Fasting is no longer limited to religious practice or crash dieting. Over the last few years, fasting patterns such as intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, and alternate-day fasting have become part of everyday wellness conversations. Many people now skip breakfast, limit eating windows, or avoid food for long stretches in the hope of improving metabolism, losing weight, or feeling mentally sharper.
But behind the visible changes on the weighing scale, another story quietly unfolds inside the body, a hormonal one.
Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate hunger, stress, sleep, metabolism, energy, mood, and reproductive health. Even small shifts in eating patterns can influence how these hormones behave. That is why fasting can feel energising for some people, while for others it may trigger fatigue, mood swings, headaches, or disrupted menstrual cycles.
According to Ms Twincy Ann Sunil (Bachelors in Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics), Apollo Spectra Hospital, Bengaluru, “These diets are not merely focused on when to eat, but also affect hormones that control the appetite, metabolism, stress, sleep, and reproduction.”