Starvation is very stressful to the body
Stresses accompany a person throughout his or her life. Stress is a special state of the body, which is characterized by increased “combat readiness” and increased resistance to all without exception damaging environmental factors. All our modern life is full of stress, and what a huge stress for the body is surgery, especially for young women, but most importantly – after such stress remains the cause of the disease.
Yes, hunger is stressful to the body. Just like cold. But stress doesn’t necessarily mean harm.
It is one thing when a person starves because he has nothing to eat and there is a real threat of starvation and he is set up for it, in such cases the organism will never be able to launch its unique adaptive mechanisms and reserves for successful starvation. But the most important factor of successfultherapeutic fastingis the mental state of the patient, which is cardinally different from the mental state of a person starving involuntarily. When a patient realizes that he is fasting for the purpose of treatment, that he is under medical supervision (at the same time he is in conditions of comfort), that at the end of a certain period of time he will eat normally.
This consciousness radically changes his sensations, which is reflected in all physiological functions of the organism. And the fear of starvation, which is a constant companion of forced starvation, changes the whole metabolism in the organism, and a person more often dies not from hunger, but from the fear of it. Under such conditions, one can become seriously ill in as little as two days. Something similar happens when a person goes astray or during independent experiments on himself in the form of following fashionable diets. Dry therapeutic fasting is quite another matter, when a person abstains from food and water under the supervision of doctors, receives help and psychological support from them, when comfortable conditions are created for him and a large number of health-improving procedures are carried out. It is very important in any kind of fasting – emotional psychological mood and preparation. It is necessary not to force oneself to suffer a few days without favorite delicacies, but to adjust oneself positively, only in this case success is guaranteed. In this case, the brain does not recognize dangers and does not send signals of hunger, does not produce stress hormones.
Approximately on the third day of fasting, the hormone serotonin begins to be actively produced, and with it comes a feeling of inner harmony and satisfaction. Abstinence from food (conscious and voluntary) is a mild physiological stress for a living organism, which mobilizes the body’s defenses to overcome a difficult situation, using its endogenous reserves in the absence of exogenous nutrition. In this case, “according to the law of hierarchy” everything less important for life support is used (processed) – inflammation products, adipose tissue, etc. The organism uses (recycles) everything less important for life support. When the organism experiences physiological stress, i.e. natural tension, then in addition to other mechanisms, the activity of internal secretion glands increases and the autonomic nervous system revives. A person involuntarily enters a state of increased activity: it is necessary to look for food and water. The psychological background changes, the urgency of secondary problems is removed. The mechanisms of biochemical purification are triggered: stimulates the breakdown of fat, liver glycogen stores, changes in blood composition. An experienced doctor helps to competently conduct this process of controlled stress.
Starvation and stress hormones
King Saud University Medical College has investigated the effects of Muslim fasting on the hormones prolactin, insulin and cortisol. Their levels were measured at 9, 16, 21 and 4 o’clock in a group of healthy people fasting the month of Ramadan. For comparison, the same measurements were taken on normal days of other months.
As a result of the observations, important changes were noticed in these hormones during daylight hours. For example, on normal days, prolactin levels were seen to increase by 4 p.m., while the other three measurements showed no difference. Insulin levels on normal days reach their maximum by 16 hours, whereas measurements taken during Ramadan showed its maximum levels at 21 hours and its minimum levels at the end of the day’s fasting: around 16 hours. Cortisol levels on normal days reached their peak at 9 o’clock and their minimum at 21 hours. During Ramadan, however, cortisol levels did not change in any significant way. Based on the fact that during Ramadan, compared to the usual days, by 16 hours (i.e., after 12 hours of abstinence) the cortisol level reached its minimum in its slight fluctuations and prolactin level decreased.
The researchers concluded that following a dryfast wasnot a negative stressor.
