10 Shocking Reasons Behind Fasting
Have you ever fasted?
For most Hindus and Muslims, it is a worthless question.
They used to do it regularly without a leave, right. If you are a Hindu or a Muslim and never fasted. Then, "Congrats, you are an exception."
You will be surprised to know, there are about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide, and 1.6 billion of them fasted in 2020.
Almost 89% of Muslims
And if we compare it with Hindus. There are over 1.2 billion Hindus in the world, and more than half of them fast.
More than 50% of Hindus
Why is it so? Let's see what reason do our religious teachers give to fool us.
Belief
Every religion has its own reason for following a superstition.
For convincing people of their category to follow their superstitions, they connect them indirectly with their desires or wants.
The desires of the ordinary person are finite. Even I can also tell them.
- A peaceful family
- A stable job
- A growing business
- Get married fast
- Good marks in exams
Don't you have the same desires? You have, and everyone has, all the desires mentioned above. Let me tell you how they fool you if you are an adult.
Assume that you are standing near a temple or a majid.
Baba : Bachcha idhar aa..
And you go stand next to him.
Baba: Teri Shaadi nhi ho rahi?
You: Ha, baba. Aapko Kaise pata?
Baba : Baba sab janta hai. Guruwaar ko subaha-subaha kisi gaya ko ek roti khilana. Shaadi ho jayegi.
You will definitely thank him and give him 500 to 1000 rupees. You will also follow his instructions blindly because he told you your problem without asking you.
Let's see the reasons given by both Hindus and Muslims for fasting:
Hindu's Reason
In the Hindu religion, fasting is not essential but a decent and religious practice where the aim is to purify the body and mind and acquire divine grace.
Me: Then what about the people who starve for food for 2 to 3 days on footpaths and stairs of temples. Didn't they acquire divine grace?
If they had acquired the divine grace. Then, why don't you allow them to enter your temples?
In some cases, fasting means fasting from one meal in the day. However, fasting does not certainly mean the body has to go without or suffer.
Sometimes, it is enough to reject certain types of food and replace them with others without restricting the quantity.
Meat eaters, for example, may decide on a strictly vegetarian dish. Vegetarians often reject rice, wheat, barley, and lentils and replace them with potatoes.
Muslim's Reason
About 1.8 billion Muslims around the world are waking up before dawn to fast for Ramadan.
Ramadan falls on the 9th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. And according to Islamic belief, it is to celebrate the first revelation (disclosure or leak) of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.
But why is fasting part of Ramadan?
The religion of Islam requires all Muslims to abide (stand with) its five pillars. These pillars are as follows:
- Confession of faith
- Pilgrimage (Hajj)
- Almsgiving (Charitable giving)
- 5 Daily prayers
- Fasting
There are many spiritual and physical reasons as well. They are as follows:
- To develop a higher consciousness and a higher level of mindfulness of Allah - the creator.
- Purification of the self from all bad habits to sort of unlearn the bad ones and hopefully learn some good new ones in their place.
- To learn self-discipline and self-control.
Scientific Reasons
Did you know: A one-day starvation secret got the Nobel Prize. The cells in your body constantly break down and then recycle their own parts. In 2016, Dr. Yoshinori Asumi of Japan received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the mechanism of this process, called autophagy.
Fasting has many health benefits, from increased weight loss to better brain function.
BENEFITS OF FASTING
1. Promotes blood glucose management by reducing internal secretion resistance
Several studies have found that fasting can improve blood sugar management, which may be especially helpful for people at risk of polygenic disease.
In fact, a study in ten individuals with type 2 polygenic disease showed that short-term irregular fasting significantly decreased blood glucose levels.
Meanwhile, another review found that each irregular fasting and alternate-day fasting was as effective as limiting caloric intake in reducing internal secretion resistance.
Reducing internal secretion resistance will increase your body's sensitivity to internal secretion. This will allow the blood to transfer aldohexose into your cells much faster.
Keep in mind that some studies have found that fasting can affect the blood sugar levels of men and women.
For example, a small, three-week study showed that active alternate days rapidly impaired blood sugar management in women but had no effect on men.
Conclusion:
Irregular fasting and alternate-day fasting can help lower blood sugar levels and reduce internal secretion resistance. But, men and women may have an effect.
2. Promotes Higher Health for Fighting Swelling
While acute swelling may be a traditional immune modality that will not help fight infection, chronic swelling will have critical consequences for your health.
Research suggests that swelling may also be related to the development of chronic conditions, such as cardiopathy, cancer, and atrophic arthritis.
Some studies have found that fasting will help reduce swelling levels and help promote higher health.
A study in fifty healthy adults showed that intermittent fasting for one month significantly reduced levels of inflammatory markers.
Another small study discovered a similar effect when individuals fasted twelve hours a day for a month.
What's more, an animal study found that following an obesity diet to mimic the results of increasingly reduced levels of swelling was actually helpful in treating sclerosis, a chronic inflammatory condition.
Conclusion:
Some studies have found that fasting can reduce several markers of swelling and help treat inflammatory conditions such as sclerosis.
3. Rising Blood Pressure, Triglycerides, and Steroid Alcohol Levels May Enhance Heart Health
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for an associate degree accounting for thirty-one. 5% of deaths globally.
Changing your diet and mode is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of cardiopathy.
Some analyzes have found that incorporating cardiovascular health into your daily routine may also be particularly helpful.
One small study revealed that eight weeks of alternate-day fasting reduced levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and blood triglycerides by twenty-five and thirty seconds.
In another study, one hundred and ten overweight adults showed that 3 weeks of fasting under medical management. Significantly decreased blood pressure, reduced blood triglycerides, total steroid alcohol, and dreadful LDL cholesterol levels.
Conclusion:
Fasting is related to a lower risk of coronary cardiopathy. It should be aided by low blood pressure, triglycerides, and steroid alcohol levels.
4. May enhance brain performance and prevent neurodegenerative disorders
Although analysis is usually limited to the animal, several studies have found that fasting can have a good effect on brain health.
One study of rats showed that active intermittent fasting for eleven months improved brain performance and brain structure.
Other animal studies have rumored that fasting may protect brain health and increase the generation of nerve cells to help enhance psychological facilitation performance (13Trusted Source, FourteenTrusted Source ).
Because fasting can also help relieve swelling, it can also help prevent neurodegenerative disorders.
Clearly, studies in animals suggest that fasting can improve defenses and outcomes for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's.
However, much more studies are needed to measure the consequences on brain performance in humans.
Conclusion:
Animal studies suggest that fasting can improve brain performance, increase neuron synthesis, and protect against neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's.