Laziness, headache, nervousness, obesity and poor time management are some of the negative phenomena that we notice from the first day of Ramadan and which may continue to its end. One of the causes of these negative phenomena is most probably the physiological condition that affects ones’ behavior while fasting due to his bad habits.

For example, excessive use of stimulants (like tea and coffee), smoking, and over eating are all bad habits that we have throughout the entire year and that may continue with us in Ramadan. However, we forget that these bad habits are the key factors behind our poor performance and lack of energy during the daytime in Ramadan.

Dear fasting Muslim, we usually prepare ourselves spiritually to receive the month of Ramadan, but now we should want to learn how to also prepare ourselves physically to receive this blessed month healthily and vividly through releasing our bodies and all of its systems from the burden of the bad habits that we became accustomed to throughout the year.

Here are some useful tips: -

Reduce the amount of stimulants (beverages that contain caffeine) that you have every day and do so gradually, as this will decrease the amount of caffeine in your blood slowly. In this way, you will avoid a sudden decrease in caffeine while fasting, which would adversely affect your mood and causes headache and tension. For instance, if you drink three cups of tea or coffee, reduce this to two and then one during the month of Sha‘baan. Finally, try to replace this beverage with another more beneficial one.

- Do not start your day by drinking stimulants such as tea, coffee, or cola, but replace them with beneficial drinks like anise and roselle tea.

- If you are a smoker, give up smokingfor Allah’s sake.

- Try to lengthen the intervals between smoking and between drinking stimulants as much as possible.

- Complete your worship in Ramadan and give up smoking entirely.

- Make your daily food habits similar to those of Ramadan to prepare your digestive system to adjust to the eating system of the month of Ramadan by fasting a number of days during the month of Sha’baan.

- Sleep early after the ‘Ishaa’ Prayer immediately and try to wake up an hour before the Fajr Prayer.

- Before the coming of Ramadan, try to have a light meal before the Fajr Prayer even if you are not going to then fast and train your stomach to start working late so as not to feel hungry or thirsty early during the daytime in Ramadan.

- Delay dinner as much as you can; however, it should be at least one hour before sleeping.

- Treat any health problem in your teeth or mouth before the month of Ramadan begins.

- Treat any digestive problem before the beginning of the fast.

- Visit your doctor before fasting if you suffer from any chronic disease or are taking any medication.

- Be keen on delaying the Suhoor (pre-dawn) meal as much as possible as the Prophet, , recommended us to do.

- Be keen on having legumes such as beans and lentils because they maintain the glucose in the blood for a long period of time and this helps you finish your day with more liveliness and activity.

- Have a spoonful of honey in the Suhoor meal, because it is the only sugary substance that increases blood sugar levels gradually and helps you withstand hunger during the day.

- In the Suhoor meal have low digested sugars such as pastry and rice, and eat vegetables to facilitate digestion. Also, do not forget fruits and dairy products.

- Avoid preserves and salty foods in the Suhoor meal such as pickles, cheese, olives and sweets such as Kunafah, baklava, mixed nuts, and fatty and fried foods. This is because these foods cause severe thirst during the day and may cause indigestion.

- Drink water after the Suhoor meal moderately and especially in summer.

- Break your fast as early as possible and start with dates or water as the Prophet, , said: “Whoever can find dates should break his fast with them-and whoever cannot find dates should break his fast with water, for truly it is pure.”

- Have some light food like soup and then go to perform the Maghrib Prayer. This prepares the stomach to receive food and start secreting the gastric acids so as not to shock it with large quantities of food after a long fast.

- Accustom yourself to drinking some warm soup before having the main meal in order to prepare the stomach to do its job well and start secreting gastric acids.

- Beware of breaking your fast with a cigarette or a cup of tea or coffee, because this agitates the stomach and worsens your condition while fasting.

- Beware of eating and drinking excessively during the month of Ramadan.

- Do some simple physical activities such as walking to help your body produce energy using stored fats.

- Accustom yourself to sleeping after the Taraaweeh Prayer to be able to wake up before the Fajr Prayer to have the Suhoor meal.

- Do not overeat at night because this will deprive you of a calm sleep and you may not be able to wake up and perform prayer energetically.

- Make sure that you sleep at least 7 hours per day, because it is scientifically proven that those who suffer from bad temper and bad physical performance sleep less than 5 hours.

Finally, I remind you that strong determination and willpower are the essence of success and change. We all know that Ramadan is a distinguished month, and it therefore represents a golden opportunity to instill an idea or get rid of a bad habit. Therefore, we should all seize this great opportunity to change our habits and lead a distinguished life making use of the Divine blessings of this great month.

We sincerely ask Allah The Almighty to guide us all and to accept our good deeds.