To further our research into cause and effect, and being inspired by artists such as Stellarc and Orlan and their exploration of the workings and limits of the human body, I felt it would be interesting to see how depriving the body of the things we need to function well would effect my mood, and others around me as a separate linked effect. To achieve this in a short time span, Abbie and I agreed to undertake this study as a pair as well as individuals, mainly as we live together and so our close quarters could accentuate the effect of our moods on each other and therefore could accelerate the experiment over a short period.
We set a goal of a minimum of three days, as that seemed to be long enough to see some effect yet not far enough to see our full limitations, and then to see how far we could go without eating anything.
On the first day of the experiment, it began tough. It became painful apparent how much my life is centered by food, a routine has naturally set itself in place around meals, I wake up and have breakfast then prepare for the day. Then I perform some small activity, or go to work or set time to do university work. This is punctuated by lunch and snack breaks and then is culminated with dinner at a late hour, then some relaxation can take place for the rest of the evening. Without food to break that up, and without the energy that came from food, I found that I was somewhat focused on the fact that I had to stop my impulses to eat. This was at first an amusing task, as it is so out of the ordinary to be doing, and only a slight hunger rumbled throughout the day. I found it hard to sleep at first, as my body was urging me to eat, but a lack of fuel soon kicked in and I had a short restless nights sleep, being awoken by hunger pangs. I felt as though it was the fact that I was refused the food that I needed added a sense of resentment to the task. I didn’t want to take part by the morning of day 2. I found myself trying to reason – with myself – that this was a pointless activity and that food would be the easier option.
It was the revelation that eating would be opting out of difficulty that led me to begin to angrily push down these desires to eat. I started to resent the need to eat. It was almost like a struggle with my own body to become independent of needs and desires. I wanted to choose for myself. I pushed it to the forefront of my mind that this was something I had chosen to explore, and the effect would be a great experience to understand fully for myself. As I became more focused on my desire to push myself, my overall attention to my hunger subsided somewhat.
By day three, hunger was no longer an issue to me. Either I had become accustomed to the feeling or my body had given up trying to tell me to eat. By day three, it was clear that my body couldn’t function well without food. I was unable to sleep, so I was lacking all energy, and I could no longer focus on anything. People would talk to me and I would stare blankly into space. My skin had become pale (or at least paler than when I started the experiment) my hair seemed limp and my muscles ached. There were thick dark rims underneath my eyes and water didn’t quench my thirst. I couldn’t think about food anymore, I wasn’t thinking at all. I would be permanently confused and light seemed too bright to me. I developed a crease between my brows as they were constantly furrowed as I tried to concentrate on anything, even simple things like speech. I became basically impossible to be around, as I was defensive every time someone spoke to me, as it required effort and attention I couldn’t give anyone. I started to shout at those who were around me as I became frustrated that I couldn’t cope with everyday interactions.
I found that Abbie and I began to stay away from each other, not being able to bare anyone’s company, as though it was too hard for us to handle company, and with us both being abrasive and yet lethargic and reserved, it was pointless to interact. There was an awkward avoidance, like the other wouldn’t understand how we felt about the task and so we stayed apart for the best part of the experiment.
After the completion of the experiment after three days, as our moods began to interfere with our work and studies not just our social lives, it became clear that mood is an overlooked everyday bodily function. We were depriving our bodies, first of food, then of sleep and of social abilities, and it was being inept in social interactions that was the hardest part for me to experience. It made me feel alone and sad, I missed my friends and yet didn’t want to be around them for fear of abusing them. Clearly mood is important to us all, and adverse effects to our body has a quick manipulative effect on our moods, which can change our personalities in general.
From this experiment, I believe that it would be greatly beneficial as a social science experiment to continue exploring the effects of deprivation, but not just of food, but other needs we have, and to take them to further extremes then we explored. For example a month long cut off from the world socially in every form, just to see how we cope alone.