Can Fasting Increase Self-Control and Intelligence?
The human body is considered to begin fasting when it has completed the digestion and absorption of a meal, which takes place three to five hours after a person stops taking food or water. Some might think that fasting is unnecessary starvation and has negative health implications.
But research shows that mild nutrient starvation causes no harm, but instead provides health benefits as long as it is under control. Autophagy is a recycling process that can be initiated only from mild starvation, where the cell “repairs” itself by reusing dysfunctional components to sustain a new healthy cell. But overstarvation could lead to cognitive deficiency.
There are several ways to avoid starvation, such as breaking fast at a proper time when needed; providing the body with sufficient nutrients before stopping food intake for prolonged fasting or regulating physical activities to endure longer fasting time.
Excerpted from The Straits Times
