Many of you might have heard of intermittent fasting, because it is a trend that emerged and gained popularity in the last few years. Some use it for weight reduction, while others use it for health benefits. However, fewer of you have heard of dry fasting. You'll be surprised to know that dry fasting has been being practiced for centuries by Muslims in the month of Ramadan. In this month, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, but unlike intermittent fasting, dry fasting is done by abstaining from both food and water for a longer period of time.
What is Dry Fasting?
Dry fasting as mentioned involves abstaining from food and water for a certain period of time, for either religious purposes or health purposes; it should be noted though that in order to avoid any risks dry fasting must be done in a certain way to gain the benefits without the risks or dangers.
Dry fasting in the Islamic tradition
Muslims have been practicing dry fasting for over 1400 years, every year during the lunar month of Ramadan Muslims fast from dawn till sunset. Ramadan is considered the holiest month in Islam and Muslims all over the world wait for it every year and wish blessings to each other, a phrase you might hear Muslims exchange a lot during that period is "Ramadan Mubarak" which means blessed month.
Fasting doesn't just involve abstaining from food and drinks, but also from sex, bad words, and anger bursts. It's noteworthy that donations are encouraged in this month.
Dry fasting for weight loss
Dry fasting is effective for weight loss, due to the total restriction of calories and the exertion of cells, there are two types of dry fasting:
Soft dry fasting
In soft dry fasting the water is allowed to touch the body or the skin through showers, baths, and washing, so the body gets hydrated in a way.
Hard dry fasting
In hard dry fasting, there is no contact with water in any way, whether that be through drinking or anything else.
Dry fasting is done intermittently following a schedule made by an expert. The schedule takes into account your age, and your physical and physiological status. The plan that you will be given by the expert is tailored specifically to you.
Who should avoid dry fasting?
It must be noted that dry fasting is not for everyone. If you are planning on trying it, you might want to reconsider if you have any of the following conditions:
Diabetes
If you are a patient who suffers from diabetes, whether it's type one or type two, you need to think twice before trying dry fasting. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder which means that it's generally directly affected by all types of diet. Dry fasting might put the patient at a risk of hypoglycaemi, which is dangerous, especially if it's not corrected soon.
However, that doesn't mean that it's totally not for you if you have diabetes, because a lot of patients try it and swear by its benefits, some even say that it helps them regulate their blood sugar levels, but still every patient with diabetes need to consult their doctor first before they do dry fasting.
Pregnant and lactating mothers
If you are an expecting mom, or you have a baby who you are still breastfeeding, you certainly need to veer away from dry fasting. In both cases, the baby needs a tremendous amount of nutrition and blocking your intake like that might put you both at risk, so it's better that you avoid it until you stop breastfeeding.
Kidney problems
Patient who have kidney problems, like actue and chronic renal failure, renal infection, kidney stones, glomerulonephritis, and any problem with the kidney, should avoid dry fasting because the dehydration will affect their kidneys more than it would that of a person with healthy kidneys.
Generally, if you suffer from an infection or a disease then dry fasting is not recommended for you, because during this period your body needs a lot of hydration as well nutrition to fight the disease and fend for itself. Regarding some chronic illnesses like hypertension, arthritis, etc… it might be possible but as mentioned before it should be done after consulting the experts and deciding the best plan for you.
The benefits of dry fasting
When it comes to benefits dry fasting has a number of benefits for the body and health, they include the following:
Weight reduction
The most obvious benefit of dry fasting is represented in weight reduction or weight loss which on its own has numerous benefits, the loss comes from the total restriction of calories, after the body burns the glycogen stored in the kidney it starts looking for other sources of energy and so it starts burning fats, thereby resulting weight loss with time, the amount of calories burned depends on many factors, like the age, weight, gender, and the duration of the diet.
Improving immunity
A study in Metabolism Open, found that dry fasting from dawn to dusk for four weeks (which is the way Muslims fast) has anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic effects on the proteins in a type of immune cell called a peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC).
A study in 2016, found that fasting promotes hematopoietic stem cell activation and regeneration of immune cells. In other words, fasting promotes the regeneration of the cells that represent the immune system.
Wound healing
The wound healing effect is directly related to the improvement that happens to the immune system. The increased immune activity helps with wound healing. It's also been found that caloric restriction improves the skin barrier function.
Slow down aging
Dry fasting improves some of the skin function, through that and through reducing oxidative stress, dry fasting improves the appearance of wrinkles.
Spiritual benefits
Spiritual benefits are usually relayed with the religious practice of fasting. However, a lot of people say that they experience those spiritual benefits even if they are not practicing it religiously. Some of those benefits are:
Increased sympathy: When you starve, even if it's for a short period of time, you develop deep sympathy with others who can't find something to eat for days and days. This sympathy pushes us to do our best to help those who are in need.
Clearance of mind and serenity: those who practice dry fasting report that they feel a deep sense of serenity and peace.
Gratitude: short periods of starvation increase our gratitude for all the things that we are blessed with.
Patience: dry fasting teaches you how to be patient and how to be in control of yourself and your desires. It teaches you discipline and commitment.
Side effects of dry fasting
Hunger and thirst: you are going to feel very hungry especially in the early hours but that feeling would get less as the day goes, as for the thirst you might not feel very thirsty if the weather is fine but during summer feeling thirsty becomes one of the difficulties that you will face, but the good news is that taking a bath or a shower makes that feeling less.
Fatigue: in the first few days you will experience a little fatigue, that can come in the middle of the day or near dusk time.
Nausea: it's rare but some people experience episodes of nausea.
Headache: you most likely to experience headache if you are used to drinking beverages during your day.
Dry lips: drying of lips happens due to the lack of water. You can reduce that by applying a moisturizer on your lips.
Dangers of dry fasting
Dry fasting, like any other dieting technique, poses some dangers that you need to know before you jump into this. Those dangers are:
Dehydration
Dehydration is the major risk of dry fasting, but if you are to fast from dawn to dusk, and you drink right before dawn, this risk won't likely be a problem, especially if you don't have an exerting day routine.
Deficiencies
Vitamin and nutrition deficiencies might occur if you do this kind of fasting continuously, or for a long time without breaking your fast with the right kind of food.
Fainting
Fainting might happen as a result of dehydration and hypoglycaemia.
Bottom line, is that dry fasting can be really good and that it has a lot of benefits for the health as well as the soul, but it should be done carefully after doing a lot of research and consultation, and that you should be careful while doing it to reap the benefits without the dangers.
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