3 Brain-Healthy Fasting Habits That Have Nothing To Do With Food

Consumption habits you never knew you needed

I’ve been fasting for years.

It’s one of the single most-powerful habits I’ve ever developed. It forces your body to rely on what you have, rather than what you want — or think you need.

The same goes for your brain.

Just like intermittent fasting builds a healthier relationship with food, fasting of any kind builds a more balanced relationship with your consumption.

Here’s how to use consumption fasting — to build a more balanced brain, body, and behavioural patterns.

This one book changed my life — literally.

You’ve probably heard of the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.

Well, it’s not hyperbole to say that it literally changed my life.

Looking for some easy reading before a flight to Portugal, I downloaded the audiobook version.

In bits and pieces over my 2-week vacation, I found myself enamoured by Marie Kondo’s simple yet powerful words.

If you haven’t read it, here are 2 main takeaways:

1. Attachment to our belongings not only takes up unnecessary space in our closets — but our minds as well.
2. In life, things come and go. Be it relationships, memories, or perspectives, letting go of what ‘no longer sparks joy’, is what allows you to grow as a human.

Another theme that stood out to me was this age-old truism:

How you do anything is how you do everything.

As Marie Kondo writes:

“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.”

After reading it twice, I began to take a holistic approach to life. Particularly in seemingly unimportant aspects of my life:

• How I breathe
• What content I consume
• The perspectives I hold about the world

Marie’s philosophies on tidying up have helped me tidy up my brain, creating a healthier balance in anything I do.

Particularly, how I consume… well, everything.

1. Dopamine fasting

We look at our screens too much.

In fact, a recent study shows:

“Worldwide, the average person spends 6 hours and 57 minutes of each day looking at an artificial screen.”

Let that sink in for a second.

Most humans sleep for approximately 8 hours per day, leaving 16 hours to be awake. That means we spend almost half of our waking lives in an artificial world.

Even just 2 hours of screen time per day has been shown to increase:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Sleep disorders
• Obsessive behaviour

Dopamine is an inherent part of being human. It’s the natural brain drug that motivates us to stay alive.

In the past, this meant achieving challenging goals such as finding shelter, escaping predators, or foraging for food.

But nowadays, with the immediate access to dopamine our screens give us, we’re losing our ability to regulate it naturally.

Here are 3 simple ways to regulate dopamine — through dopamine fasts:

1. Unstack dopamine habits: In the book “Atomic Habits”, James Clear talks about habit-stacking as an effective practice for building good habits. Essentially, combining habits that reinforce each other.

Try the opposite.

I practice visual dopamine fasts during my work days. Basically, I only use my phone for work and audio entertainment. I don’t watch anything to relax until after I’m done my work.

Simply unstacking the habit of sitting down to relax while watching something on your phone keeps you motivated. And forces you to pull fulfillment from your work.

2. Keep your phone out of your eye-line: you’ve heard the expression, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ Well, it rings true in many aspects of life — quite literally, when abstaining from phone usage.

Vision is our primary and longest-range sense, meaning you pick up distractions with your eyes, first. If you want to spend less time on your phone, simply remove the visual cue — hide your phone.

I’ll often cover my phone with a blanket or put it in the other room to avoid being reminded that it’s there.

99% of the time, I forget it even exists.

3. Piggyback on your nighttime fast: the time just before and after sleeping is amongst the most important of the day. It’s where our brains upload and download information.

Looking at artificial screens during these times is particularly harmful to your circadian rhythm — and creates hormonal imbalances.

One easy way to regulate healthy dopamine levels is to not look at your phone for the first 90 minutes of waking up — and 90 minutes before going to bed.

This simple habit cuts your average daily screen time in half. For more on how to regulate healthy dopamine levels, click here.

2. Air fasting

Believe it or not, you can breathe too much — and most people do.

In the book “Breath”, James Nestor reveals the optimal number of breaths per minute, for longevity, is 5.5.

Yet, the average person breathes around 12–20 times per minute. This over-breathing contributes to anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia.

Here’s breath work in a nutshell:

Breathing affects our carbon dioxide (c02) levels:

• Breathing in, increases c02: creating arousal in the body (increased alertness, heart rate, anxiety, etc.)
• Breathing out, decreases c02: creating a sense of calm (lowered heart rate, anxiety, and providing a sense of clarity).

Shallow breathing creates a surplus of c02 in our bodies. Over time, this can contribute to anxiety, stress, and fatigue. Intentional offloading of c02 (through deep breathing) helps create a sense of calm and improves mood.

**This is why intense cardio puts you in a euphoric state — you’re offloading more c02 than you’re taking in. Cold exposure has a similar effect.

You can emulate these biological responses with breath holds. Try this:

• Exhale completely, squeezing your core tightly to push out every ounce of air
• Then hold it for 10–30 seconds

You will feel panicked —it’s natural. It’s called air hunger. But fight the urge to inhale. Eventually, you will find yourself in a calm, air-fasted state.

**It’s similar to food fasting. You may feel hungry for the first 8–12 hours. But if you push past it, as you enter a fasted state, your body will adapt.

Air fasting has many health benefits, such as:

• Lowered anxiety
• Improved digestion
• Decreased inflammation
• Boosted immune function
• Improved mental well-being

I recommend trying the practice (above) any time you feel out of breath. Counter-intuitively, it trains your brain to breathe deeper and less often.

If you like to track progress, time yourself and see how many breaths you take naturally in 1 minute. 5.5 is optimal for longevity and mental clarity.

For a more intense breathwork routine, I recommend this guided video. It’s one I personally use as a creative super-boost.

3. Thought fasting

Stress is a silent killer.

In fact, research shows that 90% of all illness and disease is stress-related.

With so much information coming at us every day through our phones and computers, it’s tough not to be affected by it.

Unfortunately, controversy sells, and if you’re not careful it’s easy to get caught up in negative thought patterns.

To paint the world with a negative brush — instead of a positive one.

Although deep thought is a beautiful thing, it’s easy to get pulled into thinking about things that are outside of your control.

Any practice that allows you to take a step back from conscious thought will offer you clarity and a fresh perspective. Some of these practices are:

• Stillness
• Meditation
• Mindfulness

Nowadays, any practice that lets you clear your mind is essential for mental health. And frankly, they’re often the only chance your brain gets for a rest outside of sleep.

Here are 3 ways to give your conscious brain a break:

1. Express yourself more: humans are inherently great storytellers. It’s how we store information, pass it down, and make sense of the world. Because of this, we have an innate desire to express ourselves.

Thoughts are like produce — if you don’t express them, they’ll go bad.

If you don’t have anyone to talk to in person:

• Join an online community
• Have a creative outlet (painting, dancing, writing, etc.)
• Write in a journal (I believe everyone on Earth can benefit from journaling)

Simply expressing how you feel makes a world of difference. It brings the good to life and helps you put the bad to rest.

2. Watch your brain TV: most people don’t meditate because they find it boring — or painful.

One way I like to meditate that doesn’t feel like meditating is by watching my thoughts like a television show. Close your eyes, detach from yourself, and enjoy the show. An outsider’s perspective can be powerful. So, give yourself one.

3. Become a forceful forgetter: In the book “Remember”, Lisa Genova talks about the importance of forgetting in order to remember.

Forgetting is part of how we store essential information. Unfortunately, we tend to hold onto negative information more than positive. This is an inherent survival mechanism — to help us avoid danger.

But, knowing this, on its own, can help you let go of thoughts that aren’t serving you. Here are some more ways to clear your mind.

Final thoughts: less is always more.

With the innovation of technology, it will only become more challenging to balance our human wiring with the expectations of the modern world.

That said, knowledge is power.

To summarize, long-term fulfillment comes from prolonging immediate satisfaction.

Here are 3 ways to create a healthy balance with consumption:

• Practice dopamine fasts
• Exhale more, breathe deeper
• Don’t control your brain. Listen to it instead.

Lastly, how you do anything is how you do everything. Create a better life for yourself by balancing your perspectives with the world around you.

Hi, I’m Hudson. I write about living healthier, happier, and more mindfully. To have stories sent directly to you, subscribe to my newsletter. 👇

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