Benefits of Fasting During Ramadan
Fasting Helps Boosts Immune System, Required To Fight Infections
The month of Ramadan is a holy and sacred month in the Muslim lunar calendar as the Muslim community across the world shows their spiritual devotion and developing a feeling of brotherhood and kinship with other Muslims. Ramadan is the month during with Allah Almighty contacted the Holy Prophet Muhammad and gave him the verses of Qu’ran. There are many benefits of fasting according to the teachings of the holy prophet, along with multiple scientifically proven facts related to fasting.
Muslims are obliged not to eat or drink from the time duration of dawn till dusk and to refrain from ill deeds that are prohibited in Islam by following the prescribed method of living and to use the time in worshiping Allah Almighty.
Health Benefits of Ramadan on the human body
Although millions of Muslims across the world observe fasting as an act of spiritual cleansing in the month of Ramadan for the last thousands of years, there are some people who fear that fasting for a long duration would have adverse effects on the health of the individual, but it has been proven via multiple scientific types of research that there are multiple benefits of fasting.
One of the best benefits of fasting is boosting the immune system of the body, which is very beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic as the virus directly affects the body’s immune response. Recently, studies have shown that fasting reduces the amount of general inflammation inside the cells of the body, resulting in the boosting of the autoimmune system.
During fasting, the body is put into an energy conservation mode as it lacks the income of more nutrients due to which the body starts recycling damaged and old cells, which results in the generation of more and healthy cells as the time period of fasting ends. These brand new cells will provide more efficiency in eliminating viral and bacterial infections.
One of the major benefits of fasting includes healthy weight loss. People across the world are using the method of intermittent fasting, a regime for a healthy weight loss by reducing the overall water weight of the body. During fasting, by abstaining from drinking water, the body goes into the same phenomenon followed during intermitted fasting, resulting in a healthy body.
Out of the many benefits of fasting amid the month of Ramadan, following a healthy, balanced diet at the time to share and after being one of them. But there is a tendency of overindulgence in fried foods such as pakoras and samosas, which might affect the body’s overall system.
The time duration of fasting during Ramadan depends on the geographical location across the globe. There is sufficient evidence that suggests that fasting for more than 12 hours will promote an effective immune system.
Some of the scientifically proven benefits of fasting include improved sleep quality, decreased risk of heart diseases, improve mental wellbeing, decreased body cholesterol and obesity, removal of toxins from the blood, reduction in risk of cancers particularly breast cancer and protection of brain cells by reducing anxiety and depression in individuals.
Ramadan amid COVID-19 pandemic
Due to the coronavirus pandemic currently plaguing the entire earth as more than 200 countries are under attack from this contagious airborne infection. Usually, during the month of Ramadan, mosques are the busiest, but many of them are remaining closed to prevent further transmission of the infection.
As the benefits of fasting are boosting the immune system, fast should not be observed for this sole reason, as it could lead to detrimental effects on the human body. Those individuals who are healthy enough to observe fast without any issue should do it.
There has been no evidence suggesting the benefits of fasting amid coronavirus pandemic, due to which people across the world should strictly follow the preventive measures against COVID-19 infection, including social distancing, self-hygiene, frequent hand washing, and self-isolation.