How to increase autophagy without fasting

There are some methods that can increase autophagy without enduring fasting, or adding these methods with intermittent fasting can promote autophagy even more.

1. Aerobic exercise

Cardiopulmonary exercise is one of the methods that have been proven to increase autophagy. A study published in the journal Autophagy found that surrounding tissues such as the liver, muscles, heart, and even the brain will induce autophagy during aerobic exercise. In simple terms, this is an adaptation to a stressor.

It can be said that when you are doing aerobic exercise (low-intensity exercise), this low-intensity exercise only needs enough extra energy to provide the body with the need to increase efficiency; in order to increase efficiency, it abandons those we don’t The part of discarded cells needed.

If the exercise intensity is increased, the body will enter a high-pressure mode, and the effect of autophagy begins to weaken. Therefore, maintaining proper exercise intensity can improve the body's autophagy ability, the main reasons are:

(1) Depletion of Acetyl Coenzyme A. When you run out of fuel (glucose), the body starts autophagy; when you run out of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, the body starts to increase autophagy (because there is no food available).

(2) Reduce mTOR. mTOR is the activation signal of autophagy, and it releases the signal of autophagy when lifting weight, gaining muscle, or even gaining fat. Their relationship is very similar to the relationship between insulin and blood sugar. When autophagy is high, mTOR will be low, and when mTOR is high, autophagy capacity will be low, and the two constantly maintain a balance.

When you are doing some relaxing exercises, the mTOR is low, and the autophagy ability is increased; when you are doing high-intensity exercise, the mTOR is increased and the autophagy ability is reduced. Because the body is only trying to repair and build, rather than digest all the energy reserves.

(3) Improve AMPK. AMPK is an energy sensor in the body. When you run out of fuel, this sensor will turn on the switch to start absorbing energy from body fat and the entire body, including absorbing old cells. This is autophagy and this is also cardiopulmonary exercise. Such a powerful place.

2. High-intensity intermittent exercise

This seems to contradict the previous theory? Actually otherwise, the key is intermittent. You may not get very good results at the beginning, but as long as you persist, you will slowly feel its benefits.

When doing high-intensity interval training, the body enters a low-oxygen environment, and intense exercise makes oxygen preferentially used by cardiopulmonary activities, which makes cells unable to get oxygen and die, which is called apoptosis. Apoptosis is a good thing, it is also necessary for the human body.

At the beginning of high-intensity aerobic exercise, some cells will die, but when your body becomes accustomed to high-intensity exercise, the cells will begin to adapt and begin to replace apoptosis through autophagy.

A paper published in the journal "PLOS ONE" studied interval training and medium-intensity continuous training (a bit high-intensity but not high-intensity interval). Compared with the control group, the researchers found that interval training and continuous training Autophagy increased regularly in the moderate-intensity training group, which was better than the control group.

It can be seen that high-intensity interval training triggers more autophagy after five weeks. Although high-intensity interval training does not help autophagy in the short term, it will help autophagy as long as it persists.

3. Green tea

Green tea may be one of the most helpful foods for promoting autophagy. A paper in the journal "PLOS ONE" found that the polyphenols and catechins in green tea (such as EGCG) help to promote autophagy. It can promote the formation of autophagosomes in the liver. In addition, green tea also Can trigger some AMPL.

4. Coffee

General coffee and decaffeinated coffee can promote autophagy, also because it contains polyphenols. The polyphenols in coffee seem to stimulate autophagy by stopping mTOR. Remember the relationship between mTOR and autophagy?

1~4 hours after drinking coffee, the polyphenols in coffee will inhibit mTOR. In addition, the caffeine in coffee can also promote autophagy through AMPK. Coffee has a double effect. If you like coffee, drink some, especially during fasting, because drinking coffee during fasting will enhance fasting autophagy. effect.

5.Ginger

You can add a little ginger to the water when fasting. The active ingredient of ginger, 6-singerenol, has been studied in the cancer field. It can inhibit the downstream pathways of AKT (protein kinase) and mTOR. Ginger can induce autophagy by inhibiting mTOR, so that you can enter autophagy faster. Bring a little ginger in the morning, add a little ginger to the ketogenic diet, and add a little ginger to the water during fasting to get better results.

6. Ketogenic diet

When our body is in a state of ketosis, it will trigger the body's autophagy response.