On average, a person can last almost two months without eating, provided they continue to drink. However, fasting abilities depend on one’s constitution. Explanations.
According to one study conducted between 2003 and 2004, an adult of average size can last almost two months without eating, provided of course that they drink at the same time. “A completely fasting person, who hydrates, can last 45-50 days, also estimates in West France Ronan Thibault, head of the nutrition unit at the Rennes University Hospital and professor at the NuMeCan Institute (Nutrition, Metabolisms and Cancer) at the University of Rennes 1. Without water, you don’t last more than a week.”
Three phases
This estimate varies according to the constitution of each one. At the house of obese people for example, who have larger reserves, the fasting capacity can extend to a hundred days. A poor initial state of health or an injury can, on the other hand, shorten life expectancy.
If we stop eating, the body pumps up its reserves of sugar, salt and water (first phase), then fat present in the body, before soliciting the muscles (second phase, between three days and 2 weeks). In the third phase, the body will use the last reserve available, namely proteins.
During a prolonged fast, the first effect of lack of food is weight loss, which is spectacular. The feeling of hunger disappears quickly. After two weeks, blood pressure drops drastically. Heart rate and breathing slow. Then appear headaches, difficulty concentrating and muscle and abdominal pain. Gradually, we become bedridden.
Run in slow motion
The brain also begins to function in slow motion, which can cause hallucinations and depressions. The cousin of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike for 100 days, describes this to theAFP “that he has a very weak pulse of 40 beats per minute. He complains of an aching heart, general weakness and tries not to get up often to spare his strength”. It should be noted that the famous protester is injected with glucose, amino acids and vitamins, drinks 3.5 liters of water every day and is 1.90m tall, which explains his impressive performance.
We end up dying from lack of food when 30 to 50% of the protein present in the body are consumed, or that the weight loss is equal to 50% of the initial weight. Indeed, the consumption of proteins leads to a degradation of all tissues. The hungry person feels increasingly weak and can no longer communicate. The temperature drops, abdominal and muscle pain becomes unbearable, dizziness appears. Severe complications make their appearance: renal failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, jaundice. Then the individual finally sinks into a coma, irreversible.
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