Intermittent Fasting: You’re Halfway There!
PubMed recently posted a new study on the brain benefits of intermittent fasting. The research, published by Nature Reviews Neuroscience, refers to “intermittent metabolic switching” which can be achieved through periodic fasting or lengthy aerobic exercise. The good news is that most of us are already halfway to achieving such a metabolic switch via nightly shut-eye. Intermittent fasting refers to 12+ hours of not eating, thus sleeping for 6-8 hours per night gets close. According to the study, these phases of challenging the metabolic system create a state of ketosis, which affect neural activity, mood, and cognition. Beauty-sleep is one thing, but perhaps we should all go to bed earlier to achieve brain-health-sleep.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Feb 2018; 19(2): 63-80