Learn about the benefits of fasting for the stomach and the body
Fasting is abstaining from eating and drinking for a certain period of time. Fasting may be complete or partial. There are different types of fasting. There is medical fasting, which is used as a therapeutic intervention by doctors in many cultures. The patient is for surgery, or for certain laboratory tests, or for the treatment of some pathological conditions, and there is fasting for religious and spiritual reasons to control the physical body and cultivate mental discipline. An example of this is the legal fast in the holy month of Ramadan in the Islamic religion, which extends from dawn to sunset.
The benefits of fasting for the stomach and the body are as follows:
- The stomach works to store and digest food, while storage occurs when the small intestine is still busy digesting and absorbing a previous meal, while digestion occurs with the effect of stomach acids whose acidity ranges between approximately 2-3, so it is obvious that refraining from eating for a period ranging from 9-11 hours after the food is absorbed, it provides physiological relief for the entire digestive system.
- Fasting combined with improving the diet before and after the fasting period helps heal the gut of patients suffering from ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and hypotension.
- Controlling the level of sugar in the blood: that intermittent fasting for a short period leads to a significant decrease in blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, and that intermittent fasting and alternate fasting (fasting one day and breakfast one day) may have a role in reducing insulin resistance. Which increases the efficiency of the body by transferring glucose from the blood to the cells, but the effect of fasting on men may be different from its effect on women.
- Fighting infections: Some studies indicate that fasting can reduce markers of inflammation, and may be beneficial in treating inflammatory conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Promoting heart health: Fasting is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. This is because it reduces risk factors associated with heart disease such as blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and bad cholesterol.
- Promoting brain health: Animal studies indicate that fasting may have a positive effect on brain functions, increase the production of neurons, and may help reduce inflammation. Therefore, it may play a role in preventing neurological diseases.
- Getting rid of excess weight: Fasting may help to get rid of excess weight because it increases the level of the hormone norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that promotes metabolism in the body, which may promote the elimination of excess weight.
- Delaying aging and prolonging life: Fasting may delay the appearance of signs of aging and prolong life.
- Cancer prevention: Fasting may help prevent and treat cancer, because it reduces tumor growth and increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs in treating cancer.