Most people in the modern world have never gone a whole day without eating. You too? If so, a 36-hour water fast is the perfect way to begin your journey into water fasting.

I remember when I did my first water fast many years ago. The plan was to eat dinner, then fast through all of the following day, breaking my fast with breakfast on the day after this. This format is ideal for anyone wishing to try out a 36-hour fast.

Psychologically, the experience was hugely challenging. Like most people, I’d hardly ever even skipped a meal in my life, and the idea of not eating anything for a whole day seemed almost inconceivable. Every time my stomach rumbled, it felt like the end of the world: I was going to starve! Of course, logically I knew that I wouldn’t, but the rational mind so easily collapses when your deeper, instinctive emotions emerge from out of the subconscious. By the evening, all I could think about was food… In the end, though, I did it. And so can you. Anyone can survive 36 hours without food!

So why put yourself through such a terrible ordeal 😉 ? (By the way, contrary to my own experience, many people do actually enjoy their first fast, feeling full of energy and without existential worries.)

The benefits of a 36-hour water fast:

There are at least four important reasons to face your fears and reap the benefits of a 36-hour water fast. The first is psychological. Precisely by facing your fears and emerging victorious on the morning following the fast, you become a stronger person. We all have a built-in survival response. By breaking the psychological barrier of no food for a whole day, you’ll find that the next 36-hour fast goes much more smoothly. Equally important, it also then becomes much easier to move on to longer water fasts in which you fully unlock the body’s healing metabolism.

The second reason is physical. You give your digestive system a break for a whole day. It can rest and recuperate. This is hugely beneficial for maintaining health and to prevent aging. Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, used to fast one day every week. Following his assassination at the age of 78, the doctors at his autopsy described how Gandhi’s inner organs looked like those of someone half his age.

The third reason bridges physical and psychological factors. A 36-hour water fast gives you the first opportunity in your life to truly experience ‘going to bed on an empty stomach’ on the second night of the fast. Even people who practise OMAD (one meal a day) don’t really have to face this fully. Although the idea of the proverbial empty stomach may feel a little frightening for the first time, it’s also a hugely important rite of passage. By the second night of a 36-hour water fast, your glucose levels will have significantly dropped after 24 hours of fasting. This is because your body has exhausted its supply of both dietary sugar from the GI tract and digestion, as well as from a stored form of sugar called glycogen, which is held mainly by the liver and in muscle tissue.

For many people, this depletion of carbohydrates at around the 24-hour mark sets off psychological alarm bells which can make it hard to go to sleep the first few times. If this happens to you too, know that you’re not alone, and that it will resolve with enough practice. For instance, when I fast now, I sleep like a baby at this point – precisely because blood glucose is low, and so there’s not much energy in the body to keep me awake! (continued below)

Beyond this issue, the ‘need’ to go to sleep with a full tummy often relates to deeper psyschological issues relating to feelings of insecurity and safety. Through practising 36-hour fasts, you come to realise that it’s okay: you really don’t need all that food to feel safe enough to fall asleep. In fact, when you’re free of emotional baggage, going to sleep on an empty stomach can actually feel surprisingly quiet and calm, given that there’s no active digestion taking place behind the scenes.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, fasting for 36 hours means you prompt the body to begin unlocking its healing metabolism. It is precisely through the drop in blood glucose levels described above that the body is triggered to implement this change. First and foremost, this means initiating ketosis: the process through which your body draws on the fatty acids held in adipose (fat) tissue as a source of fuel, now that the carbohydrates which usually power your body have become depleted. (This process is described more fully in the article on the 3-day water fast.)

There are multiple reasons that you can heal while in fasting ketosis. Firstly, the body sequesters and stores many fat-soluble toxins in adipose tissue, where they can’t interact with other cells of the body, thereby causing damage. It is only through fasting ketosis – through drawing on the fatty acids stored in adipose tissue – that these toxins can also be released and excreted from your body. Secondly, after about 24 hours the energy otherwise required for digestion can be redirected elsewhere, which here means towards detox and healing. Thirdly, with no food going in, your body also starts looking for other alternative sources of fuel. This means breaking down both damaged tissue as well as intracellular components which can be degraded and recycled: a process otherwise known as autophagy.

Beyond the 36-hour water fast:

To complete the switch over to fasting ketosis you need at least three days, which is why it’s so important to learn the 3-day water fast at some point. But don’t rush into anything too soon! If you don’t feel ready to fast for three days, keep practising the 36-hour fast. If 36 hours feels too long, then try 24 hours instead. You can begin a 24-hour fast after eating dinner and then break the fast with dinner the next day (lunch to lunch is another option). 24 hours does less to nudge the body into ketosis, but you’ll still benefit from giving your digestion a rest as well as from a level of detox which surpasses anything in everyday modern life. If a weekly or fortnightly 24-hour fast feels too much, then perhaps you should try intermittent fasting instead. Whatever you do, your body will thank you for it!

Dietary transition and refeeding:

One final note: there’s no need to prepare for a one day fast by changing your eating habits beforehand. Likewise, you don’t have to transition gradually back to eating normally afterwards.

Related articles:

• Facing your ego
• Overcoming addictions
• Physical and spiritual cleansing

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