Its like the old stressors don’t seem like that big of a deal now compared to not eating 23 hours a day.
I don’t know about any biological process that might support this, but what I noticed is my confidence has greatly increased. If I can integrate such a drastic lifestyle change in a year and lose that much, there’s no reasons I can’t accomplish other difficult things. This last year has been all about pushing myself hard, on many aspects of my life, and IF has been the seed that motivated me to try harder on everything else.
It also decreases the inflammatory response in the body due to not continually feeding it processed foods all day. Which leads to higher stress tolerance by not also fighting inflammation, insulin spikes, etc at the same time.
I’ve read a lot about how exposing your body to small amounts of stressors in a safe environment, eg a cold shower at home, helps your body handle stress better in general. I’ve read that fasting is considered one of these stressors.
For me it helps with other areas because it’s one less thing to worry about. I did spend a year or so doing cold showers and I found I was less reactive in general and it really helped with my public speaking.
I think I’ve been doing 16:8 and 20:4 for the last 2.5 months and I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in my anxiety levels. My husband is in the hospital with cancer right now and I don’t think I could see me from a year ago handling this trauma like I am handling it now. I actually take less anxiety meds than I did 6 months ago
More likely you have taken control of something which is very empowering , and as such your whole demeanour has likely changed. At work I have seen the people who have lost weight got healthy also seen to progress afterwards . I presume it’s the same thing , increased self control and positive view o&ones self ,
My anecdotal evidence: yeah bro my blood pressure has always been my way of telling my stress because it’s so sensitive to increasing stressors in my life. Been doing IF since April and went from 150/90 range to 120/70 range. But usually when you start IF, you also make other life changes to be healthier. I know I did. So does IF alone cause this, or could it be multiple factors working synergistically?
Peer-reviewed evidence you might want to read on IF and cognitive function (cognitive function and stress are related in many ways): Thought this one was pretty interesting and they actually included a lot of studies surrounding Ramadan fasting
This other one is more up my alley but if you’re interested in the science behind improving brain function on a molecular level and how IF correlates, this is an interesting read!
You can Google scholar this and there’s a bunch of new interesting research coming out! K my nerd moment is over
So, by introducing something new that you find stressful, the old ones don’t seem so bad? I suppose that’s true. Once you’ve been at it a while, though, I think you’ll find it becomes somewhat routine, so that effect may not last.
Many people find that IF makes them cranky, short tempered, etc. That, too, should wear off if they’re able to stick it out long enough that it just becomes habit.
It certainly makes hunger less stressful. I don’t know that it helps me with other stress but never getting “hangry” does help. Instead of getting stressed, forgetting to eat, then worrying about that I can know that it’s A -OK to just eat tomorrow, no problem.