Why your cognitive load may be causing anxiety (and how to deal)

Stress & Anxiety

Aug 22

Written By Calm Editorial Team

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA

Your cognitive load can play a big part in your stress and anxiety levels and your overall wellbeing. Explore the different types and 9 tips to help you calm your mind.

At any given time, you probably have dozens of tabs open in your brain. Sure, you’re focused on the task at hand, but in the back of your mind, you’re also keeping track of the errands you need to run, the meetings you have to attend, and the plans you’ve made with the people you love.

This is called your cognitive load, and if it gets too heavy, every decision can feel like the most important one. You might start to feel stressed, irritable, and paranoid that you’re just two seconds away from everything falling apart.

This unsettling feeling doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture in your life, though. By making small changes to the way you handle your responsibilities, you can start to feel lighter and more organized.

Here’s everything you need to know about the cognitive load, and most importantly, how you can manage it with greater ease.

What is cognitive load?

Your cognitive load is how much mental effort your brain is making at any given moment, particularly the parts that handle short-term thinking, processing, and decision-making.

When you’re only juggling a few things, you probably feel productive and in control — and you may find that your cognitive load even helps prioritize your to-do list.

But of course, it’s always possible to have too much of a good thing. When responsibilities pile up, your focus may fade, your memory can get patchy, and even basic decisions can start to feel harder. Before you know it, exhaustion and burnout can set in.

3 types of cognitive load

Psychologists have divided cognitive load into three main types. Understanding what type you’re struggling with can help you figure out how to shift your energy.

Intrinsic load: This is the effort required by the task itself. Some things, like learning to drive or having a difficult conversation, just take more brainpower. You shouldn’t avoid these tasks, but by recognizing how you might feel afterward, you can build in some recovery time.
Extraneous load: Extraneous load refers to avoidable clutter that makes life harder, like loud environments, unclear instructions, and poor sleep. Reducing it is usually the most direct path to relief.
Germane load: Germane load is the effort your brain puts into learning, integrating, and making sense of what you’re doing. It typically leads to growth and clarity, so the goal is to minimize the tasks that compete with it.

Why cognitive load can make you anxious

When your brain gets overwhelmed, your body may react. Here are six ways this type of load can impact your nervous system, leading to anxiety spirals:

1. Your brain stays stuck in “alert mode”: Too many decisions or an overload of emotional stress can keep your body activated. Your breath can get shallower, and your muscles can become very tense.

2. You lose your ability to filter: With high cognitive load, your brain has a more difficult time distinguishing what’s urgent from what’s not. This can make things like replying to a text or choosing a dinner recipe suddenly feel as stressful as preparing for a job interview.

3. You become more reactive: When your memory is overloaded, your capacity for thoughtful responses shrinks. Small frustrations can feel bigger, and you may be quicker to anger.

4. You start to catastrophize: Cognitive overload can make it harder to process things rationally, causing you to spiral.

5. You feel like you’re falling behind — even when you’re not: Overload can distort your sense of time and progress. You may feel like “you’ve done nothing all day,” even if you’ve actually been productive.

6. Your body can’t relax — even when the work is done: When cognitive load is high for too long, your nervous system stays on high alert. This might cause dread to linger.

How to handle your cognitive load: 9 tips for a calmer brain

When your brain gets overloaded, even thinking about how to calm down can cause you to spiral.

Here are some gentle tips to help you settle when life feels overwhelming.

1. Offload your brain onto something else

The more information you try to keep in your head, the less headspace you have for problem-solving or decision-making. To reduce the pressure on your memory, write everything down, from grocery lists to your swirliest thoughts.

Try this: Instead of lying in bed worrying that you’ll forget to email your boss, jot it down so you’re sure to remember it the next day.

2. Do one thing at a time

Multitasking might feel productive, but it actually splits your focus and increases your cognitive load. When you switch tasks, your brain has to reorient itself, which burns energy.

Try this: Try mono-tasking — focusing on one thing for a specific period of time before moving on to the next. For example, you might answer emails for 20 minutes and then switch to the next task.

3. Use templates, routines, and defaults

Automating the basics helps give your brain more room to deal with the unexpected and lowers your cognitive load.

Try this: Lay out your clothes at night and set up calendar alerts for recurring tasks you keep forgetting to do.

4. Limit input

The information we consume—like social media and news—can quietly overload our brains. Notice when input is making your thoughts feel faster or heavier, and then pause when you can.

Try this: Enjoy five minutes of silence after finishing a task before you pick up your phone or start the next thing.

💙 Learn how to Build Healthier Phone Habits with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar and create a better relationship with technology.

5. Use physical anchors to reset your nervous system

Grounding techniques can help interrupt the mental chaos and bring you back into the present. You might try feeling your feet on the floor or splashing cold water on your face when you feel overwhelmed.

Try this: Stand up and take a big deep breath, then remind yourself: “I’m allowed to pause.”

💙 Build more awareness by listening to this Grounding meditation with Tamara Levitt.

6. Reduce visual and environmental noise

Messy desks and background clutter can subtly increase your cognitive load. Make an effort to tidy your space, even if it’s not perfectly clean.

Try this: Close browser tabs when you’re done with them, turn off nonessential phone notifications, and clear one corner of your workspace so your eyes have a place to rest.

7. Make time for rest

Rest lets your brain process and recover, so be sure to build in a few unstructured and undemanding moments throughout your day.

Try this: Stare out the window, doodle, take a walk without a podcast, or sit quietly for 10 minutes.

8. Name what’s hard

Naming what’s weighing on you, even briefly, can help externalize your cognitive load and soften the pressure.

Try this: Text a friend when you’re overwhelmed. Who knows? They might be feeling the same way.

9. Give yourself recovery time

Mental energy is finite. If your cognitive load has been high for a long time, you need to actively recharge by doing something low-effort and nourishing.

Try this: Take a short nap, watch a show you’ve seen before, or eat something comforting to help your brain rebuild capacity.

Cognitive load FAQs

Is cognitive load the same as mental fatigue?

Cognitive load and mental load are connected, but they’re not the same. Cognitive load is about how much mental effort you’re using in the moment. Mental fatigue is what sets in after your brain’s been overworked for too long.

Think of cognitive load as the pressure, and mental fatigue as the consequence. The more consistently your brain is overloaded, the more likely you are to feel drained and foggy.

How does cognitive load impact anxiety?

When your cognitive load is high, your brain struggles to filter, and everything can feel urgent. This can activate your stress response, which is the same system your body uses to respond to danger. As a result, it can make you more reactive and more sensitive.

Over time, this can snowball into an anxiety that feels untethered from any one source — because it is.

What is cognitive load theory?

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is a framework for understanding how we process and retain new information. It’s about how mental effort can either support or sabotage learning.

If you’re trying to learn something new, your brain needs enough bandwidth to focus on the important parts. If you use that bandwidth on confusion, distractions, or poorly structured information, learning can become inefficient or impossible. While CLT is mostly used in teaching and design, it also applies to everyday life.

How can I tell if I’m experiencing cognitive overload?

If you’re experiencing forgetfulness, decision paralysis, or you’re feeling mentally foggy, you might be experiencing cognitive overload.

Cognitive overload can also be subtle. It can creep in through small ways until your capacity just runs out. If even thinking feels difficult, it might be time to lighten your load.

Does multitasking increase cognitive load?

Multitasking can increase cognitive load significantly. Each time you switch tasks, your brain has to shift gears and rebuild context. That costs time, energy, and mental clarity.

While some people feel like they’re good multitaskers, research shows that most of us are just rapid task-switchers. These switches, over time, slowly drain our working memory, leading to more mistakes, slower performance, and higher mental strain.

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Calm Editorial Team