I think there are conflicting interpretations here. Fasting insomnia is different from nighttime hunger. The former is caused by counter-regulatory hormones such as cortisol, which you don’t want elevated in the evening. The latter could be from a more complex hormonal cascade.
In my experience with ADF, it was more likely to be the former. Often, I was not hungry at night but I still had that wired sensation which is similar to the affect of caffeine.
Fasting should feel natural and relatively easy. If it ever feels difficult or stops you doing what you want or need to do, you should not be fasting.
I put insomnia firmly in that category. If fasting is causing you to miss sleep, you should not be fasting. Try something else. Like a few others here, I think OMAD could be right for you.
Cheers
Alec
That’s a very sweeping generalisation. If fasting did not present any hardship I doubt it would ever have been utilised by various religions. Observations aside, the fact is counter regulatory hormones increase. Sooner or later, that will interfere with sleep.
What does it have to do with whatever we should do…? And we know fasting is hard for many people. And easy for others to some extent at the right time.
In the case of most people, I am with Alec. If fasting gets hard, I stop, obviously 
But I can imagine special cases where forcing it (to some extent) may be the smaller bad. Or someone just want to do it and they know what are they doing…
Many people forces keto too, to get healthier or something. It doesn’t come naturally most of the time. But for me, force is out of question (unless I am pretty sure I need it for health or I am desperate. once I forced fasting, I didn’t eat when I was hungry at bedtime. NEVER again, I always wake up as a zombie but that was some serious level, a bit similar to sleeping in 90% humidity. no proper rest. but it’s me, my SO slept hungry zillion times without more problems than what hunger already provides)…
But fasting is different, one can be healthy without it while a good diet is pretty important. So it’s very rarely worth to force it too much. Trying a bit harder (like when I wait until a real need to eat, it’s not trivial to me) is fine unless it triggers bad things but being “strong” and suffering, I can’t condone that without some super good reason when there is simply no better way…
Not sleeping because of lack of food is extremely serious and unhealthy though, I say one should stop then.
Good point and omg, just rememered that back in the day when I lived in a commune (I’ll wait for the snickers to die down), we fasted on a regular basis for spiritual reasons. I could not begin to remember what those reasons were (lol) but I do remember being very good at it and feeling great.
Right on.
This is so truly insightful, it’s hilarious. Thanks for the morning lift!
And @robintemplin, you’re cracking me up, too. Bless you (in the biblical sense). 
What a great start to this glorious day!
So you’re out of breath on the staircase, take the elevator. It’s too cold outside, stay indoors.
I’m not being funny here but trying to succeed at most things involves getting out of your comfort zone.
I get out of my comfort zone sometimes and I should do it more indeed, I am working on it.
(And I know it’s totally not the point but I go out when it’s cold. I stay indoors when it’s hot. My activity suffers in summer but sometimes I go out even then. But yep, I go out only in good weather and I don’t plan to change that much… If it works, why to embrace ascetism instead of my natural hedonism? My inner hedonist runs the show, I should be realistic…)
But I listen to my body and try to give it what it wants and I know it’s the best I can do.
Thirst means I should drink. Hunger means I should eat. It’s quite simple to me…
Fasting for religious reasons is a completely different issue to fasting for health reasons, they really cannot be compared.
It’s not an optional thing when done for religious reasons, the people doing it have to continue despite feeling bad (and yes, I have seen them struggling). The reasons are completely different.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one. On such topics, I am normally reluctant to draw correlations and rely more on clinical evidence. And choosing the subject of religion was an equally poor lack of judgement on my behalf.
For an excellent description of fasting as a religious practice, read A Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster. I think you’ll find it fascinating.
As Allie mentions, the religious motivation for fasting is very different from the reasons advocated by Dr. Fung, say. Though even religious people themselves often misunderstand this point, religious disciplines are actually not about torturing oneself, but rather about freeing oneself from mental and emotional attachments that hinder one’s spiritual progress. Any physical benefits are irrelevant. By contrast, the discipline of fasting for health reasons comes from a different mindset, focuses on different goals, and places great value on the physical benefits.
Back in the early 70’s when I lived in the commune and we fasted regularly, my main memory of fasting was that I felt like I was high on speed (an even earlier experience). Euphoric energy.
So you’re out of breath on the staircase, take the elevator. It’s too cold outside, stay indoors.
I’m not being funny here but trying to succeed at most things involves getting out of your comfort
“Embrace the suck!” Meeting challenges promotes growth. You can’t borrow your way out of debt or overeat your way out of bad health. There is a fine line between fasting and starvation. Fasting is going to have side affects for the duration of the fast. Starvation is injurious. Fasting is “easy” in that there’s no injury. But it’s still challenging. It requires one to exercise perseverance in the face of non-life-threatening discomfort. So weigh the symptoms against the impact. Is your work performance declining? Are you a danger to others because of fatigue or metabolic discord interfering with safety sensitive tasks? Are you hurting yourself by a lack of food. If you really want to fast longer, maybe a fat fast version would work for you?
