What impact does fasting have on you mentally?
I’ve started fasting because I noticed it helped my anxiety. Once I get past that initial “hangry” phase, I actually notice that I’m more calm and honestly more cheerful. This is especially true in my last 5 or 6 hours of a 16 hour fast. After I break my fast the feeling kind of stays.
There seems to be a window. If I push myself over 20 hours I start to get hangry again.
Has anyone else felt any mental effects? Does anyone else fast for mental health?
DISCLAIMER AND TRIGGER WARNING: I’m not officially diagnosed, and I’m also not encouraging anyone to self-diagnose. I am going to respond to OP to share my experience. It’s still best to talk to your doctor.
I’ve learned that there’s a correlation between gut health and brain health. I got IBS before IF and experienced a panic attack that I’ve never experienced before. I even cried to my general practitioner, telling her how I feel I’m going crazy and need to be referred to a psychologist. She told me that when our gut is unhealthy, it also affects the brain.
With that said, I can say I am fasting for mental health too, on top of other things. I still have episodes of anxiety attacks but they’re manageable now, thanks to IF, because I became more mindful of what I eat and when to eat. and with that, there’s less brain fog, less anxiety. I can’t scientifically prove myself but it’s just how I feel and it works for me.
Definitely yes. I started IF for physical health reasons yet I did start noticing that I was less depressed. To compare, I have had chronic depression all my life and this year I found that almost every single day I would get hit with depression for at least half a day (usually in the evening).
After doing IF for 3 weeks I noticed that on many days the depression wouldn’t come. I never even knew that there was a mental health factor to IF so I was not expecting it and it’s not placebo.
I want to say I now only get depressed maybe 2 times a week, way less than how it used to be everyday. And when it does happen it’s more manageable. Very cool. I’m sure it may not help everyone with depression but it definitely did for me.