Why Everyone's Brain Feels So Broken Right Now, Says Cancer Doctor — 'My Mind Feels Like It Has 78 Tabs Open'
It’s not just you. Our minds weren’t built for this world.
Jayson Hinrichsen | Unsplash We’re flooded with inputs our brains were never designed to handle. The result? Poor focus, memory glitches, and emotional fatigue. I’ve developed five daily habits — used with patients and in my own life — that help restore clarity.
I’ve seen more frazzled, forgetful, foggy patients this year than ever before. Not because they’re sick. Not because they’re old.
But because their brains are overstimulated and undernourished in ways we still don’t fully understand. “I forget words mid-sentence.”
“My brain feels like a browser with 78 tabs open.” “Even when I rest, I feel tired.”
These aren’t rare comments. I hear them every day — like the mother of three who told me she forgot her ATM PIN at checkout, or the tech worker who confessed he hasn’t read a full email in months. From executives. From teachers. From teenagers. This is a clinical reality, not just a vibe.
As a doctor, I’ve come to believe we’re living through a silent cognitive crisis, and that's why everyone's brains feel so broken right now.
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Not dementia. Not quite depression. Something subtler — and more pervasive. A kind of neural exhaustion from too many inputs, too few boundaries, and no clear way to reset. The science is beginning to catch up.
We’re starting to understand how constant stimulation physically reshapes the brain. We were never built for this.
This is what I see in the clinic every week: A lawyer tells me he’s making more mistakes in briefs than ever before. A college student describes losing interest in everything, even her favorite books. A nurse forgets common medication names during shifts.
None of them is sick. All of them are overwhelmed. And it’s not just mental. It’s physical.
Their nervous systems are stuck in a mild but constant state of fight-or-flight. Their pulse is up. Their sleep is down. And their minds can’t seem to slow down, even when their bodies try. We weren’t built for this.
Your brain doesn't work in modern life. In medical terms, here’s what we think is happening: Brain scans now reveal that chronic overstimulation — including scrolling, alerts, newsfeeds, and multitasking — shrinks the prefrontal cortex, heightens stress pathways, and overwhelms the brain with noise.
- Cortisol overdrive: Chronic stress, even mild, keeps the stress hormone cortisol elevated, leading to memory impairment and mood instability.
- Default Mode Network disruption: The brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) — active during rest and introspection — supports creativity, memory, and self-awareness. But constant task-switching and alerts suppress DMN activity, preventing the brain from entering deeper states of reflection and consolidation. Harvard and UC studies suggest this disruption may reduce creative insight and cognitive resilience.
- Dopamine dysregulation: Constant hits of novelty (social media, texts, headlines) mess with our motivation system. What used to feel rewarding — a walk, a conversation — feels dull by comparison.
The result: A pervasive sense that we’re always behind, always distracted, and never really resting. Here are the five strategies I recommend most often. Not supplements. Not brain games.
Here are five simple, evidence-backed tools that help reset the brain and make it feel less broken:
1. Start your day with a light, not a screen
Sunlight (or a 10,000 lux lamp) within 30 minutes of waking boosts alertness, mood, and circadian rhythm regulation. Scrolling does the opposite.
2. Protect at least one “deep work” block
Even 45 minutes a day of uninterrupted focus, with no pings or multitasking, can rebuild attention networks over time.
3. Reclaim boredom
Let yourself do nothing — no phone, no podcast, no input — for 5–10 minutes a day. This reactivates the Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain’s system for creativity, memory, and self-reflection.
The DMN becomes active when you’re not focused on external tasks — during rest, daydreaming, or mind-wandering. Doing nothing — especially without digital stimulation — helps engage this network, supporting:
- Creativity (idea generation, divergent thinking)
- Autobiographical memory
- Future planning
- Problem-solving rooted in personal experience
4. Use your eyes to calm the mind
Lateral eye movement — like looking side to side while walking outdoors or deliberately scanning the horizon — activates the parasympathetic system and reduces stress. Even 5 minutes of this, especially in nature, can lower heart rate and improve focus.
5. Schedule a daily digital reset
Choose a fixed time (even 20 minutes) when all devices go off. Treat it like a prescription. This single boundary can lower anxiety and help your brain transition from reaction to reflection.
One patient — a 39-year-old software project manager — implemented all five of these habits over a week.
By Day 4, her headaches stopped. By Day 6, she told me her memory had “snapped back.” By Day 7, she had read a book cover to cover for the first time in two years.
This isn’t magic. It’s neurology. A week of intentional habits can change how your brain feels and functions.
If your brain feels broken lately, it’s not a personal failure — it’s a system failure.
We are living in a world designed to fracture our attention and monetize our exhaustion.
But you can push back. You can create boundaries. You can heal your focus. And it starts with one habit.
Dr. Michael Hunter has degrees from Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the ebook: Extending Life and Healthspan.
