Intermittent Digital Fasting

Lessons from nutrition

Have you ever had such rapid and easy success with a new initiative that you let it completely slip away? We’ve all done this. “Wow, this new exercise program is going to so well!” easily morphs into, “Of course I’m crushing it—with sweet genetics like this!” and then... Nothing. Basically, “The drugs were working so well that I stopped taking them!” And then you’re back to Square 1. I know all about silly humans. I’m one of them.

One place that I’ve experienced this phenomenon most has been in stepping away from my phone. I feel better. I think more clearly. I’m less distractible. Yet that siren song beckons. It’s easy to get pulled back in. Smartphones are brilliantly engineered for this. Combine that with my ADHD and it's doubly-challenging. This is why I want to share a simple approach that works reliably for me: intermittent digital fasting (IDF).

The concept, as you’ve probably guessed, comes from the nutritional practice. On paper, there is no particular magic to intermittent fasting (IF) vs any other form of managing intake. However, I’ve also found it to work beautifully for a lot of people. The reason isn’t physiology; it’s psychology. IF reduces decision-making. You choose a block of hours during which you can eat. When the window closes, you stop eating. Dead simple.

100% is easier than 90%.

The only complication is when real-life intake doesn’t sync up with what you want it to be. So, you shrink or expand the window accordingly.

I follow the world’s least dramatic version of IF, by the way. I don’t eat between 8pm and 8am. I deal with a short period of feeling hungry in the morning. And then I eat enough to take me to bedtime.

I do the exact same thing with my phone.

Intermittent fasting works for phones as it does for food. Here’s why:

• The rules are simple and crystal clear

• You can feast within reason during your window ...

• You don’t need to modify your consumption habits—which can be tricky

• If you feel zesty enough to lengthen your window, you can do so freely

• Know that if you’ve consumed everything that is essential to you within your window, everything else can wait.

For me, the major benefit pf IDF comes from practicing the mental skill of doing LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE immediately after waking up and preceding bedtime. It’s not everything but it's a reliable start.

GG