Health
Inside The 36-hour Fast: How Your Body Transforms Hour By Hour In Viral New Simulation
A startling simulation illustrates how fasting for 36 hours could alter your body.
Although the thought of skipping three meals a day is likely to make you shudder or feel queasy, it turns out that humans have not always eaten.
Dr Valter Longo, a longevity researcher at the University of Southern California, told NIH that in the olden days, people were forced to go without food for long periods when it wasn’t available, adding: “So, they were forced to fast.”
However, depending on where you live, food is available almost anywhere in the modern world.
“This has shifted our eating patterns,” noted Dr Vicki Catenacci, a nutrition researcher at the University of Colorado. “People now eat, on average, throughout a 14-hour period each day.”
What happens if you fast for 36 hours?
Thus, insulin levels fall and the body starts burning stored sugar after just four hours of fasting. After eight hours, blood sugar levels drop and energy is obtained from glycogen.
At 12 hours, insulin levels drop and fat burning begins, resulting in ketosis. After 16 hours, the body’s own tissue is consumed by autophagy, which breaks down poisons and damaged cells.
Additionally, significant cellular repair, a decrease in inflammation, and an improvement in insulin sensitivity take place within 24 hours.
Growth hormone, which helps to maintain muscle and encourage fat loss, starts to show results about 30 hours later.
At 36 hours, maximum autophagy is achieved, which provides a complete body reset by removing dead cells, repairing tissues, and increasing metabolism.
Below is a simulation of this presented by the Wellness Wise YouTube channel:
What do the experts say about fasting?
Adam Collins, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Surrey, told The Guardian that the findings of his own human fasting study indicated that a more rigorous fast speeds up the combustion of fat rather than carbohydrates.
Collins cautioned that a large portion of general research has been conducted on species that have a tendency to fast for prolonged periods of time, including rats.
“Whether you can get those effects with just a 36-hour fast once a week, [I’m] not sure,” he said.
James Betts, professor of metabolic physiology at the University of Bath, agreed: “There [are] a lot of proposed benefits to [running on fats]. But a lot of the research hasn’t really [been borne out in] human beings. So we don’t see dramatic health benefits, certainly in the short term.”
“And you can tend to be a little physically inactive during the fast as well because you just don’t have the energy levels for that.”
According to John Hopkins Medicine, “going too long without eating might actually encourage your body to start storing more fat in response to starvation,” so fasting for more than 24 hours may not always be healthier or potentially harmful.
Now Trending:
- 9 Foods High In Magnesium And 8 Signs Of A Magnesium Shortage
- Pay Attention To The Foods That Are Good Or Bad For Thyroid Cancer
- 4 Types of People Who Should Avoid Eating Cabbage, According to Health Experts
Please SHARE this article with Family and Friends and let us know in the comments!
