Fasting for 14 hours improves mood and sleep, study finds

According to a study conducted by researchers at King’s College London, eating all your meals within a ten-hour window and fasting for the remaining 14 hours would have numerous health benefits.

Intermittent fasting is popular. There are also several versions. But according to English scientists, the best fast would be 10:14. That is ten hours during which it is possible to eat, before fasting over a window of fourteen hours. These results were presented at the European Nutrition Conference held in Belgrade, Serbia, November 14-17, 2023.

Fast for fourteen hours a day

For this study, the researchers brought together a cohort of 37,545 people, who were followed using an application. They were asked to eat as they normally would for a week, then adhere to a ten-hour eating window for two weeks.

“A ten-hour window means limiting your daily eating schedule to ten hours and fasting for the remaining 14 hours. For example, if you eat your first bite at 9 a.m., you should eat your last bite at 7 p.m. specify the researchers.

In total, 36,231 participants decided to continue intermittent fasting and 27,371 adults were considered by researchers to be “highly engaged” in the study. The latter were 78% women, with an average age of 60 years and a BMI of 25.6.

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Better mood, less appetite and more energy

According to the results, eating within a ten-hour window is associated with increased energy and mood and decreased feelings of hunger. People who regularly respected this eating window received more benefits than those who changed it every day.

“This study adds to the growing body of evidence showing the importance of how you eat. You choose to consume your meals, and the eating window is an important eating behavior that can benefit your health. The results show that we don’t need to eat all the time. Many people will feel full and even lose weight if they limit their food intake to a ten hour window” says Kate Bermingham of King’s College London in a press release.

Her colleague Sarah Berry adds: “This is the largest study to show that intermittent fasting can improve your health in a real-world setting.”. Before concluding : “The results show that you don’t have to be very restrictive to see positive results: a ten-hour eating window, manageable for most people, provides an improvement in mood, energy levels and hunger“.