Since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, your daily lifestyle might have undergone some reorganization (or let’s say..disorganization, to be exact). If you’re fasting, instead of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you now have to eat one big meal in the evening and get it digested fast enough to have another one in the middle of the night. And may heaven have mercy on you, because you have to somehow get enough sleep so that you can wake up early in the morning to get to work and get on with the day without your morning caffeine intake. Here’s how you can exploit this benefit to make sure you bring your A game at work during Ramadan, with 8 simply obvious yet efficient tips:
Get a good night’s sleep
Don’t try to turn your day and night upside down by pulling all-nighters; however, make sure you get enough sleep at night. Not getting enough sleep negatively affects your REM sleeping, which damages your creativity, problem-solving abilities, and memory; this is all amplified if you persistently sleep less during the entire month of Ramadan. To optimize your sleeping hours, and since it’s ultimately healthier to sleep solidly, try to advance your suhoor to around midnight so that you can get a good 6-8 hours of sleep before you have to wake up for work.
Use Ramadan meals to your benefit
It might be mouth-watering to imagine the big feast you’ll be eating once you break your fast, but it is actually beneficial for you on the long-run not to get carried away with your stomach’s desires and to try to eat lightly yet nutritiously during this month. Try to avoid or restrict to the minimum eating fatty foods and desserts, given the short non-fasting duration, in order to focus on getting the nutrients that your body needs. Indulge in specific foods, like dates, whole-grains, fruits, and vegetables, that replenish what you lost while fasting.
Give your body the fluids it needs
During the day, you lose a lot of your body fluids especially if you’re out in the sun for a long time. In order to make up for the loss of fluids, the best option is not to gulp down the entire jug of water during suhoor since it causes bloating and indigestion; but instead to drink regularly and slowly throughout the evening. Drink a cup of water while breaking your fast, followed by a series of drinks (whether simply water or natural fruit juices and herbs) at regular intervals.
Exercise regularly to boost your energy
Exercising when you’re not getting enough food and drink throughout the day can sound difficult and overbearing; but if you already do exercise regularly, do not break that habit. You’ll feel that it, in fact, boosts your energy throughout your fasting day. According to fitness expert and biokineticist Habib Noorbhai, the ideal time to exercise is either right before iftar since you will break your fast soon afterward and will resupply your body with the nutrients it needs. Make sure to ask your trainer and/or your doctor if your body can handle workouts while fasting.
1 stair flight = 1 shot of espresso
Switch that cup of coffee that you can’t drink in Ramadan with a couple of stair flights every hour or so. According to a study conducted by Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, you can stay alert and continue the rest of the day tirelessly if you just take several trips up and down the stairs along the day. If you’re in a limited space, walk around the office or go up and down the stairs. If you have a more open work area like the one at WUZZUF, take a walk around the place and have a chit-chat with your colleagues so that you can feel more open to going back to work. This may be a great opportunity to let go of your caffeine-dependency if you try this replacement and it becomes your new midday ritual!
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Switch that cup of coffee that you can’t drink in #Ramadan with a couple of stair flights every hour to boost your #productivity. ” quote=”Switch that cup of coffee that you can’t drink in Ramadan with a couple of stair flights every hour to boost your productivity. ” theme=”style3″]Power nap!
Napping is a double-edged weapon. If you nap just the right amount of time, you’ll wake up refreshed and more energized. Though if you take a longer nap than you should, you might wake up tired. The perfect nap time recommended, according to several nap-studies, is increments of 10 minutes with maximum 30 minutes. This way naps will have an alerting effect on the body and substitute the energy boost you get from food or caffeine. And always remember that sleeping for longer periods will affect you badly, and make you more tired.
Wash your face every now and then
As dumb as it may seem, but washing your face with hot water, then cold freezing water will stimulate your brain and senses that will make you be more awake and alert. Whenever you feel groggy at the office, get up, wash your face, you know that this also will help with the hot weather, having
Prioritize your tasks
Last but foremost, make sure you start your working day with a plan! Make a checklist of things you want to get done on that day and start prioritizing the tasks that require the most cognitive skills i.e. the tasks that need creativity, critical thinking and focus are to be atop the list, while tasks that require less focus like replying to emails or organizing documents should be kept for a later time in the day when you feel less efficient.
If you spent the first half of Ramadan not being as productive as you had hoped, make sure you follow these steps during the other.
