Ramadan
is in its second week now, and the required dawn-to-dusk fasting often
feels like a daily mini–marathon. By late afternoon, hunger and thirst
have sucked me dry, leaving me sleepy, slow-minded, and sometimes
short-tempered.
I know that the purpose of fasting is spiritual—God will reward us in
the next life—but in this lifetime, fasting sometimes makes me an
ineffective, irritable person. So I was excited to learn that Harvard
psychiatrist John Ratey, MD, had spoken at a recent Renaissance Weekend
event about how caloric restriction can improve brain function.
I emailed Dr. Ratey to find out if those benefits might extend to
religious fasting, and he sent me a 2006 paper on the brain functioning
of men during the Ramadan fast. The researchers studied a small group of
healthy men during and after the holy month, looking at their brain
activity via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They
concluded that “all individual results showed consistent and significant
increase of activity in the motor cortex during fasting.”
Other research shows similar results
That research builds on the work of other scientists, including
Mark Mattson, PhD, who heads a neuroscience lab at the NIH’s National
Institute on Aging. Mattson has done important research on how dietary
restrictions can significantly protect the brain from degenerative
diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
In a 2003 article, Mattson and others reported that rats who were
deprived of food every other day, or restricted to a diet at 30% to 50%
of normal calorie levels, showed not only decreased heart rates and
blood pressure, but also “younger” brains, with “numerous age-related
changes in gene expression.”
Mattson and his colleagues also shared data from research on humans,
which shows that populations with higher caloric intakes—such as the
United States and Europe—have a greater prevalence of Alzheimer’s than
do populations that eat less—such as China and Japan. The authors
speculate that humans may have adapted to conditions of feast and
famine; the stress of having little food, they write, “may induce
changes in gene expression that result in adaptive changes in cellular
metabolism and the increased ability of the organism to reduce stress.”
Although this research is relatively new, with many questions left
unanswered, the authors conclude that “it seems a safe bet that if
people would incorporate a spartan approach to food intake into their
lifestyles, this would greatly reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s and stroke.” (Of course, how this recommendation translates
for individual people remains almost a complete unknown; consult with
your own doctor before restricting your diet in dramatic ways.)
But here’s the hard part: Although we know eating too much leads to
all sorts of health problems, “it has proven very difficult to
successfully implement prolonged dietary-restriction regimens,” reports
Mattson and his team. Information and doctor’s orders are rarely enough
motivation.
This last observation gave me hope, because it seemed the authors
were overlooking the role of religion; it can inspire people in ways
information or experts don’t. Would I be undergoing this rigorous month
of fasting unless I believed strongly it was the right thing for me to
do? Probably not. And the same goes for millions of Muslims around the
world.
And many other religions include fasting or dietary restrictions as
part of their religious observances. Members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, for example, fast one Sunday a
month. The Orthodox Church in America notes five separate fasting
seasons on its website, in addition to individual fast days; during some
of these fasts, all food is restricted, and during other fasts, only
certain foods are off-limits. Some Roman Catholics abstain from meat on
Fridays, and all do during Lent. Many types of Buddhist monks abide by a
code that prohibits eating after noon each day.
Science may only now be discovering that some of these religious
practices, both ancient and modern, offer nourishment not just for the
soul, but for the body as well.
Andrea Useem
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment