Can Fasting Help Your Brain?
For those who can’t function without breakfast, the idea of fasting on purpose might be repellent. But going without food for more than a few hours between meals may be the key to safeguarding brain function over the long term.
Scientists are just starting to make sense of the complex mechanisms which underscore how the brain relates to what we put into — or leave out — of our bodies. But what we do know about the brain and undergoing prolonged periods without food is tantalizing for future research to dig into.
Here’s the background — There may be an evolutionary reason why fasting may benefit the brain. Mark Mattson is a professor of neuroscience at John’s Hopkins School of Medicine and has researched fasting and the brain extensively. He tells Inversethat humans originally evolved to go without food for extended periods of time.
Excerpted from Inverse
