Fasting Health Benefits: Food Deprivation Is Actually Good For The Brain

Fasting may mean sacrifice or unnecessary food deprivation for some. However, a new study says it is actually beneficial for people.

Medical Daily reported that researchers at Buck Institute have discovered how proper fasting can allow the brain to rest. Depriving a person's body with food apparently lowers synapse activity in the nervous system, giving it enough time to recharge.

To arrive at this conclusion, researchers tested the result of nutrient deprivation among fly larvae. First, they removed protein on their diet and eventually restricted food intake to find out its effects on the fruit flies' brain activity.

They discovered that the larvae synaptic activity was reduced to half after 3 hours of food deprivation.

"Perhaps it's a good thing that when nutrients are unavailable, an organism reduces neurotransmitter release and thus saves a good proportion of its overall energy expenditure," said study co-author Pejmun Haghighi in their statement. "Our findings suggest that one of the reasons that fasting is beneficial is that it gives the nervous system a break and calms things down."

Although the researchers used flies in this experiment, they explained that humans would have the same effects on their brains when they fast. In fact, this could also help patients with brain disorders such as epilepsy.

"I think uncovering this mechanism is an important basic discovery that could lead to tangible ways of thinking about design of therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases in the near future," Haghighi explained.

Other benefits of fasting also include weight loss, reduced cholesterol and lower blood pressure. This practice is especially common among spiritual people whenever they want to pray or meditate. Fasting reportedly helps people to deal with stress better, be calmer and less reactionary to distractions.

In fact, spiritual people fast whenever they want to hear God's voice more clearly.