The Effects of Islamic Fasting on the Brain
We are a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual whole. Each realm influences and is dependent upon the others. It is no surprise, then, to realize that an effective program that restores physical health would also have great effects on our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual selves.
People routinely have a spiritual experience, an awakening, a deeper spiritual awareness resulting for several days of fasting.
Our intelligence processes are also enhanced. This should not be surprising, because we know that our brain operates on a chemical level, too. It needs to be properly fed and oxygenated. It must be freed of any toxins that have crossed the blood/brain barrier.
All this has a direct bearing upon how we respond to stimuli with our emotions. We are, after all, a complex whole.
Islamic fast lifts the spirit
It is the common experience of those who take a fast that their spirits are immediately lifted. They have a clarity of mind, a confidence, brightness and a lightness of spirit that comes when the toxic burden begins to lift. They routinely sleep 'better than they have for years,' awaked refreshed with less time in bed, and have a more optimistic and positive attitude regarding themselves and others. They are much nicer people to 'live with.'
They will also be more ambitious, picking up on tasks that they have long neglected. They will have enthusiasm and confidence that they haven't shown for a long time. They will be more energetic and adventurous, more loving and kind. They will be a much better person as the burden is lifted from their bodies, minds, hearts and spirits.
This is not a surprising phenomenon, because we know that the body of truth by which we operate is 90% perception. When our 'perceiving mechanism' is healed, our view of who we are and what we are about in this world, and out perception of other people may be drastically changed.
We feel like standing taller and 'looking the world in the eye,' rather than cowering in misery and defeat.
This can all be brought about because this 'whole person' has carried the burden of the illness for a long time and it has taken its toll. Once you experience this deliverance, you may be encouraged to push further into realizing the benefits of a fast for a month , and as you realize the price you have paid for your ignorance, you may be inspired to go deeper into the benefits of assuming a healthier lifestyle in other ways besides changing your diet.

Islamic Fasting is beneficial
Islamic type of Fasting has been beneficial in cases of paralysis, neuritis, neuralgia, neuroses and mental illness.
Medical science faces tremendous limitations when it comes to healing the brain. The complexity of this organ allows only the most basic intervention. Prescription drugs can have dangerous side effects because of the brain’s delicate balance. Islamic type of Fasting may be the most sensible route to healing the brain and mental disorders. It is well known that the brain, if given the opportunity, has a capacity of healing. Fasting will intensify the healing.
headaches have been cured many times Memory and concentration have been permanently improved. Fasting has also healed depression.
Islamic Fasting appears to offer three main protective and therapeutic benefits to the brain:
Islamic Fasting may Boosts Neuronal Autophagy
Islamic type of fasting induces profound neuronal autophagy.” Autophagy, or “self-eating,” is the process by which cells recycle waste material, downregulate wasteful processes, and repair themselves. Brain health is highly dependent on neuronal autophagy. In fact, a recent paper shows that deletion of an “essential autophagy gene” in the hypothalamic neurons of fetal mice resulted in metabolic derangement (more body fat, poor glucose tolerance) and impaired neuronal development. Another study shows that disruption of neuronal autophagy induces neurodegeneration. Simply put, without the process of autophagy, brains neither develop properly nor function the way they should.
Islamic Fasting can Increases Levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
BDNF is a protein that interacts with neurons in the hippocampus, cortex, and basal forebrain (the parts of the brain that regulate memory, learning, and higher cognitive function – uniquely human stuff). It helps existing neurons survive while spurring the growth of new neurons (neurogenesis) and the development of synapses (lines of communication between neurons). Low levels of BDNF are linked to Alzheimer’s, and supplementary BDNF prevents neuronal death, memory loss, and cognitive impairment in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease.
Islamic Fasting help to Increases Production of Ketones
Ketone bodies like hydroxybutyrate are famously neuroprotective, and fasting often induces ketosis.
Increased autophagy and BDNF and ketones from fasting sounds awesome.
No discussion of fasting and neurological health research is complete (or can even be initiated) without including Mark Mattson. Mattson, chief neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, has been releasing paper after paper on the neurological effects of intermittent fasting for many years, and he’s amassed an impressive body of work that suggests IF can induce neurogenesis and protect against brain injury and disease.
The beneficial effects of islamic type of fasting on neurological health across a spectrum of conditions given below
Stroke
The most common type of strokes are ischemic strokes (composing about 88% of all strokes) - cerebrovascular events in which a blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain is blocked by a clot. Without blood, the brain can’t get oxygen or nutrients, and often permanent brain damage can occur. In an animal model of ischemic stroke, fasting upregulated BDNF and other neuroprotective proteins, reduced mortality and inflammation, and increased cognitive health and function. However, it’s worth noting that fasting was most effective against stroke in young animals, who enjoyed a four-fold increase in neuroprotective and neurogenerative BDNF. Overall, fasting increased neuroprotective proteins and decreased inflammatory cytokines in young and middle-aged mice, thereby reducing the brain damage incurred by stroke.
Brain Trauma
Research indicates that islamic fasting is also effective against physical trauma to the brain. It’s not that fasting somehow physically repels impending trauma by generating a magical ketone-powered force field; it’s that fasting reduces the oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cognitive decline that normally result from brain trauma. Employing one of these contraptions, researchers induced a “controlled cortical impact” on fasting rats and found that a 24-hour fast (but not a 48-hour fast) was neuroprotective. Perhaps the reduced appetite that commonly accompanies a concussion is a protective mechanism rather than an annoying side effect?
Cervical Spine Injury
Fasting was neuroprotective following an injury to a rat’s cervical spine. Despite extensive trauma, fasted rats improved gait pattern, vertical exploration, and forelimb function (all heavily dependent on brain function). Neuronal integrity was preserved, cortical lesion volume was reduced, and corticospinal axon (nerve fiber) sprouting increased. The same team performed a similar study on mice suffering from a spinal cord injury, but had very different results; every other day fasting failed to confer any neuroprotective or functional benefits to the injured mice whatsoever. How can we reconcile these apparently contradictory findings? Well, in the rats who experienced neuroprotection, fasting increased ketone production by 2 or 3 fold. The fasting mice never reached ketosis. Ketosis was key.
Alzheimer’s disease.
In a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, both intermittent fasting and 40% (!) calorie restriction conferred cognitive and behavioral benefits when compared to mice on the control diet. IF and CR mice showed higher levels of exploratory behavior, and, when placed in a Morris water maze, found the escape platform sooner than the control mice. However, only IF mice showed evidence of protection against synaptic pathology – a hallmark of the disease.
Huntington’s disease.
Huntington’s disease is also characterized by a depletion in BDNF levels. In a rat model of the disease, intermittent fasting normalized BDNF levels, while regular feeding kept them low. Fasting rats lived longer and even enjoyed better glucose tolerance than ad libitum fed rats. By all accounts, fasting slowed progression of Huntington’s disease.
Age-Related Cognitive Decline
Although most of the research focuses on neurological trauma and disease, there’s evidence that islamic type of intermittent fasting is good for basic age-related cognitive decline. It interesting that this was “late-onset” intermittent fasting, meaning elderly rats who began fasting only after showing signs of decline still wrought cognitive benefits. Contrast that with the stroke study in which older rodents saw almost no benefit from fasting and a picture emerges: as long as they’re not trying to counter a debilitating event, like ischemic stroke or trauma, older brains can also expect to benefit from fasting.
Depression?
Depression has long been associated with lower BDNF levels as a prognostic of the disease, but it’s only recently that researchers are entertaining the possibility that low BDNF and depression could be causally related. And indeed – antidepressants actually increase BDNF signaling and synthesis in the hippocampus (the part of the brain where depression “happens”). Could fasting help with depression via upregulation of BDNF and promotion of neurogenesis? Perhaps. I’d say it’s worth a shot, especially since skipping a few meals doesn’t require a prescription.
Fasting can help protect against brain diseases, scientists say

Fasting for regular periods could help protect the brain against degenerative illnesses, according to US scientists.
Researchers at the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore said they had found evidence which shows that periods of stopping virtually all food intake for one or two days a week could protect the brain against some of the worst effects of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other ailments.
"Reducing your calorie intake could help your brain, but doing so by cutting your intake of food is not likely to be the best method of triggering this protection. It is likely to be better to go on intermittent bouts of fasting, in which you eat hardly anything at all, and then have periods when you eat as much as you want," said Professor Mark Mattson, head of the institute's laboratory of neurosciences.
"In other words, timing appears to be a crucial element to this process," Mattson told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver.
Cutting daily food intake to around 500 calories – which amounts to little more than a few vegetables and some tea – for two days out of seven had clear beneficial effects in their studies, claimed Mattson, who is also professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Scientists have known for some time that a low-calorie diet is a recipe for longer life. Rats and mice reared on restricted amounts of food increase their lifespan by up to 40%. A similar effect has been noted in humans. But Mattson and his team have taken this notion further. They argue that starving yourself occasionally can stave off not just ill-health and early death but delay the onset of conditions affecting the brain, including strokes. "Our animal experiments clearly suggest this," said Mattson.
He and his colleagues have also worked out a specific mechanism by which the growth of neurones in the brain could be affected by reduced energy intakes. Amounts of two cellular messaging chemicals are boosted when calorie intake is sharply reduced, said Mattson. These chemical messengers play an important role in boosting the growth of neurones in the brain, a process that would counteract the impact of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"The cells of the brain are put under mild stress that is analogous to the effects of exercise on muscle cells," said Mattson. "The overall effect is beneficial."
The link between reductions in energy intake and the boosting of cell growth in the brain might seem an unlikely one, but Mattson insisted that there were sound evolutionary reasons for believing it to be the case. "When resources became scarce, our ancestors would have had to scrounge for food," said Mattson. "Those whose brains responded best – who remembered where promising sources could be found or recalled how to avoid predators — would have been the ones who got the food. Thus a mechanism linking periods of starvation to neural growth would have evolved."
This model has been worked out using studies of fasting on humans and the resulting impact on their general health – even sufferers from asthma have shown benefits, said Mattson – and from experiments on the impact on the brains of animals affected by the rodent equivalent of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Now Mattson's team is preparing to study the impact of fasting on the brain by using MRI scans and other techniques.
If this final link can be established, Mattson said that a person could optimise his or her brain function by subjecting themselves to bouts of "intermittent energy restriction". In other words, they could cut their food intake to a bare minimum for two days a week, while indulging for the other five. "We have found that from a psychological point of view that works quite well. You can put up with having hardly any food for a day if you know that for the next five you can eat what you want.
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