The Ramzan fasting teaches patience, discipline, modesty and spirituality. Whoever is observing a lengthy period of fasting stays healthy for rest of the year. Ramzan fasting always rejuvenates the body, mind and soul.
Since the Islamic calendar is lunar, the start of the Islamic year advances 11 days each year compared with the seasonal year. Therefore, Ramzan occurs at different times of the seasonal year over a 33-year cycle. This results in the Ramzan fast being undertaken in markedly different environmental conditions between years in the same country.
The difference between Ramzan and total fasting is the timing of the food taken during Ramzan. Muslims basically miss lunch and take an early breakfast and do not eat until dusk. Abstinence from water for about 14 hours is not necessarily bad for health and in fact, it causes concentration of all fluids within the body, producing slight dehydration.
The physiological effect of fasting includes lowering of blood sugar, lowering of cholesterol and lowering of the systolic blood pressure. In fact, Ramzan fasting would be an ideal recommendation for the treatment of mild to moderate, stable, non-insulin diabetes obesity and essential hypertension.
Fasting can improve many medical conditions and in no way fasting will worsen any patients’ health. Fasting is an additional safety device for the regenerative processes of the body. Fasting, through the beneficial effects of magnesium, prevents the formation of atheroma as well as dissolves atheromatous plaques which are responsible for heart attacks and strokes. It increases the fibrinolytic activity of the blood, which leads to prevention and also dissolution of any recent clot.
Muslims, who fast regularly, have been exposed to different cycles of sleep/wakefulness and light/darkness on a daily basis for a month. Hence, it may be easier for such persons to synchronise at a faster rate their circadian, circa-lunar and circa-annual bio-rhythms, under difficult conditions.
Moreover, the social contact during taraweeh or qiyam (night-long prayers) regulates any desynchronisation in biological rhythm.
Benefit of night-long prayers
Throughout the year, an average Muslim performs daily obligatory prayers five-times. This amounts to gentle physical exercise. During Ramzan, additional 20 rake’ahs (physical unit of prayer) are also performed at nights.
Such additional exercise utilises any extra calories, ingested at iftar (meal for breaking the fast). Simultaneously, the blood glucose is steadily rising in the blood from the ingested nutrients; the circulating glucose is oxidized to Carbon dioxide and water during the prayers.
The physical movement during qiyam prayers improve flexibility, co-ordination and relaxation response. It also reduces stress-related autonomic responses in normal persons and relieves anxiety and depression. This makes the night prayers unique in the sense that dynamism is combined in the same individual with serenity euphoria and dignity. In fact, even the thought orientation of performing qiyam prayers is sufficient to activate the sympathetic nervous system. Persons who fast and perform qiyam report feeling much better and healthier.
Growth hormone secretion elevated by fasting is further elevated by exercise of night-long prayers. As this hormone is necessary for collagen formation, this may be an important factor in the long delay of the wrinkling of skin for the fasting Muslim who performs qiyam prayers.
Exercise of qiyam improves mood, thought and behaviour. .
The repetition of a prayer, supplications of glorification, zikr (words glorifying Allah) or muscular activity coupled with passive disregard of intrusive thoughts causes relaxation response leading to lowering of BP and decrease in oxygen consumption, as well as a reduction in the heart and respiratory rate. There are psychological effects of fasting as well. There is peace and tranquillity for those who fast during the month of Ramzan.
(The writer is former Vice-Principal, HoD and Professor of Neurology, KAP Viswanatham Government Medical
College, Tiruchi.)
