Health Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where the cycle between periods of fasting and eating is determined. It does not specify the kinds of food to eat, but when you eat your food. There are many types of intermittent fasting methods. Several studies show that fasting has powerful benefits on your body and mind. It is also noteworthy that many scientific studies show that fasting can have very good skin benefits. It can even help the digestive system of the body gain complete control, which later helps our body to function properly in old age. The reason why fasting is so beneficial is that it gives your body time and also the healing mechanism to put your body back on track. Due to our busy lifestyles, we consume food that is harmful to our bodies, so fasting becomes even more important.

Intermittent Fasting Results

Intermittent Fasting helps change the function of cells, hormones, and genes. When you fast and avoid eating for a set period, your body experiences several things. Your body does hormone levels changes, and cells repair processes so that stored fat is available.  

Changes That Your Body Goes Through During Fasting:

• Insulin levels: Blood levels of insulin drops, helping facilitate the burning of unwanted fat 
• Human growth hormone: The growth hormone’s blood levels may increase up to five times. 
• Cellular repair: Our body stimulates critical repair processes of cells, like removing waste from cells. 
• Gene expression: There are favorable changes in some molecules and genes that relate to the protection and the stretch against diseases. The majority of the intermittent fasting benefits are regarding these changes in gene composition, hormones, and cellular functions. 

Intermittent Fasting Can Help Lose Belly Fat and Overall Body Weight

 Intermittent fasting is done by many people who aim to lose weight. Generally,  we consume fewer meals because of intermittent fasting. If you compensate during the other meals by eating much more, you will eventually take in fewer calories.

It causes higher growth hormone levels and boosts the breakdown of body fat, and utilizes it for energy. For this reason, intermittent fasting boosts your metabolism by around 5 to 15 percent, helping you burn even more calories. In other words, short term fasting works on both sides of the calorie equation. It boosts your metabolism and reduces the amount of food you consume.

According to scientific literature’s 2014 review, short term fasting can initiate weight loss significantly over 3-24 weeks, and it is a massive amount of weight loss.

The people also lost a lot of the area of fat around their waist. This means a lot of belly fat loss, the harmful fat that causes disease in the abdominal cavity. One study review also showed that short term fasting caused more continuous calorie restriction than muscle loss.

Intermittent Fasting Can Lower The Risk Of Diabetes

Fasting can be beneficial in reducing high sugar levels in people who have diabetes. It helps lower sugar levels of blood and helps gain defense to diabetes. There have been significant benefits for insulin resistance due to intermittent fasting, and it has reduced sugar levels impressively. 

Some studies indicated that fasting decreased the sugar levels of patients that had high sugar levels in their blood.  It implies that intermittent fasting can be helpful for people who are close to getting diabetic. However, there may be significant differences between the genders. A study on women said that sugar control worsened after a 20-day long short term fasting survey.

Intermittent Fasting Reduces Oxidative Stress 

One of the steps towards many chronic diseases and aging is oxidative stress.  It includes free radicals called free molecules, which react with other important molecules and damage them, like DNA and protein.

Many studies show that fasting may increase the body’s ability to protect against oxidative stress. Additionally, to fight inflammation, researchers say that intermittent fasting can be beneficial.  It also reduces the chances of getting other diseases that can harm the body gravely. 

Intermittent Fasting Is Beneficial For Heart Health

Heart diseases are one of the most harmful diseases having the highest killing rate. The various so-called risk factors, also called the health markers, are associated with either a decreased or increased risk of heart disease.

Intermittent fasting has improved the signs of different and numerous risk factors. That includes blood pressure, blood-related inflammatory risk factors, total cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. However, it has been studied on animals and proven its effectiveness on human health as well.

Intermittent Fasting Induces Various Cellular Repair Processes

While fasting, the body’s cells initiate autophagy,  a cell’s “waste removal” process. It involves the cells metabolizing and breaking down the proteins that do not function inside cells. The increased waste removal process of the cells provides possible protection against a few diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Cancer.

Intermittent Fasting Can Prevent Cancer

Cancer and its symptoms have been characterized by the uncontrolled growth of cells in a particular part of the body. It is a very deadly and terrifying disease. Fasting has seen positive effects on metabolism, which has also controlled cell growth and cellular waste removal. It might help reduce the risk of cancer.

The studies on humans haven’t been conducted yet,  but the survey on animals has been promising. There is proof that fasting reduced significant side effects of chemotherapy on humans.

Intermittent Fasting Is Good For Your Brain

Everything good for the body is naturally good for the brain. Intermittent fasting improves many metabolism-related things that are important for the mind as well. For example, fasting reduced inflammation, oxidative stress, and the researchers noticed a fall in blood sugar levels. It also helps decrease the deficiency that leads to depression and various other brain problems.

Intermittent Fasting Helps Prevent Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is known as one of the most common diseases in the world. It is hard to prevent it because there is no cure for this disease. Research conducted on rats shows that fasting delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s. Studies on animals also show that fasting helps protect against nerve diseases such as Huntington’s disease and even Parkinson’s disease, but more human studies are needed to prove this research.

Intermittent Fasting Helps Extend Your Lifespan, Making You Live Longer

 Intermittent fasters can flex on its ability to extend lifespan. It is exciting to see this aspect of fasting. A study on rats had shown similar results when there was a reduced amount of calorie intake. Rats that fasted consecutively lived longer than rats who hadn’t fasted. It still hasn’t been proven in humans, but the celebrities that fast have seen to age slower than those who do not fast. 

CONCLUSION

Intermittent fasting helps one lead a very healthy and long life. It has also proved its benefits in the lives of those who practice fasting. The fasting window and eating window in the long and short term have proved to be very healthy, and the England journal of medicine also says the same. The eating pattern is what affects the human body and the brain positively.