What is the Migrating Motor Complex?

Eating is something that most people can accomplish without thinking much about it. To be honest, most people probably never had to focus much to perform the task of eating. It’s a spontaneous action, so we tend to take it for granted. However, if any such actions are suddenly halted, the result would become significantly noticeable. Migrating motor complex is one such system. Let’s delve into it. 

Actions Devoid of Thoughts

The majority of the most complex parts of your body are controlled by numerous hormones and functions that clump together to make an operational version in your body. The Migrating Motor Complex (aka the MMC) is a process that is made of electrochemical signals in your gut.

The MMC system is a predictable and well-ordered pattern that occurs in four phases to allow the processing of the food after you consume something or excrete the waste. Food is prepared of perishable organic matter. Therefore, your body needs to function properly to eliminate the wastes derived from digestion. Generally, these patterns happen at an interval of 90-120 minutes. When you have your meal, these contractions gradually start to gain momentum by approximately halving time and frequency, until the waste is getting cleansed.

While this process takes place, your gut begins to produce gastric juices that circulate into your organs and wash away waste. This allows further cleansing and protects your body from decomposing food particles that could ensconce harmful bacteria.

Fasting for Migrating Motor Complex

For utilizing the benefits of the migrating motor complex, your body needs to be in a fasting mode. This is an obvious phenomenon that happens whether or not you are aware of it. People who are likely to have less food during the day, are automatically activating it multiple times on a daily basis.

However, if you find fasting hard to follow, you can start with a few hours of fasting as inception. It is likely to trigger after approximately between 3 to 4 hours of fasting. That’s the reason why 16 hours of fasting is so beneficial.

Fortunately, if you get started with intermittent fasting, gradually it will become a natural process. You can activate it during your fasting period. Additionally, you can also activate it if you eat your meals a few hours apart in the course of your eating window. Therefore, it will subsequently provide you with a number of benefits for gut health and your body as well.