Studies have proven that calorie restriction helps people and animals live longer. More specifically, the most reliable method of using food to prolong life over the long term is calorie restriction without starvation. However, increasing longevity is only one aspect of the problem.
You want to maintain your health while living longer to enhance your lifespan. You can do this without the difficulties of severe calorie restriction by practicing intermittent fasting.
What Transpires During a Fast?
Metabolic rate, cell repair, gene expression, and hormone levels are all affected by intermittent fasting. We all know intermittent fasting is good for health as it has several positive impacts, many directly related to living a longer and healthier life.
It has been demonstrated that fasting increases the growth hormone (GH) release, which is advantageous for fat reduction and muscle build. In addition to causing significant metabolic alterations (where the body changes from burning glucose to fatty acids), IF also triggers autophagy. This mechanism allows for the regeneration of new, healthy cells.
Along with these physiological modifications, fasting has also been suggested to lengthen life expectancy through improved insulin sensitivity, changes in the expression of genes, proteins, and DNA stability linked to aging, and disease prevention. These actions benefit human health, can increase longevity, and promote healthy aging.
Five Effective Impacts of Intermittent Fasting for Longevity
Intermittent Fasting Aids with Weight Maintenance
Over 75% of American people, according to epidemiological research, are overweight or obese, and that number is predicted to rise. According to research, people typically eat or snack for 14 to 15 hours of their 24-hour day. If you stick to this routine, your body might never have a chance to change your metabolism and completely engage your inborn fat-burning mechanism.
You are more prone to put on weight if your body is out of equilibrium and only functioning in the fed metabolic state (growth mode). Unrestricted meals and snacks, sometimes known as “grazing,” have been proven to frequently result in a lower-quality diet, greater calorie consumption, and more late-night eating.
In contrast to all these, when you practice Intermittent Fasting, you fast periodically, restrict your calorie consumption consciously, eat nutritious meals, and as a consequence, you lose weight.
Intermittent Fasting Reduces Oxidative Stress
In general, oxidative stress destroys your DNA and speeds up your aging process. An intermittent fasting diet plan is a great way to lower this risk. Intermittent fasting, even a few times a week, has been proven to naturally lower inflammation and promote natural anti-aging mechanisms in a three-year follow-up study of persons over 60.
Similarly, a recent study found that time-restricted eating, or daily intermittent fasting, decreased oxidative stress indicators by 25–31% when it was done for a limited period each day. To put it simply, intermittent fasting enhances cellular lifespan by assisting in the protection of your DNA.
Intermittent Fasting Fight off Chronic Inflammation
It is known that atherosclerotic disease, which can cause heart attacks and insulin resistance, are both caused by chronic inflammation. Consequently, if you lower chronic inflammation, your chances of living a long and healthy life will be higher. As opposed to other tactics like calorie restriction, intermittent fasting has been demonstrated to lower circulating inflammatory markers more efficiently.
Anti-inflammatory mechanisms are inactive when you’re fed and are turned on as your metabolism switches to burning fat and releasing ketones. A recent study found intermittent fasting is useful for enhancing gut microbiota health, insulin sensitivity, and total body inflammation.
Age-Related Disease is Prevented by Intermittent Fasting
Several pieces of evidence point to the protective effects of fasting regimens, particularly in middle-aged and older persons, against major age-related disorders, including heart disease.
According to researchers, there are several intermittent fasting benefits for lifespan. It lowers the risk of illness without the biological difficulties and adherence problems of long-term calorie restriction regimens. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that fasting and regular exercise have a synergistic effect that makes them even more effective in preventing illness!
Intermittent Fasting Promotes Autophagy
For your cells to perform at their best, autophagy is a vital, naturally occurring process in which your body eliminates cellular components that are aging, worn out, or fatigued. (Imagine it as your body’s routine “clean-out.”)
The immune system’s performance and the health of your body’s metabolism and anti-aging activities depend on this process. In conclusion, maintaining optimal autophagy capacity in your cells is crucial to increase your lifetime. You can accomplish this with intermittent fasting.
Increasing autophagy signals in humans requires a minimum of 18 hours of fasting. In a research, overweight people were divided into two groups. One group fasted for 18 hours daily, while the other did so for 12 hours every day for four days. Ketone levels increased, autophagy gene expression (LC3A) increased by 22%, and the participants who fasted for 18 hours daily observed improvements in their blood glucose levels and glycemic health markers.
In other words, intermittent fasting is the best diet for longevity as you’ll boost fat burning and ketone generation, and activate autophagy genes, all of which are desirable longevity effects of intermittent fasting.
Concluding Words
There is no doubt that to maximize lifespan, intermittent fasting is best used with other practices and approaches.
The lifespan-boosting advantages of intermittent fasting are maximized by regular exercise, sound sleep, and continuous restorative behaviors. Create an intermittent fasting foundation, then build a longevity lifestyle around it.
