Work Life Balance For Your Body

By Marcus Bailey

Over the past few years, we’ve experienced a significant shift in the workforce that is often referred to as the great resignation. One of the by-products of this shift is a renewed focus on work-life balance and long-term sustainability.

How does this relate to the body? What relationship can we draw between work-life balance and health?

An often misunderstood, and underused health practice is intermittent fasting (IF). Intermittent fasting is the dietary version of work-life balance. It’s misunderstood because people often equate fasting to starving. It’s underused mostly because marketing tells us how important it is to never miss a meal or snack time. We understand the concept of how unhealthy it is to work 12-14 hour shifts, 7 days a week. But we have yet to understand that our body also needs time off the clock as well.

While a diet focuses on what you should eat to accomplish a specific goal, intermittent fasting focuses on when to eat. The most popular form of time-restricted eating is the 16:8 method. This means choosing a consistent 8-hour window each day to consume both food and drinks. In the other 16 hours, you would consume only liquids such as water, black coffee, or unsweetened tea.

It’s important to understand this way of eating the same way your body does. When insulin responds to glucose entering the blood as a result of eating, your body is officially at work digesting, processing, and storing energy. This continues until several hours after you take your last bite. Here’s how your body might function after your last meal each day. This can vary based on your level of health, exercise routine, and other health conditions.

0-3 hours after eating: Insulin production continues, signaling glucose to move into cells to be used as energy or stored.

3-6 hours after eating: Your body absorbs and utilizes vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients along the digestive tract.

6-12 hours after eating: Your body switches to the catabolic, or breakdown state where hormones stimulate the breakdown of stored energy.

12-18 hours after eating: Your body starts to produce growth hormone, which is key for anti-aging and protein synthesis. You also begin to recycle and remove old damaged cells, reduce inflammation in your body, and begin the detoxification and healing of your body’s organs.

This timeline is broken if we start our day at 7:00 am with juice and waffles, snack throughout the day, and enjoy those late-night snacks and meals. You can see that just as employees value and need the appropriate amount of time to unwind, unplug, and regroup from a long day’s work, so does your body. The balance we seek to ensure a sustainable and healthy work-life is the same principle we should consider if we want longlasting efficiency and effectiveness from our bodies. If you wish to begin any fasting program, please consult your physician so they can advise you on any risks that may be present based on your current health and conditions.u