Ramadan Hack for Your Physical and Mental Health

Almighty Allah tells us in the Quran 2:184 You should fast it is better for you.

We are told that fasting holds the promise of limitless rewards. Today we are discovering in the science of intermittent fasting that some of these rewards are immediate and for our personal benefit.

• Physically fasting helps to stabilize our blood sugar, our blood pressure, and even weight. It helps with cellular repair, brain and heart health. The shock to the physical system of not eating and drinking for the day puts our bodies on reset.
• Mentally it helps with cognition and learning, stress reduction, mental resilience and clarity, neuroplasticity, and even helps to reduce onset of neurodegenerative diseases. The mindset we gain from fasting helps us to evaluate our priorities and stresses.
• Morally it forces us to be mindful of our behaviors – what we think, what we say, what we do. How we treat others and respond to provocation. We don’t want to spoil the fast by engaging in improper conduct.
• Spiritually we obey the command of Allah, make sacrifices for His sake, and through these He brings us even closer to Him. We become more God-conscious, and are assured of the promise of limitless rewards.

So we are being commanded to do something that entails sacrifice, but is beneficial for us physically, mentally, morally, spiritually…

Allah confirms this in the Quran 2:185 Allah intends ease for you and not hardship.

I pray we see each day as the gift that it is, and make full use of every opportunity during the month and afterwards to be good, do good, think good, control baser instincts, and become stronger physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. In so doing we can hope to live the best life, for both worlds.

Ramadan Mubarak from Markaz al Ihsaan – The MAI Institute.