Intentional Stress Challenge: Time-Restricted Eating/Fasting

Progressive challenge series to manage urges around food and train resilience.

Disclaimer: Consult your primary care provider if you have any known or expected conditions (such as cardiovascular, respiratory or mental health disorders) that may increase risk by attempting the following challenges.

It is well known that sleep is one of, if not the, body’s most restorative functions. It is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, sleep can often be uncontrollable due to shift work, illness, injury, parenting, stress, travel, etc. Fortunately, there is significant research that suggests our eating habits, particularly eating windows, can be just as important for our metabolic health as our sleeping windows. This is excellent news because when we eat is within our control. It is estimated that only 10% of the US population eats/drinks anything but water within a 12-hour window. Our organs, such as the gut, kidneys, liver and heart, need time to recover just like our brain does during sleep. Most of us, however, have been conditioned to eat whenever we feel hungry leading to prolonged eating windows which limit essential restorative time for our bodies. Time-restricted eating (TRE) or consistently eating and drinking anything except for water within a 12-hour window has been shown to increase metabolic flexibility, improve gut function, improve glucose tolerance, improve cellular resilience, increase sleep quality, reduce inflammation, and enhance cardiometabolic health. Furthermore, TRE inherently teaches users how to manage hunger. These challenges are beneficial for your overall health and mental resilience.