Why does your appetite go down when you are sick since your metabolism has gone up?
In: 14
When your body is in a fasting state, your body triggers faster regeneration of your immune system’s cells (btw there are MANY other reasons fasting is beneficial… outside the scope of this post). The studies that corroborate this define fasting as 16+ hours. Drinking water is still very important and will not break a fast.
ELI5 version: Your body can heal itself quicker if you haven’t eaten for a long time. Since eating is not a priority for a sick body, your brain does not release the hormone that tells you that you’re hungry.
https://immunityageing.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12979-023-00359-3
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1048230/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8713419/
https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(14)00151-9
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