Discover the causes of Ramadan sleep struggles and explore practical solutions to maintain healthy sleep patterns during fasting, addressing focus, accidents, and irritability.
Ramadan Mubarak to the entire Muslim Ummah! Fasting during Ramadan is a pillar of Islam for all Muslims, and it naturally affects daily life, usually for 30 days each year. Besides abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset, sleep patterns often change too.
What causes these sleep changes during Ramadan? And how do these changes affect a person’s physical and mental health? Let’s dive into the answers!
Why Does Sleep Change During Ramadan?
There are several reasons why sleep patterns might shift during Ramadan, including:
- Eating meals at different times. Instead of the usual breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you eat Suhoor before dawn and Iftar after sunset, which can throw off your regular schedule.
- Starting work later in the day, maybe a little after the usual morning hours.
- More social gatherings and family visits during Iftar evenings and later hours of the night.
- Staying up later to pray and perhaps shortening your naps to make time for Suhoor.
- Watching TV more often and keeping up with Ramadan series late into the night.
All these factors together can really mess with your natural sleep cycle during Ramadan, affecting both your physical and mental well-being while fasting.
How Do Sleep Changes Affect You During Ramadan?
The reasons for sleep changes during Ramadan are numerous, but they mostly revolve around eating at different times. Eating later at night increases body temperature at night due to increased physical activities. In contrast, body temperature drops during fasting hours, causing fatigue and sleepiness.
So, an increase in body temperature at night contributes to increased activity and less sleep at night, while a drop in body temperature during the day, due to fasting and not eating, leads to less energy and sleepiness.
Generally, less sleep during Ramadan affects the body as follows:
Difficulty Focusing and Thinking
Less sleep during Ramadan affects concentration, alertness, and focus, leading to difficulty learning.
Also, sleep deprivation makes it harder to remember things. This means that tasks requiring memory become more challenging because it affects the ability to consolidate information during sleep at night.
More Accidents
It’s well-known that sleep deprivation during Ramadan can lead to more accidents, especially minor ones. A lack of sleep makes it harder to concentrate properly.</
This isn’t just a feeling; several scientific studies show that tiredness and lack of sleep can increase the chances of accidents at work.
Increased Irritability
Sleep deprivation during Ramadan can affect mental health just as much as physical health, making people more irritable than usual.
Other Effects of Sleep Deprivation During Ramadan
The health issues that can arise from sleep deprivation include heart problems, neurological disorders, increased blood pressure, and diabetes.
Tips for Healthy Sleep During Ramadan
Maintaining a healthy sleep pattern can help minimize the negative effects associated with sleep deprivation. Here are a few tips:
- Avoid caffeinated drinks before bed.
- Avoid intense exercise close to bedtime.
- Avoid eating three hours before sleeping.
- Avoid foods that cause heartburn during Suhoor.
- Try to fall asleep quickly.
- Optimize your sleep environment with a dark room and a cool temperature.
Important Sleep Cycle Information
How is sleep organized? During your nighttime rest, your body cycles through six stages of sleep regulated by the hypothalamus, found in the brain. Each cycle has two phases, each lasting around 90 minutes:
The First Phase
This is the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) phase, which occurs in the first half of the night. It has two stages:
- Stages One and Two: These make up 40% of the sleep cycle and are considered light sleep.
- Stages Three and Four: These make up 20% of the sleep cycle and are considered deep sleep.
The Second Phase
This is the rapid eye movement (REM) phase, also known as dream sleep. It occurs later in the night and is characterized by rapid eye movements and body stillness.
This phase accounts for about 20-25% of the sleep cycle.
As mentioned earlier, the body goes through 6 cycles of sleep during the night. During the first half, a person may fall into deep sleep in stages one and two, so the brain can still function.
However, during stages three and four, brain activity slows down, allowing the body to repair itself. Chemical processes are adjusted, and with that, the brain begins to increase its activity significantly and enter into the rapid eye movement phase (REM), which restores the brain to its full capacity, and that enables the body to feel like it is dreaming.
This generally requires getting 6-8 hours of sleep, which varies depending on the person. The key is to prioritize quality over quantity.
Good sleep is essential for physical and mental health, especially during Ramadan. So, prioritize food and drink, during Iftar, and ensure you sleep well during this time to allow the body to repair itself.
