“Is fasting good while recovering from a concussion or brain injury?”

“I heard that after a head injury that I should fast. Is that a good idea?”

It’s impossible to give specific recommendations for a person over the internet about a specific health problem. There’s a lot to consider when giving recommendations to someone.

The term brain injury itself doesn’t really tell us very much.

A brain injury could be very mild or very, very severe.

A relatively mild concussion (there are varying degrees of concussion severity) for example is a brain injury.

A massive traumatic brain injury from being shot in the head as another example that might result in fairly severe destruction of brain areas would also be a brain injury.

These 2 injuries are very different.

There are differences between a recent injury and a chronic one.

There are also different areas that may be damaged.

Beyond this related to severity, location of the injury, and how long a person has had the problem…

Individual factors beyond this would have to be taken into account.

You would have to consider any pre-existing metabolic factors when considering dietary change.

Blood sugar abnormalities ranging from hypoglycemia to type 2 diabetes or type 1 diabetes would need to be taken into account among so many other things.

Body weight and body fat would probably need to be considered. This is somewhat of a proxy for metabolic health.

The person’s diet prior to the brain injury would need to be considered. So many people have chronic hyper-insulinemia even before getting diabetes. This causes metabolic problems resulting in various issues including problems with inflammation and energy production.

People can have other underlying metabolic problems like a form of anemia or thyroid problems as other examples that should be considered.

Prior brain based problems should be considered ranging from past concussions to neurological autoimmunity among so many others.

In general and not specific to anyone, a ketogenic diet can be helpful… again in the right person at the right time.

It can be helpful because switching from a sugar/insulin dependent energy source to a fat based ketone energy source can improve energy production and reduce inflammation. Excessive inflammation is a major problem for many people.

Switching to a ketogenic diet can be challenging because depending upon the pre-existing metabolic health of a person, there will be a drop in initial ability to produce energy in the process of switching over to be able to use ketones for energy. There are some ways to improve this during the transition. This is one reason it’s best to work with a knowledgable health care practitioner.

Fasting may have some of the benefits depending upon the person. It has some of the effects of a ketogenic diet. It may not be something I would recommend for someone recovering from a brain injury depending upon some of the factors in the person. Often it may make more sense to do other dietary changes first – depending upon the person.

Concussion Evaluation and Treatment

Specific treatment involving neurological rehabilitation, certain types of movement, and types of exercise can be extremely helpful in so many injured people. This goes beyond what you were asking but most people have no idea that there are specific physical treatments that can make a big difference in recovery and function.

It’s also important to note that in the majority of traumatic brain injuries and concussions that there will be other injuries that need to be discovered and helped to prevent other problems.

It really helps to work with a knowledgeable healthcare practitioner that understands brain injuries – including evaluation, management, and treatment for all the reasons above and more.

Any brain injury including common concussions that happen from a fall, car accident, sports injury (etc). They should all be taken very seriously. They can result in life-long problems and you may not realize that it will in you.