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Benefits of 12-Hour Fasts

Fasting is abstaining from food, and perhaps drink, for a period of time. People fast for religious and cultural reasons, as well as for health and weight loss purposes. Fasting for an extended period of time can be detrimental to health, but short fasts, such as 12-hour fasts, have physical and psychological benefits.

  1. Brain

    • Short, 12-hour fasts gives the brain a chance to fight the chemical byproducts of stress. When your body creates energy from glucose, mitochondria in the brain release tissue-damaging radicals of oxygen. However, fasting depletes the levels of glucose that require metabolizing. During the interruption of tissue-damaging radicals, the brain is given a chance to recover and recuperate. Short fasts help the mind to re-focus and improve memory and sensory perception.

    Water Weight

    • Twelve-hour fasts help the body to lose weight. Weight loss is not significant, since it is mostly water weight that is expelled from the body. However, excess water and fluids may total as much as 10 pounds on some people. Short fasts trim down the figure by decreasing bloat and swelling without posing any of the health risks that fasts of more than 18 hours do.

    Body Fat

    • Short, half-day fasts do not lower the metabolism, since they are too brief for the body to adjust to burning fewer calories. When undergone intermittently, such as every few days, short fasts help the body to lose excess fat over a period of time. However, weight loss only occurs if overall calorie intake is reduced by fasts. If you over-eat after or before fasts, you will not lose body fat.

    Other Chemical Benefits

    • Twelve-hour fasts lower the body temperature, the blood pressure and the heart rate, which are beneficial side effects to people who suffer from high blood pressure or high heart rate. Twelve-hour fasts also increase HDL, also known as the "good cholesterol" and beta-hyroxyburyrate, a brain-protective chemical. Further, they decrease the brain's sensitivity to excitotoxins, including MSG and sucralose, which increase the appetite.

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