People generally fast during auspicious days seeking divine blessings. Now, people are celebrating Navratri, one of the biggest festivals in India. Hence, many devotees observe a fast during the festival. They observe different types of fasting.

While some people consume one meal a day, others consume only fruits and milk. Some people follow a milk diet and some others follow a salt diet with more vegetables and limited spices.

Whatever form of fasting is observed by people, it has many health benefits. It has many positive effects on the body.

Here is a list of some of them:

• The first and foremost benefit of fasting is that it can help lose weight. Many studies found that short-term fasting helped boost metabolism and promote weight loss.
• As per some studies, fasting controls blood sugar and reduces insulin resistance. They showed that short-term intermittent and alternate-day fasting decreased blood sugar levels drastically. However, some studies showed that fasting impacted men and women differently.
• It also helps improve heart health by reducing risk factors like cholesterol, hypertension etc. It controls cholesterol and triglycerides. Besides it also regulates blood pressure.
• According to a few studies, fasting helps treat inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis by decreasing markers of inflammation.
• A few studies showed that fasting could improve the immune system against bacteria and viruses. They found that white blood cells became stronger to fight against harmful pathogens during fasting.
• Some animal studies found that fasting could improve brain function and prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Also, some animal studies showed that it could delay ageing.

A word of caution:

Extreme fasting can lead to muscle loss. So, avoid the situation and be careful while fasting. Also, it is not recommended for people with chronic diseases, elderly people, children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers.

Image Credit: Wilson Fisk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Source: what is intermittent fasting

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