According to Ayurveda fasting (upavasa) is one of the spiritual therapy and is one among ten Langhana (which produce lightness of body) therapies. Ayurveda also state that fasting increases digestive fire and help in digestion of metabolic toxin.
Duane Mellor stated “Food abstinence is all rage when it comes to health and wellbeing. Wherever you look from UK’s prime minister Rishi Sunak to Hollywood celebrities like Thor star Chris Hemsworth, someone’s extolling the virtues of fasting for mind and body.”
According to report Sunak consider fasting for the first 36 hours of each week as an “important discipline” , while Hemsworth attempted to unlock his body’s”anti-aging “powers through the extreme four day fast for his 2023 Tv series, Limitless.
Intermittent fasting has also become popular form of weight management. Some plans such as Daniel Fast popularised by film star Chris Pratt, claim to follow diets of religion figures to offer spiritual as well as physical benifits.
Health benefits of fasting for Ramadan and Lent are: in 2024 and 2025, Ramadan and the Christian period of Lent overlap. Ramadan is a period of fasting for Muslims while Lent is a period of abstinence for Christians, particularly those of orthodox denominations.
During Ramadan fasting is a form of time restricted earings, the followers should avoid all food and drink between dawn and dusk. Whereas Orthodox Christian practices tends to avoid all animals products and sources of fat from diet rather than full-time fasting. With research it has been found that both the religion based fasting approaches are associated with reduction of cardiovascular risk.
Fasting during Ramadan was associated with significant reduction of blood pressure and body weight whereas fasting of Lent has significant association with reduction of cholesterol.
lowering of blood pressure during Ramadan could b an effect of not eating or drinking during the day, thereby lowering the insulin level which can act on the sympathetic nervous system as well as reducing the blood volume.
Orthodox Christians following a plant based fast may reduce fat intake and and increase fibers in comparison to their usual diet , which may explain decrease in cholesterol level while practicing Lent.Surprisingly fast of both Ramadan and Lent tend to limit energy intake thus results in weight loss.
However some of these benifits may get cancelled out by over consumption of less healthy food and drinks after breaking the fast. To maintain benifits of fasting followers should avoid eating food high in fat,sugar and salt.
Research suggest that people of faith enjoys more positive health outcomes for a range of intervention, including weight management . This may be atleast partially due to faith linked health interventions being more culturally appropriate aligned with patient’s benifits and ideas. For example research suggest an association between religiosity and self-control, which can positively impact eating patterns.
