Does fasting for between 5 and 21 days in a controlled environment really provide mental benefits?
This is the purpose of companies like MiAyuno, which accompany people on retreats under medical supervision and that enhance all the mental benefits that fasting can provide. But… What exactly are the mental benefits of fasting with professional supervision? We will see it in the following lines.
Through research, having low levels of serotonin has been linked to the appearance of low moods, and even depression.
To understand this better, our intestine contains more than one hundred million neurons, and one of its functions is to produce 95% of the total serotonin produced in our body, also called the happiness hormone.
Serotonin is a feel-good neurotransmitter. Therefore, correct functioning of the intestine, as well as a correct balance of the intestinal flora that colonizes it, is key to maintain optimal serotonin levels and thus ensure a good mood
In our time, in which stress and bad eating habits can affect our mood, fasting helps us regain internal balance.
In fact, fasting can help in cases of overweight and obese people, digestive problems and food intolerances, allergies, people with metabolic problems (hypertension, cholesterol…), hormonal imbalance, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and those who suffer moments of personal crisis, among others.
But controlled fasting, like the one offered by the Miayuno company, also provides several mental benefits to both people with some type of illness and healthy people who have decided to fast to take care of themselves and maintain a state of well-being over time.
Here we will see 5 mental benefits that fasting can bring:
Disconnect from your personal activity
Today we move forward at full speed; We don’t see the days go by, we get up and start using smartphones at full speed. Wake up, read the news, the unread messages from the previous day that keep coming, the emails, the day’s agenda… then we link up with traveling to work, work, meetings, meals, work again… And when there are small children, picking up the children, extra-curricular activities, etc…
The day flies by. And when do we stop?
It is increasingly difficult to find a moment for yourself, so fasting allows us to first force ourselves to disconnect. But we don’t go from a moment of full-speed action to relaxation. This is the first stage of the mental break to rediscover what is around us.
1. Relax
Fasting too triggers this natural stress response in the body just like exercise.
Once we have managed to stop, we have to relax. That’s not easy either; Not eating for a limited time allows our body to have more energy to feed our mind, since it does not spend energy on digestion.
Joint activities in controlled fasting, such as yoga or hiking, help us relax.
2. Re-connect
The third mental benefit of fasting is rediscover oneself
When fasting, we have to slow down the pace of our activities, so we have more time to reflect, think, sleep, read, write, etc… It is a privileged time with ourselves, time that in today’s life is difficult to find.. Fasting is a moment of reunion with oneself with tranquility and inner peace.
It should be added that for fasts of several days, and to ensure the complete success of the process, it is recommended to carry them out outside the home in very natural environments that encourage disconnection, surrounded by professionals from the sector and with medical supervision
3. Improve mental abilities
In addition to mood, fasting seems to improve mental clarity
Researchers have linked fasting to “a higher level of alertness and improved mood.” As Damien Carbonnier and Jesús Domínguez comment in their book: My Fast, the energy available to the brain during fasting (after 3 to 4 days) is greater than what it usually has. A brain with more energy is a more efficient brain, and a more efficient brain more easily finds solutions to possible problems which a person faces. Therefore, many people today consciously practice fasting to have more mental capacity.
Thus, fasting improves mental faculties when:
4. Slow down brain aging
Until the 90s, It was thought that our maximum stock of neurons decreases throughout our life and that adults cannot generate new brain cells.
Today, neuroscience researchers have discovered that new neuronal cells are created in the adult nervous system.
Researcher Mark Mattson, professor of neuroscience at John Hopkins University, current head of the neuroscience laboratory at the National Institute on Aging, is one of the leading researchers in the field of cellular and molecular mechanisms. He demonstrated the benefits of fasting, which could protect the brain by preventing and slowing the effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Yes, neurogenesis improves memory and mood, and through it it is possible to avoid much of the deterioration due to aging or stress and modify or delay the appearance of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
And you, Have you tried fasting yet? If you are interested in knowing them in more depth, find out about the services of companies like Miayuno which can accompany you successfully in your first fast.
