an under-appreciated power nutrient for your brain. This is a great option if you’re pregnant, postpartum, or just not getting enough through food.

You don’t need every supplement all the time, but they can make a real difference in how you feel when you need a little extra boost. If you want to give a Needed product a try, feel free to use my discount code MIA20.

Lifestyle tools—focus on the basics
These aren’t revolutionary tips (you know all of them already), just powerful reminders to keep your focus on the fundamentals and continue to prioritize yourself:

• Optimize sleep (hold the eye roll, friends): Even small upgrades help—magnesium before bed, a screen-free bedtime routine, blackout curtains, an eye mask.

• Manage stress (as best you can): You can’t eliminate it, but you can buffer it. Think: blood sugar balance, walks outside, breathwork, time in nature, journaling. Adaptogens like ashwagandha can be great here, too.

• Move your body (bonus points for taking it outside): Even gentle movement improves blood flow and boosts mood. That said, building muscle is the ultimate cognitive hack—it helps reduce stress, improve sleep, boost your mood, and even decrease the risk for dementia and age-related cognitive diseases.

I just want to close this out by saying something cheesy but true: you deserve to feel like yourself. Life changes are challenging, and it can be really difficult to figure out if the change is you or everything around you. So, whether you’re postpartum, perimenopausal, or somewhere in between, I hope these tips and tools give the boost you need to help you feel clearer, sharper, and more like you.

Not sure where to start? Choose one thing! Commit to eating more home-cooked meals, eat a balanced breakfast, plan some intentional snacks, supplement wisely, and focus on those lifestyle foundations.

Thank you to my friends at Needed for sponsoring this post. Needed isn’t just a supplement company, it’s a community of women—mothers, doctors, nutritionists, and more, delivering research-driven products to help improve women’s health and overall wellbeing.

Last year, they launched a research study to better understand nutrient status among pregnant women taking a daily prenatal supplement. The results were impressive:

• Women taking the Needed Prenatal Multi capsules had significantly higher blood levels of multiple key nutrients for pregnancy including vitamin D, vitamin B6, Riboflavin, vitamin B12, vitamin K2, and selenium, compared to the women taking the standard prenatal.

• Only the women in the Needed Prenatal Multi group fell within sufficient ranges for Vitamin D (>40 ng/mL) and Vitamin B6 (>5 ng/mL)

• Nearly 80% of women reported receiving little to no nutritional advice from their OBGYN.

You can find more information on the study here.