There’s no doubt that fasting is a huge part of some peoples’ lives and it can be for good reason!
Whether it’s for religious purposes such as Ramadan, ensuring better mental and physical health or even helping to train your discipline and resilience to eat junk food, fasting is a powerful technique, which if done correctly can enhance anyone’s wellbeing.
To put it simply for those of you who’ve never heard of fasting, it’s an instance where you go without food or water for a certain period of time.
But with how complex fasting can be with all the ways of going about it, what exactly are some of the types of fasting that you can try?
With all these kinds of fasting techniques, the question is can fasting influence how productive you are and whether or not you can reach your true productive potential?
Well believe it or not, the link between fasting and productivity is closer than you think and can absolutely impact you productive potential! Here’s how…
You’ve probably been told at some point in your lives that you have to eat to keep your energy levels up. That food is like fuel for your body.
Well, even preventing your body from consuming food for a certain period of time through fasting can actually increase your energy levels, especially when it comes to your brain energy source. But how so you might ask?
The answer is ketosis!
Essentially, when you fast, glycogen stores in your liver are depleted within one to two days. This means glucose, found in carbohydrates like your common breads, pastas or pastries for example, is not a viable source of energy for your brain.
As a result, your body begins breaking down stored fat into fatty acids and glycerol through a process called lipolysis. These fatty acids are then converted into ketone bodies by your liver, an incredibly valuable source of energy for your brain!
What makes these ketone bodies incredible catalysts for your brain to encourage your productivity is that unlike glucose that requires insulin to be used by your brain cells, ketone bodies can be directly taken up by your neurons, offering much more energy for your brain to use up!
Have you ever consumed so much food that you feel sleepy, slow and demotivated? There’s no doubt this has happened to the best of us and is a great reason to try fasting or perhaps incorporate it into your weekly or monthly routines!
Given that metabolic processes such as ketosis can release chemicals which help support your neuron’s health, neurotransmitters in your brain can consequently be stimulated to release chemicals that improve your mood! Particularly the likes of serotonin and dopamine all of which influence your positive mood.
On top of this, fasting is generally associated with resisting the urge to eat and hence feeling hungry. Hunger is generally a great way to keep motivated and focused, because the desire to satisfy your hunger can actually encourage a higher drive to maintain high levels of productivity!
So far, we.ve covered how fasting can impact your mood and brain energy source, specifically through ketosis, but there’s more to fasting when it comes to your energy levels in general…
Fasting can actually be linked to combatting oxidative stress and neuronal damage, all of which are factors that can greatly reduce your productive potential.
You can find out more about how oxidative stress is combatted right here, where I talked about how zinc supplements can influence your procrastination and mental wellbeing, but as a whole, fasting is great for preserving your brain health against neurodegenerative diseases!
This is because ketosis has been proven to offer your brain sufficient energy while also promoting cellular repair mechanisms that can prevent damage to your brain health in the long run!
How could we not talk about your productive potential without mentioning mental discipline.
Inevitably, you will experience times where you may struggle to work on whatever it is that you need to do, whether it be learning, personal growth or perhaps a side hustle. Whatever it is, being able to work will at some point require your mental discipline to kick in as you need to have the will to work even in the uncomfortable!
Fasting is the perfect solution to helping enhance your discipline, because, remember, motivation to be productive is never permanent, but discipline can be! This is just one of the reasons why discipline is more valuable than motivation.
So how does fasting improve your mental discipline?
Well to put it simply, fasting is all about going long periods of time without eating. This can be a tricky time for many, especially when it comes to resisting delicious foods and sweet treats that are so eye-catching or smell too good to resist.
Nonetheless, exposing yourself to these irresistible temptations and encouraging yourself to resist them is what builds mental discipline; You’re training your mind to find comfort in the uncomfortable and this is fantastic for developing discipline to apply to everyday life, especially when it comes to working hard, despite not feeling like it.
It’s all well and good to know these benefits of fasting to your productive potentially, HOWEVER you must bare in mind that you need to do so in a safe manner!
Remember, that fasting can be detrimental to your health if you go about it the wrong way and could actually lead to adverse affects to your productivity, mood, mental and physical wellbeing as a whole!
Never go long periods without eating or drinking, especially if your new to fasting. This could lead nutritional deficiencies which can damage your body, eating disorders, mood swings and even gastrointestinal disorders in your body!
Don’t push yourself when fasting for the first time. Start off easy and slowly expand upon your fasting experience to ensure you do no harm to your body. For example, try fasting for an hour or two at first for a few weeks and slowly build this fasting period up hour by hour up to a realistic period that you think would work for you to see the benefits.
Decide what kind of fasting you think works for you. Do you want to water fast or partial fast?
It’s safe to say that fasting is the perfect solution if you’re looking to enhance your productive potential. Whether it’s you brain energy source, preserving your brain health or mood regulation, fasting is a fantastic experience if done safely and correctly…
