Are you going to do a water fast? Participate in an online study on the effects of water fasting on
Received this e-mail today:
My name is Randi Fredricks and I am a Ph.D. Candidate at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. I am conducting my doctoral dissertation research on the effects of water fasting on depression. I have done a lot of investigation in this area and believe that my research will show that water fasting can lessen the symptoms of depression. I am aware of your work and your knowledge about the benefits of fasting, so I thought you might be interested in my research.
If you know of anyone between 18 and 75 years of age who will be doing a water-only fast for a period of at least 4 days, I would like to invite them to participate. All testing will be online at FastingResearch.org so patients can do the testing from home, or anywhere there is a computer. In order to measure the effects of fasting, there will be a pre-test and post-test. The online testing takes about 15 minutes to complete. At the end of the study, all participants will be entered into a drawing to give away three iPods. I have attached a flier in case you have anyone who is interested.
If you or anyone else has any questions, please contact me by phone at (408) 315-0645 or (800) 957-5655, or by email at fasting [at] transpersonalresearch [dot] net.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to presenting my results in a number of peer-reviewed journals, thus further supporting the use of fasting.
Sincerely,
Randi Fredricks, MFT
Seems like a cool idea, overall. But no longer-term follow-up? Seems like without any long-term measurements, you can’t rule out things like the temporary high of having been so disciplined for a week or so, or the chemical lift you get when you first start eating again. I guess that could be done in a follow-up study, once some exploratory data has been collected.
In any case, visit the website if you like the idea of participating.
Originally published at Mudita Journal. Please leave any comments there.