More than one billion Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, Islam’s holy month. Fasting during Ramadan is a requirement for believers. This means they are barred from having sex, smoking, drinking and eating from sunrise to sunset.

　　世界各地有超过10亿的穆斯林要过斋月，斋月是伊斯兰教的神圣月份。斋月期间信徒们要禁食求，斋月期间从日出到日落信徒禁止做爱、抽烟、喝酒和吃饭。

　　Today, we talk about fasting involving only food. Apart from spiritual or religious reasons, what effects does not eating have on human health?

　　今天，我们谈论的禁食只涉及食物。除了精神上或宗教上的原因，禁食会对人类健康有哪些影响?

　　A team of researchers in the United States says fasting is good for our brain.

　　美国的一组研究人员说，禁食对我们的大脑有好处。

　　Mark Mattson is a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He and others have studied how dietary restrictions might protect your brain from neurological diseases that get worse over time. Two examples of these diseases are Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

　　马克.马特森(Mark Mattson)是马里兰州巴尔的摩市约翰.霍普金斯大学的神经科学家。他和其他人研究了饮食限制如何保护你的大脑不受神经系统疾病的影响，其中两个典型的疾病例子是老年痴呆症和帕金森氏病。

　　His team found that controlling and restricting calories may improve a person’s memory, emotions and state of mind.

　　他的研究小组发现控制和限制卡路里可以改善一个人的记忆力、情绪和精神状态。

　　Mattson says his studies are built upon years of research that have confirmed links between how many calories a person eats and mental ability. Calories are a measure of energy in food.

　　马特森说，他的研究是建立在多年的研究基础上的，这些研究证实了一个人摄入的卡路里和智力之间的联系。卡路里是食物中能量的量度。

　　A report in the Johns Hopkins Health Review describes the links. It said that every time we eat, a sugar called glucose is stored in the liver as glycogen. It takes your body about 10 to 12 hours to use up all of the glycogen.

　　约翰霍普金斯大学健康评论的一份报告描述了这些联系。每次我们吃东西的时候，葡萄糖会以糖原的形式储存在肝脏中。你的身体需要10到12小时才能消耗掉所有的糖原。

　　The report said, “After the glycogen is used up, your body starts burning fats, which are converted into chemicals used by neurons as energy. These chemicals are important to learning, memory and overall brain health.”

　　报告说，“糖原被耗尽后，你的身体开始燃烧脂肪，然后脂肪会转化成为神经元提供能量的化学物质。这些化学物质对学习、记忆和大脑整体健康都很重要。”

　　However, if you eat three meals a day, with snacks in between, your body does not have time to use up all of the glycogen in the liver. So, the learning and memory chemicals are not produced.

　　然而，如果你每天吃三顿饭，中间再夹着其他零食，你的身体就没有时间消耗肝脏中的所有糖原。因此，关乎学习和记忆中的化学物质就不会有产生。

　　Mattson said that physical exercise can also use up the glycogens. He added that it was not surprising that “exercise has been shown to have the same positive effect on the brain as fasting.”

　　马特森说，体育锻炼也可以消耗糖原。他补充说，“锻炼其实会和禁食一样会对大脑产生积极作用，这并不奇怪。”

　　The researchers found that cutting down on food at least two days a week can improve neural connections in the hippocampus. This part of the brain controls emotions and plays a part in long-term memory.

　　研究人员发现，每周至少两天减少食物可以改善海马体的神经连接。海马体控制情绪，并在长期记忆中起作用。

　　A calorie-controlled diet also protected neurons against the build-up of amyloid plaques. Amyloid plaque is a protein commonly found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

　　控制卡路里的饮食也能保护神经元，防止淀粉样蛋白斑块的形成。淀粉样斑是一种在阿尔茨海默氏症患者大脑中常见的蛋白质。

　　Ways to fast safely

　　如何安全的禁食

　　If you want to try fasting, Mattson has two suggestions.

　　如果你想尝试禁食，马特森有两个建议。

　　The first is a diet called 5:2. On this diet, you eat only 500 calories for two nonconsecutive days each week. Then the rest of the week, you eat a healthy diet with a normal amount of calories. A normal amount for women is about 2,000. For men, it is 2,500.

　　第一种饮食叫做5:2。在这种饮食方法中，你可以在一周中选取不连续的两天，这两天你只摄入500卡路里。除了这两天以外，你可以正常健康的饮食，摄入正常的卡路里。女性的正常摄入的卡路里量大约是2000，男性是2500。

　　The other suggestion is time restriction. In one day, you eat all of your meals in one eight-hour period. This should give your body the time it needs to use up all the glycogen in the liver, start burning fat and produce those chemicals we talked about earlier.

　　另一个建议是时间限制。你仅在一天的八小时内进食。这样你的身体就会有时间来消耗肝脏中的所有糖原，然后开始燃烧脂肪并产生我们之前提到过的那些化学物质。

　　However, Mattson warned that if you have never fasted before, do not begin fasting immediately.

　　但是，马特森警告说，如果你以前从未禁食过，不要马上开始禁食。

　　The researchers say our bodies need to get used to calorie restrictions. They compare it to a person who is not physically active and then decides to run a long distance race without any training. They may not like fasting and give up easily.

　　研究人员说，我们的身体需要适应热量限制。他们举例说假如一个人平时不怎么运动，如果你让他在没有任何训练的情况下就进行长跑，他们肯定不愿意。因此这类人也不会喜欢禁食并且容易放弃。

　　Mattson said, “It’s the same thing as if you’ve been eating three meals a day plus snacks, and then you’re not eating anything at all for two days. You’re not going to like it.”

　　马特森说:“这和你每天吃三顿饭外加零食一样，突然让你两天不吃任何东西。”你不会喜欢它的。”

　　He suggested starting with one day of limited food intake every week. Then build up to two days. Mattson warned that a person new to fasting might experience headaches, lightheadedness and moodiness. But his experiments show that these problems should pass quickly and a person’s mood will improve.

　　他建议从每周控制食物摄入量开始。习惯之后再选择两天进行禁食。马特森警告说，刚开始禁食的人可能会感到头痛、头晕和情绪低落。但他的实验表明，这些问题应该很快过去，一个人的情绪会得到改善。

　　If you have any questions or health concerns, talk with your doctor before taking any action.

　　如果你有任何健康或其他问题，在采取任何禁食行动之前和你的医生谈谈。

　　And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report. I’m Anna Matteo.

　　这就是健康与生活方式的报告。我是安娜.马特奥。

　　Do you fast, for religious or health reasons? Share your experiences in the Comments Section.

　　出于宗教或健康原因，你禁食吗?在评论区分享你的经验吧。