10 Incredible Health Reasons To Fast
10 Incredible Health Reasons to Fast
Bismillah. I know that our intention to fast in Ramadan should be because Allah swt has made it an obligation for Muslim adults who are sane and healthy. But sometimes, it’s nice to know all the incredible benefits.
Here are just a few to keep you motivated:
A Total Detox-While you are avoiding food and drink for 16 plus hours, your body is going through a total and complete detox and releasing all the toxins, and waiting for healthy food to enter. So remember to eat healthy when you break your fast.
You Lose Weight & hold onto Muscle -You get all the benefits of fat loss without losing any muscle. These include dramatic weight loss, increasing muscle tone, and muscle density. If you add in a short breezy walk during your fast, you will have toned up your body without lifting any weight.
You Become Focused -When you go an extended time without eating, your brain goes into survival mode. This may sound terrible, but it is excellent! Survival mode means that your brain becomes hyper-focused. It preserves its energy for whatever the task is at hand. So instead of having all these extra thoughts in your head, you can focus on one thing, whether that means studying for your class or learning something new.
You Become Smarter- while you are fasting, your body produces ketones that fuel your brain. Now you can absorb what you hear, see and read more proficiently—no more brain fog.
You Feel Younger - During a fast, there is a massive improvement in your vascular function, which improves the health of your skin, nails, and hair. These positive effects occur because of the nutrient uptake that happens while you are fasting and avoiding food.
You Look Younger-Cellular rejuvenation occurs during a fast. Something called autophagy happens to your body. Autophagy is the process where old cells get eaten up by new cells, and it makes the new cells into more robust, more powerful, and more efficient cells. This is why you feel energetic after a week of fasting.
Your body Stops Aging - no matter what age you are, during a fast, your body releases an anti-aging hormone called HGH, or what is known as the fitness hormone, because it keeps you young and fit. During a fast, a woman releases 1300%, and a man releases 2000%! This is incredible.
Increases your LifeSpan-Research at Duke Medical Center states that the only experimental approach that increased the life span of animals with cancer was continuous fasting. Restricting calories for multiple days at a time. There is a 30% increase in lifespan.
You burn Fat without moving- When your body moves, it expends energy from glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. This stored glucose takes 6-8 hours to metabolize, after which your body will start to burn fat. These 6-8 hours occur while you are asleep and not eating. You are fasting in your sleep. Fat burning only happens when you continue this fast in the morning and extend the fast for 16 hours. This fat burning is called ketosis.
Improve your Memory & Learning -Ketosis is burning fat that releases chemicals called Ketones. In the brain, ketones trigger the release of an important molecule
called BDNF. BDNF helps build and strengthen neurons and neural connections in areas of the brain responsible for memory and learning.This could explain why boosting ketone production has been shown to improve memory in people with early signs of dementia in six weeks!
I pray that these 10 incredible health reasons will motivate you to look forward to the Ramadan fast. May Allah swt bless ease in your fasting days and may you reap the blessings immensely, Ameen. Please keep the Ummah in your daus.