On Fasting

Posted on Sep 21, 2024 by Alex Alvarez

I’m 19.5 hours into a fast where I’m restricting myself to only water, coffee, and supplements (minus fish oil which could potentially break my fast). I’m writing this mostly to distract myself from eating but also to examine further the pros/cons of fasting. I started doing 24-hour fasts this year for two main reasons: physical health (autophagy) and mental health (exercising temperance/increasing impulse control). I’m hoping to be able to do 48 or even 72-hour fasts at some point.

At the moment I feel weak and loopy and certainly hungry. I thought I would eventually overcome the hunger and the sensation would phase out but that’s not the case. I also feel a little bit of brain fog similar to the kind I would feel if I hadn’t gotten much sleep. I can not say that I feel more focused or that any other performance metric has improved, however, I do feel “good” in the way that I don’t feel sluggish or full. As I write this, I find it hard to concentrate or put effort into writing well (sorry if you’re reading this and it sucks) which I’m assuming is caused by low blood sugar. I’m going to spend the rest of the article explaining autophagy, how to train the mind to develop better impulse control, and why you should consider fasting if you’re an obsessive freak like me.

The Body

Autophagy is a natural process that breaks down and recycles old or damaged parts of cells, allowing them to function more efficiently. All the longevity experts online preach fasting as one of the things you can do to elongate your life. Insulin sensitivity is crucial for managing blood sugar levels. Managing it can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Fasting also inadvertently helps reduce the number of calories you eat which leads to losing weight and 82.3% of adults are at least overweight if not obese or severely obese. There are some additional benefits of fasting that deal with reducing oxidative stress and inflammation but those effects, although statistically significant, are relatively small compared to superior methods respectively.

Autophagy is a cellular process that is triggered by nutrient deprivation. If you eat even a small amount of food your body receives a signal that nutrients are available and the autophagy process is paused. “Breakfast” comes from the idea of breaking your overnight fast.

The Mind

As an adult, it’s much more difficult to create new brain cells (neurogenesis) when compared to a child. Fasting seems to promote adult neurogenesis. God knows I need all the brain cells I can get but there seem to be other psychological benefits of fasting.

Impulse control is the ability to resist the urge to act on a strong impulse or temptation. In personality theory, impulse control is most closely tied to conscientiousness which is the dimension of personality that’s strongly linked to success as it influences how we respond to emotions, temptations, and stressors. Short-term fasting is of course linked to reducing impulsivity which is something I always strive to improve in my own life.

Nuance

I want to express that fasting can be good but it does not mean it’s for everyone. It’s very important, especially for older people, to maintain muscle mass. It’s very important, especially for diabetic people, to not let your blood sugar drop. There are many obvious exceptions and nothing on this page is medical advice, not even close. This is just documentation of my experience with fasting.