Is fasting beneficial for human health?

Many observers of Ramadan use a masbaha for prayer and to distract them from their hunger.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the basic religious duties of Muslims. In the past it was thought that the benefits of fasting were limited to spiritual and emotional effects. However, recent studies indicate that a person can benefit in many physical and psychological ways from fasting. The studies reveal that the body’s immune system, blood circulation, digestive organs, reproductive and urinary systems as well as the heart may all benefit from fasting.

Many Muslims think that fasting has a detrimental effect on their physical performance. Such thinking has led many Islamic countries to decrease working hours during Ramadan. 

But a new U.S. study conducted by the Institute of Islamic Medicine for Education and Research in Panama City, Florida has proven that fasting does not have a negative effect on the muscles or on physical performance. Nor does it necessarily result in tiredness or lethargy. 

The study concluded that there is in fact an improvement in the body’s ability to bear physical and muscular effort and the performance of the heart is also said to improve.  The study monitored the physical performance of 20 healthy people, including 12 males and 8 females, before and during fasting. The participant’s ages ranged from 12 to 52 years old. 

The study found that participants’ heart rates decreased from 170 beats per minute before fasting to 159 per minute while fasting. That suggests a 6 percent improvement in heart rate. Moreover, a significant improvement in blood pressure was also recorded. 

The study also found that participants noticed less breathing difficulties during Ramadan, and felt less tiredness in the legs when exercising. Muscle performance was also said to improve. 

Various other studies have shown that fasting increases the amount of free fatty acids in the blood, which aside from glucose are the body’s main source of energy. Fatty acids help to reduce the depletion of glycogen in the liver and muscles during exercise, and prevent the depletion of glucose in blood. Under the normal conditions, glucose is the main source of energy. However, physical effort forces the body to use up glucose quickly, leaving a person feeling tired and exhausted. 

The body’s dependence on glucose decreases during fasting since sufficient quantities of amino acids are available in the blood to supply the body with energy. The result of this is an improvement in overall muscle performance.

Another recent study, prepared by Dr. Jad al-Moula Abdul-Aziz, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Cairo University, concluded that fasting helps to eliminate about 35 percent of the toxins that accumulate in the body during our normal activities such as eating and breathing. Fasting helps to reduce these harmful toxins and in so doing protects the body’s cells from diseases and delays aging. 

Another scientific study shows that fasting helps to regulate the blood pressure. Dr. Ibrahim Hamed, researcher in the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, at the National Research Center in Cairo, concluded that fasting is an effective treatment for patients suffering from arteriosclerosis, characterized by the hardening of plaque-covered arteries. During a period of fasting, which continues for more than 12 hours a day, the digestive system has nothing to do and thus stops working. This prevents the blood from gathering around the stomach and intestines and allows the circulatory system to flow freely and regularly, which as a side effect may reduce pain caused by arteriosclerosis.

He added that during a period of fasting, the body burns any stored fats in the body and converts them to energy. This, it has been found, reduces the possibility of infecting healthy people with arteriosclerosis. 

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