Can Intermittent Fasting Affect Your Mental Health?
Eating is an essential part of human life and it turns out that not only what we eat but when we eat can affect our brains. Irregular eating times have been shown to contribute to poor mental health, including depression and anxiety, as well as to cardio-metabolic diseases and weight gain.
Fortunately, it is possible to leverage our eating rhythms to limit negative moods and increase mental health. As a doctoral student in the field of neuropsychiatry and a psychiatrist studying nutrition and mood disorders, my team’s research focuses on investigating how eating rhythms change the brain.
Here’s how it all works: The circadian clock system is responsible for aligning our internal processes at optimal times of the day based on cues from the environment such as light or food. Humans have evolved this wiring to meet energy needs that change a lot throughout the day and night, creating a rhythmic pattern to our eating habits that follows the schedule of the Sun.
Excerpted from Inverse
