Your Most Productive Ramadan Yet?!?
Ramadan this year will run from approximately 22nd of March until the 21st of April.
This means that students will not be fasting during exam season, but just before it.
Nevertheless, Ramadan isn’t going to be that easy. A good portion of the work needed to achieve a top grade in your GCSE/A Level is done in the weeks running up to your exams, as opposed to exam season itself.
So, if we wish to both reap the spiritual benefits of this month and study effectively, we need a game plan.
But before that....

🏋️ Preparation
Many of us end up floundering through the first week or so of Ramadan. We have spent a year gorging on food all day and now we can only eat when the Sun is down.
That's never going to be an easy transition.
Therefore, we need to prepare well. In the run up to Ramadan, here are a few things you should implement to make that change easier:
Slowly taper off your caffeine intake - if you suddenly stop drinking your regular 2-3 cups of coffee, your body will be hit hard on the first few days.
Reduce your caloric intake - cut down the calories, snack less and maybe even skip lunch.
🥗 The Diet
In Ramadan there are 2 main feasting times:
Iftar - the period straight after the Sun goes down
Suhoor - the period just before the Sun is about to come back up
What should you eat at Suhoor?
Our aim at Suhoor is to eat food which will take a long time for our bodies to break down. The longer they take for the body to break down - the longer you will feel satiated. Please don't skip Suhoor.
So, the sort of foods you should be eating are:
Slow releasing carbohydrates - oats, porridges, etc.
Protein rich foods - eggs, dairy, etc.
Fruits and vegetables.
Fibre rich foods - slows down digestion. Beans, berries, oatmeal, etc.
What you don’t want to ingest:
Caffeinated drinks - dehydrates your body.
Fast releasing carbohydrates - stuff like bread, bagels, etc. Your body will metabolise these very fast and you will end feeling hungry within 1-2 hours.
“Junk” foods - tasty, but lacking any nutritional value.
Salty foods - eating salted peanuts or the sort leaves you feeling very thirsty - the very opposite of what we wish to accomplish in Suhoor.
What should you eat at Iftar?
You have just battled your way through the day. Keeping your mind on your revision and ignoring the wails of your tummy.
You may be tempted to feast and eat as much as you can.
But, as a good student, that's exactly what you aren't going to do.
The aim at Iftar is to replenish carbohydrate stores rapidly so that we can re-energise ourselves just before bedtime. You don't want to eat so much that your eyelids feel like they are about to drop straight off your face, nor do you want to eat so little that you are still hungry.
Eat like you would a normal meal and any space left over, fill it up with some water or a biscuit or 2.
We really want to eat:
Fast releasing carbohydrates - if you plan to study after Iftar it is critical that you replenish your all important glucose stores quickly. Examples - bread, baguettes, cereals, etc.
Protein rich foods.
What we don’t want to eat:
Greasy oily food - oily foods make your body work very hard to digest them - all this excess energy induces tiredness.

💦 Hydration

Low levels of hydration during studying can have physiological consequences. Aim to drink 2-4 litres of water between Iftaar and Suhoor. Isotonic fluids are even better.
🗓️ The schedule
This year Ramadan has fallen during the Easter holidays and the summer term. This means that you will have to build a schedule with these 2 time periods in mind.
Burning the midnight oil?
Many students decide that they will only revise in their fed state - i.e between Iftar and Suhoor. That way their brain is in peak condition right?
This is a big NO.
Why?
1. Your exams will take place at 9am and 1pm. We want to simulate the exam environment as much as possible. This means that you want to study at the times that coincide with your exam timetable. You can read more about the importance of simulating the exam environment here.
2. If you switch your sleep schedule up, when it comes round to exam time your brain won't be used to being alert in the morning. We NEED to be alert in the morning if our exam is at 9am.
Exam season starts as early as the 2nd week of May, which is 2 weeks away after Eid. There is no time for you to fully adjust to a new sleep schedule by then.
My recommended schedule:
Wake up at around 7/8am and hit the books straight away. If you ate a decent Suhoor, at this point in time you should be feeling pretty energised so you want to take advantage of that.
During holidays, I recommend going with an 8/8/8 schedule :
8 hours of work
8 hours of play
8 hours of sleep
You want to get the majority of your hours in right in the morning. I would particularly encourage studying between 9-11am and 1-3pm, times when you will be sitting your exams.
I wouldn’t recommend trying to study for 8 hours straight because you will not be doing highly productive work.
During the fasting period do the following:
Maintain your body temp in a climate-controlled room (where possible).
Pour water over skin to cool down and limit fluid loss (through sweat), if it is a hot day.
Try and maintain a sedentary lifestyle.
I would fit in the last 1-2 hours of revision after Iftar [Around Esha Prayers]. You have just had a chance to rehydrate and replenish your glucose stores, so your mind should be in good shape to review everything that you have done that day.
During term time, follow your regular school schedule. If you have any physical activities on your timetable then make sure you aren’t going all out. It’s best to keep physical activity to either just before or after Iftar. But if you do need to engage in some exercise during the fast, then just go to 60-70% of your max exertion.
Remember, your brain exclusively runs on glucose. Your other muscles and organs can use alternative fuels such as fat, but your brain cannot. If you start going all out in exercising then you’ll deplete your glucose stores and will be too lethargic to get any subsequent studying done.
Wrapping up
I understand that this guide might seem a bit over the top. Many of us tend to enter Ramadan without much thought, but if we wish to use this holy month as productively as possible then we really should take a comprehensive and well thought-out approach.
And in line with that, I hope all of our readers have a fantastic and spiritually nourishing Ramadan and hopefully get some studying in too!
✍️ Quote of the Week:
“A loving person lives in a loving world, a hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.”
– Ken Keyes, Jr.
As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome on the topic.
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