[eixiepia]

Does anyone else also start to experience heart palpitations after 3 or 4 days of fasting? The heart beats are regular but fast and hard. This interferes with sleep and makes it impossible to go beyond those few days, as it just gets worse. I do drink water during the fasts.

[L_Rahman]

Three things could be happening:

1. The heart is a giant muscle and needs balanced sodium and potassium to function. There are electrolyte blends in the market designed for fasting to help with this.

2. You're insufficiently hydrated because you've reduced your drinking intake or haven't replaced the water you would get in your food itself.

3. The body is in a state of hunger and alertness. Your sympathetic nervous system is ratcheted up in awareness of this and in search for possible food. To calm this down, practice diaphragmatic breathing exercises.

[HanMei_333]

Yes, I get heart palpitations too when I don't take electrolytes. You need a certain ratio of sodium, potassium and magnesium. I also recommend drinking at least 200 ml vegetable juice per day. That doesn't kick you out of ketosis or autophagy.

In all medical supervised fasting clinics they don't allow a pure water fasting. A small dose of carb is highly recommended for absorbing and buffering the electrolytes.

[oohaboga]

Can it be lack of Magnesium? My heart doctor prescribed me Magnesium for heart palpitations and they went away.

[goda90]

Some people fast with a "snake juice" of electrolytes. Maybe that's what your body needs?