Just finished 4 day water fasting...and I got questions

(david) #1

Hi everyone, I just finished a 4 day water fast and it was the hardest thing I ever tried!
To be honest, I don’t particularly feel any healthier now that I’ve finished it but I hope autophagy has occurred and my cells are a tad stronger.

I do have a few questions for those who fast regularly:
-was your speech impacted during the fast? It felt very unnatural for me to talk while I was in the hunger state of mind -like I was on drugs or something. I found myself stuttering a lot, etc.
-does the fast affect your sense of touch?
-how does it affect your daily life? I have a friend who does water fasting throughout the year and he goes on for weeks. It’s one of the reasons why I tried it out. He is able to function as a professor and as a father while exercising, etc. I found it quite hard to exercise as I got light headed easily.

(Ron) #2

Sounds like you were low on electrolytes during you fast. You need to supplement these during a fast.

(Bob M) #3

Electrolytes do help. I take salt and more during a fast.

When I started fasting fasting, I could exercise, even twice during a 4.5 day fast. Now, I don’t exercise at all during a longer fast.

Usually, they get better the longer you do them in terms of days. Day 2 is the worst, generally.

Touch has never been affected for me. Speech not impacted, though I can lack concentration at times.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

As people have pointed out, the possibilities are that you were either low on electrolytes or over-hydrated (the net effect is the same). Be sure to get enough sodium, potassium, and magnesium while you fast. The first of the three is the most important, because a sodium deficiency can throw the other two out of whack as the body tries to compensate.

#5

yup - sounds like an electrolyte issue

(Bunny) #6

Wow a professor, he is obviously a very advanced bio-hacker if he can go on for weeks, I’m curious if he uses some kind of supplement like yeast?

(david) #7

His record is 22 days and he says he only drinks water and black coffee to get by. That’s what I been doing as well. He’s an English professor so not sure if knows any advanced bio hacks! Maybe his colleagues in the science department does though!

(david) #8

Yeah, I found day 2 to be terrible for my morale…as with mornings in general. I’m wondering how electrolytes affect autophagy. Wouldn’t it slow down its activation?

(david) #9

Thanks for the response.

My main goal was to activate autophagy and I read that it’s triggered by starvation/malnutrition. If that’s the case, do electrolyte affect how fast autophagy activates? Or is it only a concern for water absorption? Also curious to know if the temperature of the water affects how efficiently it gets absorbed by our body…it’s been very hot and I been drinking ice cold water throughout.