So, I have a touch of anxiety in general. Nothing extreme, but I am just kind of jumpy with a low startle threshold. I’ve been doing 20 hour fasting since the beginning of January and I have noticed times when my body just feels slowed down. So I don’t feel like it’s a bad thing because I wonder at times if this is what a calm body feels like. My movements seem slower and more fluid. I don’t react quite as quickly but at the same time I don’t feel as though my ability to function is diminished. I’m wondering if anyone else with anxiety has noticed the same effect during long periods of fasting.
Just thinking out loud but one of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting is that it retrains your endocrine system and hormone response (most notably insulin but also adrenaline, cortisol, etc.) and resistances.
It could just be that previous eating habits - not to mention stressors that induced those eating habits - were influencing your cortisol & adrenaline in the past.
As always, ymmv and this is all speculation.