The holy month of Ramadan not only marks the celebration of will power and strong determination but also fosters resilience to cut down on bad habits and take up new practices to improve our physical health.
Watching what you put into your body, how much activity you get, and your weight are important for keeping your body working properly. Maintaining, or initiating, healthy habits can help decrease your stress, lower your risk of disease, and increase your energy. And what better time to start than Ramadan?
During Ramadan, we undergo changes in our eating and sleeping patterns, as well as our overall daily routines. Maintaining good physical health will help the body accommodate these new changes in our lifestyle.
This week, we will be focusing on the first pillar of our Ramadan Campaign Ibda’a (meaning to start) which aims to promote Physical Health.
Whether you are fasting or not, good physical health is vital for our overall wellbeing. We all know that making healthy choices can help us feel better, however they do require self-discipline. Maybe you’ve already tried to eat better, get more exercise or sleep, quit smoking, or reduce stress. It’s not easy. That is why research shows that gradually building healthy habits helps us achieve our health goals.
Below we have compiled below some practical tips that will help us build healthy habits this Ramadan.
To build healthy habits:
- Identify unhealthy patterns and triggers and avoid them as much as you can.
- Focus on what you want to achieve and avoid temptations as much as possible.
- Ask for support. Find friends, family, co-workers, or groups for help when needed.
- Engage in healthy activities. Choose a hobby of your choice that you enjoy.
- Track your progress. Record how things are going to help you stay focused.
- Picture your future. Think about future benefits to stay on track.
- Reward yourself. Treat yourself when you’ve achieved a small goal or milestone.
And most importantly we need to be realistic in the goals we set, and remember that improvement takes time, and setbacks happen. We need to focus on progress, not perfection.