Intermittent fasting has become one of the best popular strategies for losing weight. But along with that, it affects your brain functioning as well.
According to studies, restricting food intake for a good time has significant positive effects on both the body and the brain.
Intermittent fasting is beneficial for other physical body diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and diabetes. Owing to this, multiple individuals practise intermittent fasting, and one can adapt to a suitable intermittent fasting routine accordingly.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a type of meal timing schedule that cycles between voluntary fasting and non-fasting. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day and eating a meal a couple of days a week can significantly help you lose weight and burn fat.
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
In intermittent fasting, you can eat only during a specific time. When the body does not receive food for a longer time, it burns fat inside by consuming sugar in the body. As the body burns fat and calories consumed during your previous meal, intermittent fasting increases the duration of that process and thus helps burn fat in the body.
You can drink water or zero-calorie beverages like black coffee when you are eating nothing. Intermittent fasting needs one to ensure energy and prevent dehydration.
What Are Types of Intermittent Fasting Regimen?
Here are the different types of intermittent fasting regimens:
i. Alternate day fasting
It shows fasting every other day. In this fasting type, one can intake 500-700 calories a day and eat normal meals on another day.
ii. 5:2 fasting
It is about fasting on 2 different days a week and consuming only 500-700 calories a day. After adopting this routine for 2 days, one can resume a normal eating routine.
iii. Time-restricted eating
In this, you can eat a meal at noon and consume a second meal by 8 pm, or you can eat only one meal a day.
What Effect Does Intermittent Fasting Have on Mental Health?
Having learned about intermittent fasting regimens, let’s investigate their effects on mental well-being.
1) Improves memory
Restricting hours of consuming food has proved incredibly impactful for the brain and body. According to a study, “4 weeks of intermittent fasting performance on a spatial planning, working memory test, and working on memory task increased unexpectedly.”
2) Help control sugar
According to the British Journal of Nutrition, intermittent fasting proves great for insulin productivity and regulation in the body. It helps eliminate any possibilities of high blood sugar levels in Diabetes Type 2.
Another journal says that high blood pressure is associated with the small hippocampus. It is a sea-horse-type structure in your temporal lobes which is associated with memory, mood, and learning. And it is because of this that increased anxiety levels are found more in patients having Diabetes Type 2 compared to healthy people.
3) Improves mood
According to the result of the experiment, individuals reported decreased anxiety levels, decreased tension, anger, and confusion. Intermittent fasting is associated with improved emotional well-being and diminishing depression. An improved and healthy mood represents a healthy mind and improves creativity and productivity in an individual.
Some individuals face irritation while adapting to intermittent fasting until their bodies adjust to the meal skipping. Eventually, intermittent fasting helps one develop self-control, helps cope with stress easily, and eases depressive vibes.
4) Improves Willpower
Choosing to fast requires mental strength and the ability to resist short-term cravings and gratification. When you choose to adopt intermittent fasting, it automatically improves your willpower to do certain things that you believe to be impossible for you.
For example, if you were fearing whether taking doorstep loans with no credit check to meet your business goals would help, then strong willpower will help you make the right decision.
Here are some tips to improve willpower with intermittent fasting:
a) Avoid sugar intake
Sugary foods might seem appealing at first, but individuals become hungry and weak when sugar falls. To prepare for intermittent fasting, restrict eating pasta, pizza, rice, meat, beans, and potatoes a week before.
b) Avoid doing too much physical exercise.
When you are fasting, too much exercise or physical stress on the body can lead to exhaustion, dehydration, or weakness. Thus, avoid straining your body into exercise and limit movement. It will help you conserve energy for doing important tasks easily.
c) Consult a physician for medication
Before you start a fast, check with your doctor about any complications that you might face doing so. Or, if you are on medicines, ask whether it is idle to take them when you are fasting. Avoid fasting if you have the below disease:
- Kidney Disease
- Breastfeeding mother
- Recovering from surgery or illness
- Are underweight
d) Stop the fasting cycle gradually.
When you are about to finish your fast, resume your natural eating schedule gradually. Refrain from grabbing a heavy meal right away. Instead, wait for your body to adjust by including a mix of heavy and light food in your diet.
5) Help Lower blood pressure at night.
Low or normal blood pressure has significant benefits for the heart. The fact is, it is also great for your brain. Hypertension and pre-hypertension are lower flow of blood in the brain. Low blood flow on brain SPECT imaging is seen with depression, bipolar disorder, ADD/ADHD, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and more. It may lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
What Should You Eat When You Aren’t Fasting to Boost Your Mental Health?
Intermittent fasting is indeed an exhaustive process that requires patience and persistence for the results to show up. But if you aren’t fasting, how to improve your mental health? Here are some foods that boost mental health.
a. Fresh fruits and vegetables
Consuming green leafy vegetables helps reduce inflammation and boosts brain health as well. Include Spinach, blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, kale, sweet potatoes in your diet for improved brain functioning.
b. Food rich in Omega-3 fatty acids
Lack of Omega-3 fatty acids results in depression and obesity. Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for cognitive functions. You can find it in foods, such as salmon, sardines, and flaxseeds.
Besides including the above foods, it is essential to cut on oily foods to reduce caffeine, meat consumption, processed vegetable oil, and sugary food to ensure overall mental wellbeing.
So, this is how intermittent fasting helps improve mental health and promote a healthy mind and body.