Tips to help you stay healthy and active this Ramadan

Whether you are fasting or not, here are some ways you can help keep up your daily routines during the Holy Month

Ramadan Kareem! A greeting which in its literal sense means 'May Ramadan be generous to you’ is related to the Holy Month of fasting, and is often seen as a time of reflection, gratitude, and an opportunity to connect with loved ones. The month of Ramadan requires people to change their daily routines – from waking up in the wee hours each morning to shorter working hours, and in turn brings about short-term changes in one’s lifestyles and eating habits.

Whether you are fasting or not, here are some ways you can help keep up your daily routines during the Holy Month.

1. Get those extra hours of sleep

For many of us, following a consistent sleep schedule is always a challenge, plus the month of Ramadan could require you to make further adjustments to your sleep schedule. For those who are fasting, waking up early in the morning for Fajr and Suhoor often leads to a shorter sleep cycle each night; which can often times lead to fatigue and laziness during the day.

To make up for the shorter sleep cycles and to manage our overall wellness, it’s important to get some additional hours of sleep during the day or late afternoon and take advantage of the shorter working hours that come into effect during the month of Ramadan. A short nap is known to also have a positive effect on your memory, job performance, mood, and stress levels. To help aid your sleep patterns, modern wearable devices, like smartwatches and fitness trackers, provide features like sleep tracking and a daily Sleep Score, which could help you monitor your sleep quality by providing detailed insights that refer to your sleep and activity data. Advanced wearables also come loaded with features such as silent alarm, sleep mode, and smart wake that work toward minimising the levels of disruption as you sleep.

2. Continue to stay active

Whether it’s meeting loved ones for Iftar or a generic catch-up with friends, it’s often seen that social commitments increase during the month of Ramadan, and fitness takes to the back stage. For those who observe fasting, it is generally recommended not to carry out intensive workouts, but it is important to stay active by continuing to do light, less strenuous workouts like walking, yoga, stretching or even jogging.

To ensure that you can optimise your workout schedule, one of the best recommended times to workout is before Iftar or in the morning before the start of working hours when the energy level is optimum. Selected premium features on wearable devices like Daily Readiness Score can also suggest if your body is ready to exercise or should focus on recovery. Daily Readiness Score, which is a feature available only to premium members, is a personalised score based on the analysis of your activity, sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) and identifies any stress on the body — whether it’s a workout, nutrition, lack of sleep or high stress levels.

3. Self reflect, practice mindfulness and recover

Whether you are fasting or not, the month of Ramadan brings with it the sense of self reflection and usually gives everyone some time back from their mundane and hectic schedules. Taking these moments and some time off can help in recovering from the daily physiological stress and improve overall health and wellbeing. Beginning to practice mindfulness is a good way to work towards one’s overall wellbeing. To support your mindfulness practice, wearables like Fitbit have partnered with experts like Deepak Chopra or apps like Calm - the #1 App For Sleep, Meditation & Relaxation™, to provide Premium members access to various tools and sessions that eventually helps you on this journey.

As we prioritise reflection, gratitude, giving and spending time with our loved ones this Ramadan, let’s not sideline our fitness and health. Instead, let’s all try to grow healthy habits this Ramadan and continue to prioritise our overall well-being beyond the Holy Month. Wishing everyone a healthy and a blessed season.

Prateek Kewalramani is the Head of Marketing, Fitbit - Middle East & Africa, Google