It’s happened to most of us—one second you’re knee-deep in work, driving down a familiar road, or folding laundry, and the next, your brain seems to hit pause. You’re left with no memory of the past few seconds or even minutes. What were you thinking about? Nothing. Literally nothing. It’s not distraction, and it’s not daydreaming. It’s something else.

Scientists call this phenomenon mind blanking, and according to a new study published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, it's not just a casual glitch. It's a real and distinct state of consciousness—one that may help us better understand how the human brain works, and what happens when it suddenly goes quiet.

A team of researchers from Belgium, France, and Australia reviewed over 80 existing studies and added their own data, exploring brain activity during these “blank” states. What they found challenges the idea that we’re always actively thinking or feeling—even when we’re awake.

“Mind blanking is not the same as mind wandering,” said lead researcher Thomas Andrillon. “In blanking, there’s an actual absence of reportable mental content. The lights are on, but no one’s home—so to speak.”

People in the study reported feeling as if their mind had emptied, like a thought vacuum. They weren’t imagining something, daydreaming, or distracted. They were simply… blank. And for the first time, science is catching up to what that really means.

How Often Does Mind Blanking Happen?

The researchers estimate that mind blanking can account for 5 to 20 percent of our waking life. That’s not a small number. And like most mental phenomena, it’s highly individual.

People with ADHD report more frequent blanking episodes, as do those with certain neurological or psychiatric conditions, including traumatic brain injuries, anxiety, and rare disorders like Kleine-Levin syndrome. Others experience it occasionally—typically after sustained mental effort, sleep deprivation, or intense physical activity.

In other words, when the brain is either overstimulated or exhausted, it sometimes takes a momentary break, whether we ask it to or not.

This isn’t just about self-reports or journal entries. Researchers used tools like EEG (electroencephalography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to analyze what happens in the brain during these episodes.

EEG data revealed a fascinating clue, during mind blanking, parts of the brain show activity similar to what we see during local sleep—a phenomenon where only certain regions of the brain enter a sleep-like state, even while a person remains awake. The signs? Slower brain waves, reduced signal complexity, decreased heart rate, and even smaller pupil size. All of these are biological signatures of the brain checking out, even temporarily.

Meanwhile, in fMRI scans, people who were instructed to "think of nothing" showed reduced activity in major areas of the brain, including Broca’s area (linked to speech and thought), the hippocampus (linked to memory), and the supplementary motor area. It suggests that the “blank” state may involve a coordinated, large-scale dampening of neural activity.

But researchers caution: deliberately trying to think of nothing isn’t quite the same as the spontaneous blanking that happens mid-task or mid-thought. That’s one of the nuances they hope future research will untangle.

Mind Blanking vs. Mind Wandering: How to Spot the Difference?

The study makes a point to distinguish between mind blanking and mind wandering. The latter is when your thoughts drift to unrelated things—a dinner plan, a past memory, a mental to-do list. The former, however, is a mental void.

Mind wandering is filled with uninvited content. Mind blanking is an empty room. “This is a distinct state of consciousness,” said co-author Jennifer Windt. “It’s as direct and intimate an experience as bearing thoughts—except here, there are none.”

Understanding that difference is critical, especially when it comes to diagnosing neurological conditions, evaluating attention disorders, or designing cognitive therapies.

Why Some People Blank-Out More Than Others?

Why do some people’s minds go blank more often than others? Genetics, brain structure, stress levels, and even personality may play a role, though this area of research is still in its infancy.

What we do know is that blanking tends to occur at the edges of arousal—when your brain is either highly activated (like during a test) or barely engaged (like while commuting). Both extremes can temporarily disconnect your conscious awareness from active processing, creating a fleeting but real “blank” space in the mind.

Could This Be Dangerous or Useful?

Mind blanking can be disorienting, especially if it happens while driving, cooking, or performing tasks that require awareness. However, most instances are harmless.

What’s less understood is whether frequent blanking is a sign of something deeper—like cognitive overload or neurological decline. Some researchers are exploring whether excessive blanking could one day serve as an early marker for conditions like dementia or chronic fatigue.

Others see potential in studying blanking for mental health interventions. Could we harness that “empty” state therapeutically? Could guided mind blanking calm an overactive brain the way meditation does? These are the questions that researchers like Demertzi and Andrillon want to explore next.

Mind blanking is still a gray zone in cognitive neuroscience. There’s no consensus on how it works, how to measure it reliably, or whether it's a single state or several different experiences bundled together.

But what this new study does offer is validation: if your mind goes blank sometimes, you're not broken. Your brain might just be doing its thing—resting, resetting, or recalibrating.

“We believe this line of inquiry is both timely and necessary,” said Andrillon. “There’s still so much we don’t know about consciousness. But by looking at what happens when thoughts vanish, we might get closer to understanding what it means to have them at all.”

That fleeting blank moment isn’t just mental static—it’s part of the complex dance of consciousness. While it might feel like your brain has briefly stopped working, research is beginning to show that these pauses are neither random nor empty. They could, in fact, be telling us more about the brain’s inner rhythms than we ever imagined.

Food is one of the best ways to de-stress when you are working under pressure and are worried about things in your life. However, relying only on food to cheer you up can lead you down a path that can increase your blood sugar and put your health at risk.

High blood sugar is much more common than people realize, in 2022 adults over the age of 18 years were living with high blood sugar. What’s surprising is that a lot of them did not even know they have high blood sugar. However, why is high blood sugar a cause of concern?

What Happens When Blood Sugar Is High?

When blood sugar levels stay high for a long time or get very high, it can cause serious, permanent damage to your body. This can lead to nerve damage in your hands and feet, vision problems, and even a life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. If you have high blood sugar, your doctor might have you test for ketones, as a high level of these can be a sign of this dangerous condition.

Symptoms of high blood sugar usually appear gradually and may not become noticeable until your blood sugar levels are quite high. The most common signs to watch for are:

• Feeling very thirsty.
• Peeing a lot.
• Feeling weak or tired.
• Having blurry vision.
• Losing weight unexpectedly.

14 Day Routine That Can Lower Your Blood Sugar

For people with diabetes, several things can cause blood sugar levels to rise. These include being sick or feeling stressed, eating too many foods that are high in sugar or starch, not being as active as you normally are etc.

According to the post, this 14-day plan to help manage blood sugar without relying solely on medication. These tips focus on diet, physical activity, and timing to help you control your body's blood sugar levels.

Avoid Sugary Drinks and Refined Grains

Cut out drinks like sodas, juices, and sweetened teas, as they cause a rapid spike in blood sugar. Similarly, processed carbs like white bread and white rice break down quickly into sugar. Instead, choose whole grains.

Eat Cinnamon Daily

Adding just a half-teaspoon of cinnamon to your morning tea or food can help improve your body's sensitivity to insulin, which is the hormone that moves sugar from your blood into your cells.

Start Meals with Fiber-Rich Salad

Eating a salad first can help slow down the digestion of the rest of your meal. The fiber in the salad creates a kind of protective barrier in your gut, which keeps your blood sugar from spiking too quickly after you eat.

Choose Complex Carbs

Instead of simple carbs, like those found in sweets and white flour, choose complex carbs. These are found in foods like whole grains, vegetables, and beans. They are rich in fiber, which helps your body absorb sugar more slowly and steadily.

Replace Sugar with Natural Sweeteners

Try using natural, zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia or monk fruit instead of regular sugar. These can satisfy your sweet tooth without affecting your blood sugar levels.

Eat Small, Frequent Meals

Eating three big meals can lead to large blood sugar spikes. A better approach is to eat several smaller meals throughout the day. This helps keep your blood sugar levels more stable and prevents extreme highs and lows.

Physical Activity and Other Habits

Walk 20 Minutes After Every Meal

A short walk after you eat can do wonders. Physical activity helps your muscles use up the sugar in your bloodstream for energy, which prevents blood sugar levels from rising too high.

Drink Bitter Gourd Juice

This traditional remedy is often used to help manage blood sugar. Drinking it three times per week may support your body's ability to use glucose effectively.

Scientists have long been puzzled over how the brain clears away its own waste. Unlike the rest of the body, which relies on the lymphatic system to carry waste from cells into circulation, the brain appeared to have no such mechanism. That mystery shifted about 12 years ago when researchers discovered the glymphatic system, a network that acts as the brain’s built-in cleaning service.

The glymphatic system works by circulating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through the brain’s tissues. This fluid enters the spaces between brain cells, collects waste, and carries it out along large veins. In animal studies, particularly in mice, the system appears most active during sleep. That discovery suggested that sleep might be essential for brain detoxification, and disrupted rest could interfere with waste clearance.

Among the most important toxins flushed out by the glymphatic system is amyloid beta (Aβ), a protein that, when accumulated, forms sticky plaques in the brain. These plaques, along with tangles of tau protein, are a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease—the most common cause of dementia worldwide.

The idea that better sleep helps the brain clean itself is more than a scientific curiosity. It may help explain why people who consistently struggle with poor sleep face higher risks of dementia.

In humans, levels of amyloid beta in cerebrospinal fluid rise during waking hours and drop during sleep, suggesting that rest is when the brain “takes out the trash.” In one striking experiment, researchers kept healthy adults awake for a single night. Just 24 hours of sleep deprivation increased amyloid beta in the hippocampus, the brain region essential for memory and one of the first to show damage in Alzheimer’s disease.

Still, questions remain. While several mouse studies indicate the glymphatic system is most active at night, other recent experiments suggest it may work differently depending on the time of day or even the species. The debate highlights how much more we need to learn about how this system functions in humans.

How Do Sleep Disorders Increase Risk of Dementia?

Not all sleep is equal. Short-term sleep loss is harmful, but chronic sleep problems can be particularly damaging to brain health.

Sleep Apnoea

Sleep apnoea, where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, deprives the brain of oxygen and fragments rest. Both oxygen deprivation and chronic sleep disruption are thought to contribute to toxin build-up in the brain. Importantly, studies show that patients treated for sleep apnoea—often with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines—see greater clearance of amyloid beta. This suggests that treatment may help restore the brain’s waste-disposal rhythm.

Insomnia

Insomnia, defined as difficulty falling or staying asleep, has also been linked to higher dementia risk. While the association is clear, the mechanism is less so. Does insomnia accelerate amyloid build-up? Could treatment reverse the trend? Researchers are only beginning to explore whether therapies—such as orexin receptor antagonists, a new class of sleep drugs—might improve toxin clearance.

Untreated sleep disorders don’t just leave you tired—they may be undermining your brain’s long-term health.

Can Sleep Prevent Dementia?

While early findings are promising, science isn’t yet ready to declare sleep a cure for dementia. What researchers do know is that sleep deprivation can rapidly alter amyloid levels in the brain, and chronic sleep disorders such as apnoea and insomnia are associated with a higher risk of developing dementia. Treating sleep apnoea appears to improve amyloid clearance, though evidence regarding the effects of insomnia treatment remains limited.

What remains uncertain is whether improving sleep directly reduces dementia risk. Large, long-term clinical studies are still needed to confirm the link. Researchers are actively pursuing this question, measuring proteins like amyloid beta and tau in blood and spinal fluid across sleep-wake cycles, in both healthy individuals and those with sleep disorders.

The global dementia burden is growing. Alzheimer’s and related dementias currently affect more than 55 million people worldwide, with cases expected to triple by 2050. While scientists race to develop new drugs, lifestyle measures—such as improving sleep—are emerging as powerful, accessible tools for prevention.

If better sleep helps the glymphatic system flush out harmful proteins, prioritizing rest may be one of the simplest ways to protect long-term brain health. That means:

• Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule.
• Addressing sleep disorders like apnoea with medical guidance.
• Seeking help if insomnia is chronic.

While the science continues to evolve, the advice remains practical: treat sleep as essential, not optional.

The glymphatic system is a reminder that the brain, like the body, needs maintenance. Just as poor diet, smoking, or lack of exercise take their toll, chronic sleep disruption may leave toxins lingering in the brain, setting the stage for cognitive decline.

The exciting part is that this field of research is still in its infancy. Scientists are mapping the biology of how the brain cleans itself and testing new ways to boost that process. Whether through targeted drugs, therapies for sleep disorders, or simply protecting natural sleep cycles, the future may bring strategies to slow or even prevent dementia.

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women all over the world. It is the most common cancer diagnosed in American women and a leading cause of cancer death in less developed countries. In India alone, cancer cases are projected to reach over 1.5 million by 2025.

Since this disease is so widespread, it's essential to be well-informed. Dr. Lauren Ramsey, a breast cancer surgeon, shared four important facts that she believes every woman should know. These tips, originally posted on her Instagram, provide crucial information for understanding breast cancer risk and detection.

Family History Is Not the Only Risk Factor

Only a small number of breast cancer cases—about 5-10%—are actually caused by genes you inherit, such as the BRCA mutation. This means that most breast cancers are not passed down through families.

Therefore, even if no one in your family has ever had breast cancer, it's still extremely important for you to get regular screenings, like mammograms. Relying only on family history can give you a false sense of security, so remember that breast cancer can affect anyone, and consistent check-ups are your best defense.

Look Beyond a Lump

Many people think that the only sign of breast cancer is a lump. However, this isn't true. It's really important to pay attention to other changes in your breasts, because they can also be a sign of cancer.

Be on the lookout for things like changes in your skin, such as redness or dimpling (like an orange peel). Other signs can include swelling, a new pain that doesn't go away, or any unusual discharge from your nipple. Knowing what your breasts normally look and feel like is key to spotting these more subtle changes early.

Breast Density Affects Detection

Breast density refers to how much fibrous and glandular tissue a person has compared to fatty tissue. Many people, especially younger women, have naturally dense breasts. While this is completely normal and not a health problem on its own, it can make it harder for doctors to see breast cancer on a standard mammogram.

That's because both dense tissue and tumors appear white on a mammogram, making it difficult to tell them apart. If you have dense breasts, your doctor might recommend extra tests, like an ultrasound or an MRI, to get a clearer picture. You can ask your doctor about your breast density after your mammogram.

Lifestyle Changes Can Make a Difference

The healthy habits you often hear about—like eating well and exercising—are not just a suggestion; they can actually lower your risk of developing breast cancer. Making simple changes can have a big impact. Try to limit the amount of alcohol you drink and reduce your intake of processed foods, which are often high in sugar and unhealthy fats.

At the same time, try to be more physically active every day. Even a short daily walk can help. These positive choices are a great way to take control of your health and reduce your risk. This information is shared with care, so everyone can be empowered with knowledge about their health.