1/ The biggest longevity lifehack: Eat nothing for 72 hours, and your body may rebuild your immune system from scratch. Researchers found that prolonged fasting doesn’t just burn fat, it triggers a full regeneration process inside your body. The discovery could redefine how we
2/ Over time, our immune system weakens. Old, damaged white blood cells build up, while stem cells that could replace them stay dormant. Chemotherapy and aging make this even worse - leaving the body defenseless and slow to heal.
3/ In controlled studies, fasting for 2–4 days drastically lowered IGF-1 and PKA - two molecular “switches” that block stem cell activity. With those brakes released, hematopoietic stem cells woke up and began rebuilding a fresh immune system from scratch.
4/ This isn’t just about skipping meals. It’s a biological reboot. Periodic fasting cycles could help patients recover immune strength after chemotherapy — or even slow down immune aging in healthy people. A drug-free way to trigger natural regeneration.
5/ The research is early, but promising: fasting might one day become a prescription for renewal. Imagine doctors using fasting cycles to rejuvenate immunity and extend healthspan. Our bodies may already hold the secret to their own repair.
6/ During chemotherapy, the immune system gets severely damaged: white blood cells are destroyed, stem cells become inactive, and the body’s defenses crash. When these pathways drop, hematopoietic stem cells start regenerating the immune system. In mice, this reversed
@kimmonismus did a 72 hour fast last summer and the mental clarity was wild but nothing prepares you for how food commercials hit at 3am on day 3, changed my whole perspective on willpower
@jasonth0 Was ist difficult in general?
@kimmonismus Fasting is good for gut health. Gut health is very good for everything.
@kimmonismus @grok this paper looks like it's from 2014/15. Has there been any updates or more research since then?
@kimmonismus Just park me in front of an intriguing problem to solve or an MMO to grind and I forget to eat anyways. Easiest 72hrs of my life
@kimmonismus Fasting does seem to push the body into repair mode, it can lower IGF-1 and activate stem cell pathways. The immune reset idea is interesting, though most of that work has only been shown in animals so far.
@kimmonismus Btw, I wouldn't recommend this for every person. Some people just shouldn't do this for medical reasons.
@kimmonismus @grok Is the content of this post accurate?
@kimmonismus This is a bold thread. Just hope people don’t try 72-hour fasts without guidance.
@kimmonismus Why not just take Rapamycin and avoid issues with fasting (e.g., loss of muscle)?
@kimmonismus I shudder to think of someone having to talk to me after I didn’t eat for 48 hours.. only 24 hours to go! Cool research tho
@kimmonismus That ‘early research’ was published in 2014. Since then, the team has moved from strict multi-day water fasting to a milder ‘fasting-mimicking diet,’ and oncologists have been cautious, warning that it’s not ready to be standard care.
@kimmonismus this articles 9 years old. looks like the group published another paper as well, that has a easier 5 day diet that mimicks the effects of the 72 hour fast, called FMD. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a...
@kimmonismus 72 hours is really difficult if you didn't train first with 24 hrs and 48 hrs.
@kimmonismus I have done 3 of these. It is hard as nails the hungers feeling does get you down but inflammation disappears. No joint pain. Enhanced mental clarity. Feeling of complete renewel. Release of stem cells in the bown marrow. Repairing the miticondria. Long term we will have to see
@kimmonismus Please update with the latest version of the study https://www.nature.com/article...
@kimmonismus I just completed a 7 day water (and electrolyte) fast. For me, day 1 was the most difficult for hunger. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, leveled out after that. True fasting is a lost art in our culture. There are many benefits, clarity among them.
@kimmonismus Researches found that Earth revolves around Sun, not the other way around! This could redefine our understanding of astrophysics. See you didn't lie in the post, but we're 11 years past the publication of this paper. Saying what it could do suggests it's new.
@kimmonismus This study was conducted in mice. A 72 hour fast in mice is equivalent to weeks of fasting in humans.
@kimmonismus Kind of crazy when you consider more than a couple religions endorse periodic fasting.
@kimmonismus Could be anecdotal, but all 5 of the guys I know who regularly fast, have "beer" bellies. Some of them are otherwise quite thin. This has led me to the assumption that the fallout of fasting is an epigenetic shift where your body stores more fat in case it happens again..
@kimmonismus this only works if: 1) there is no zinc deficiency - zinc is the largest cofactor for many ATG proteins. 2) If the supply of phosphatidylethanolamine is plenty. PE is a required building element for autophagosomes. 3) Oxidative stress is not too high. High OS inhibits ATG
@kimmonismus I healed my gallbladder that they wanted to cut out by fasting for 40 days. After 40 days it completely dumped whatever was in it or wrong with it and it jump started it into working again.
@kimmonismus id rather just eat and die 1 month earlier.
@kimmonismus Doing 3 days fasting every month, the wildest thing i have noticed is that after 48hr fasting i have the energy to run a 10k in the morning with insane amount of energy( i can do half marathon i feel) and without issue. Just drinking espresso.
@kimmonismus One of the authors (Valter Longo) came up with the “fasting mimicking diet”. Almost same effects, but you’re allowed to eat up to 500 calories a day (if I remember correctly)
@kimmonismus @grok is this a high quality study?
@kimmonismus Self-harm propaganda
@kimmonismus I've been doing fasts periodically for about 20 years now. I've done everything from 2 days to 28 days, and they have all only ever been positive experiences. Nowadays I make sure to at least fast one weekend a month, from Friday dinner to Monday.