Hi, I Was Wondering What The Immediate Effects Of A
I was wondering what the immediate effects of a 24 hour and 48 hour fast would be. Specifically on blood pressure and blood sugar levels
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome to Ask a Doctor service!
Regarding your concern, I would explain that as you do not eat, your body starts to consume all the circulating glucose.
Than, hormones are released during hunger and the body starts to find glucose by fat and proteins (which are energetic reserves of the body).
By 12 hours, you’ve entered the metabolic state called ketosis. In this state, your body starts to break down and burn fat.
As their level in your bloodstream rises, ketones can act as signaling molecules, similar to hormones, to tell your body to ramp up stress-busting pathways that reduce inflammation and repair damaged DNA for example.
Within 24 hours, your cells are increasingly recycling old components and breaking down misfolded proteins. This process is called autophagy (eating themselves). Autophagy is an important process for cellular and tissue rejuvenation.
By 48 hours without calories or with very few calories, carbs or protein, your growth hormone level is up to five times as high as when you started your fast. Growth hormone helps preserve lean muscle mass and reduces fat tissue accumulation, particularly as we age. It also appears to play a role in longevity and can promote wound healing and cardiovascular health.
So, fasting time after time has a lot of benefits.
Hope you will find this information helpful!
Kind regards,
Dr. Ilir Sharka, Cardiologist
I will try and be a little bit more specific with what I'm asking,
Currently my blood pressure sits around 130/85 and my fasting blood sugar sits around 5.4.
I have a medical for a new job coming up in just over a week and I was wondering if I fasted for the 2 days directly before or a few days before this medical what differences would I see in blood pressure and blood sugar levels. (the limits for the job are Fasting blood sugar under 5.6 and blood pressure under 140/90).
I tend to suffer a bit from 'white coat fever' so I was just trying to make sure I came under those 2 main limits.
Best regards,
Troy
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXXXXX
Yes, fasting 24 hours can help reduce your fasting glucose levels.
Regarding White Coat fever, I would suggest trying Xanax 0.25mg one tab, half an hour before the test, or Propranolol 40mg half a tablet half an hour before the test, in order to reduce anxiety and its changes in your heart rate and blood pressure values.
Hope to have been helpful!
Wishing all the best,
Dr. Ilir Sharka, Cardiologist