Fasting and Concentration

Most people appreciate that while time is always short and there are never enough hours in the day, the thing that is really in sMost people appreciate that while time is always short and there are never enough hours in the day, what's really in short supply is concentration. If you have something difficult to do, something that requires your brain to exert itself, you don't just need time. You need to summon up something else as well. We often regard this as needing willpower. You're sitting there ready to do great things, but you just can't get yourself started.

One problem is distractions—the 'oh look, a squirrel' effect. When you have something hard to do, just about any other activity looks appealing. But even when you remove all distractions and sit down to focus on that important but difficult task you really have to complete, you often find that you simply can't bring yourself to do it.

Here's an interesting observation: I find it much easier to focus on tasks when I'm in the early stage of fasting. I can get up and start working more or less straight away. This wasn't what I was expecting. In fact, I anticipated the opposite and deliberately scheduled easy work for my earlier sessions in the day. My logic was that I would be waking up with a low blood sugar level and therefore wouldn't have the energy required to tackle difficult tasks.

This wasn't entirely incorrect. I did have my usual aversion to getting started on the day's work. But this effect proves to be very short-lived. I get up to full speed within about 30 minutes of waking. This was quite a revelation. I'm not sure what the physiology of it is, but it's very noticeable, particularly at weekends. Being self-employed, I often put off tasks that need concentration to Saturday or Sunday morning when I won't be disturbed. But it's always hard getting going when nobody else is around to spur you on. Interruptions might be bad, but they do at least keep you aware that there are things to be done. Since starting 16/8 intermittent fasting, I'm finding it much easier to get started on non-work days. The ideal is always to get a few hours in and then relax. But I used to find that it was rare I could actually get started before 11am and often dithered about and spent the whole afternoon fiddling about. This morning, which is Saturday, I have completed what could easily have been a full day's work by 1:00pm—leaving me time to do some blogging.

I'm interested in this for a number of reasons. Fasting is something I associate with crazy religious folk like Simon Stylites who starve themselves to the point of madness and presumably starve their brains to the point where they actually damage them. But maybe in moderation, fasting could be beneficial?hort supply is concentration.  If you have something difficult to do, something that requires your brain to put itself out, then you don’t just need time.  You need to summon up something else as well.  We often regard this as something that needs willpower. You are sitting there ready to do great things but you just can’t get yourself started.

One problem is distractions.  The ‘oh look a squirrel’ effect. When you have something hard to do just about any other activity looks appealing.  But even when you remove all distractions and sit down to focus on that important but difficult thing that you really have to get done you often find that you simply can’t bring yourself to get it done.

So, here’s an interesting observation.  I find it much easier to focus on stuff when I am in the early stage of fasting.  I can get up and start working more or less straight away.  This wasn’t what I was expecting.  In fact I was expecting the opposite and deliberately scheduled easy work for my earlier sessions in the day.  My logic was that I would be waking up with a low blood sugar level and that I would therefore not have the energy I required to tackle difficult tasks.

This wasn’t entirely incorrect.  I did have my usual aversion to getting started on the day’s work.  But this effect proves to be very short lived.  I get up to my full speed within about 30 minutes of waking.   This was quite a revelation.  I am not sure what the physiology of it is, but it is very noticeable and particularly at weekends.  Being self employed I often put off stuff that needs concentration to the Saturday or Sunday morning when I am not going to be disturbed.   But it is always hard getting going when nobody else is around to spur you on.   Interruptions might be bad, but they do at least keep you aware that there are things to be done.  Since starting 16/8 intermittent fasting I am finding it much easier to get started on non-work days.  The ideal is always to get a few hours in and then relax.  But I used to find that it was rare I could actually get started before 11am and often dithered about and spent the whole afternoon fiddling about.  This morning, which is Saturday, I have got what could easily have been a full days work completed by 1:00pm - leaving me time to do some blogging.

I am interested in this for a number of reasons.  Fasting is something I associate with crazy religious folk like Simon Stylites who starve themselves to the point of madness and presumably starve their brains to the point where they actually damage them.  But maybe in moderation fasting could be beneficial?