Hi, Dr. Mindy here, and on this video, we're going to talk about
dry fasting, and how it relates to brain health. So if you are
new to my channel, I just want to say welcome. I hope you find
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Okay, it's fast training week, me if you don't know what that
is. Once a month, we take a five day period and we practice a
different fast. So this week, we are practicing dry fasting, no
food, no water, but we're doing it Ramadan style, which means we
can have water and coffee before the sun comes up. We go 12
hours, no food, no water. And then after the sun goes down,
you're going to eat a Keto biotic meal. If you don't know
what any of that is, just go ahead and go back to the video
before this and the video a couple videos before this and
you will find all the instructions, or just put
companion guide in your comments. And my team will send
you a link with the companion guide where you can also win an
free box of LMNT which is amazing minerals for fasters.
They sponsor our fast training week. Okay, brain health, I
actually think this is why I like to dry fast. And I didn't
even realize that the first time I discovered dry fasting was
really as you do a longer fast like a three day water fast. As
the days go on, you don't want to drink water, and you start to
see that your brain clarity gets better and better and better.
Well, it turns out that that's what the research says. So when
you go and this was again, done on Ramadan style fasting, when
you go without food and water 12 to 24 hours a day, for 30 days,
this is what they see in brain health, there will be an
increase in neuron protection against degeneration. So this is
great for people with dementia, Alzheimer's, memory loss, people
who are trying to prevent that or maybe you're in the beginning
stages of it. We also know that dry fasting Ramadan style is
will create new neurons, okay, remember, neurons are carrying
information in your brain, you've got trillions of them,
the more the better when it comes to neurons. Okay, third
thing that dry fasting will do is that it will increase brain
plasticity. So here's the thing with brain plasticity, this has
to do with how capable these neuron neurons are to transmit
information. Brain plasticity is a great thing. When your brain
becomes like in an Alzheimer's situation, when it becomes
degenerates, what that's happening is it becomes rigid,
so we want it to be plastic and flexible. And then the last one
is that you will see a decreased of this as fascinate decreased
neuronal excitement. Okay, so what does that mean? That means
that you make new neurons, you repair the old ones, but these
neurons are not as amped up in like a stress situation.
Neuronal excitement happens, like when the amygdala is firing
at you and saying, You're not safe, there's a problem. That's
when the neurons are firing too quick in an anxious state. But
what what dry fasting will do is it'll calm those neurons down.
That's awesome. Okay, so why does it do this?
And here's what I want to really point out to you is that if we
go back to the primal reason that dry fasting works, is you
were designed to thrive and get stronger without food. And what
we're learning is that you were actually designed to thrive and
get stronger without water for short periods of time. If we go
back to cave people, they came out of the cave, they didn't
always have water. So our brains had to be able to go 12 to 24
hours without water, and we needed something to make our
brains even sharper, so we go find water to stay alive. So
what your brain does is it makes a neurotransmitter called BDNF.
And BDNF is like fertilizer for the brain and what it will do
and dry fasting does this better than any other fast. What BDNF
is been known to do is it maintains memory and learning so
as you age, if you throw some of these dry fasts in, it's going
to improve your memory it's going to improve prove your
learning capability. We also know that it will regenerate
neurons. So that's great because as you age, these neurons are
starting to degenerate. And we also know that it will stimulate
proteins in the brain that are responsible for adaptation when
there is little food available. Okay, that's fascinating,
because what that tells me is that it might make I have no
evidence, I'm just taking the research and putting in an
application. So you guys don't have to tell me that if you
throw some dry fasts in here or there, that it might make you
more adaptable to some of the other water fasting that you're
doing. So BDNF. The only other way to get BDNF is through
exercise, which is awesome. That's great. But dry fasting is
better than all the other fasts for BDNF. Okay, so why does this
work? Well, I just talked about what happens in the caveman
days. But let's just be very clear that dry fasting, it works
because it's another level of stress. So when you're fasting,
and you take food out of the equation, but you're drinking,
that's one level of stress. But we're now when you take water
out of the equation for a short period of time, you have added
in another layer of stress that the body will adapt positively.
Now, if you're hearing this for the first time, and you're like,
This is crazy, I want you to remember that short bouts of
stress improve us when we are not stressed. That is how the
human body and brain starts to degenerate. When we have moments
of stress, like anybody who's done an exercise program, where
they've pushed themselves knows this, that you will always keep
pushing yourself so that the body keeps adapting. Well, the
same thing with fasting, this could be another level of just
pushing you right to the edge, so that your brain will adapt
and your body will adapt more favorably.
So what what kind of conditions mental conditions would you use
dry fasting for? And I really think that there's two, the mood
disorders, specifically depression, when I dove into the
research a little bit more, it showed that dry fasting because
of this neuronal repair because of BDNF production, can be
really incredible for depression. So I'm kind of
curious from you guys, as you go through this week. Let me know
how you feel. We're doing five days of dry fasting Ramadan
Ramadan style, tell me how you how it works for you. It does do
you notice more happiness? Do you notice more mental clarity?
I can tell you when I drive fast at the answers, absolutely, yes.
And then the other place because of the BDNF power on neurons
that I would use this would be I would throw it into your fasting
variation, if you're having some memory issues. So losing memory,
losing keys, trying to find stuff, not where he can't
remember people's names. Maybe throwing in five days, like
we're doing now of dry fasting could be really cool. So those
are your options. Remember, you always want to be safe. When you
dry fast, it's no food, no water. So we always want to be
safe 12 to 24 hours is the max that I encourage you to go.
Always check your numbers. And again, if you guys want all
these resources, just put companion guide in the comments
and my team will send you a link for that. If you are intrigued
by dry fasting, go back and watch the video I did on can dry
fasting allow you to burn more fat. That's the video before
this. It's pretty interesting what the research is showing on
that. But for moods, for memory, dry fasting, it actually might
be that one fast, you need to just slip into your rotation. So
you can improve cognition. And you can make sure that your
brain is getting stronger, not just your body. So as always, if
you have a personal experience with dry fasting specifically
when it comes to memory, put it in the notes. If you want the
companion guide, put companion guide in there, you can win some
free element in the companion guide they sponsor this week.
But never give up on yourself. You have so many miracles
happening in here. And when we take food and water out of the
equation, those miracles can reveal themselves. So as always,
I hope that helps