Ramadan 2020 will in sha Allah begin 23 of April, Thursday evening to 23 May, Saturday evening. Of course, the dates may vary depending on the moon. The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle, which is why the dates differ each year.
Tips on how to better prepare for Ramadan
Reduce your coffee intake
If you haven’t done this by now, you probably want to get to it asap. Almost everyone runs on coffee because of the busy lifestyles we mostly all have and it is understandable. However, you have to start cutting it down as Ramadan approaches, because there is nothing worse than having withdrawal headaches when you can’t even pop an advil. Coming from a coffee addict, I started cutting down my coffee intake three months before Ramadan, and a month to Ramadan now, I can happily say ‘I am no longer tied to the black bean’ lol. You got time, you can start now!
Reducing food portions
It is no secret that during the month of Ramadan we overall tend to eat less. And often times it is difficult to abruptly change your eating habit that you have stuck with for the past 11 months. So finding a way to start cutting down on food before Ramadan comes makes to so easy to get into fasting and staying away from food the whole day.
Start fasting
Yuup you read that right. During the month of shaaban, which is the month before Ramadan, you can start fasting sparingly. You can pick up the Monday and Thursday fast, or pay back any missed fasts from last year that you haven’t done. What this does is that it prepares your body system for the month of Ramadan. Just the same way you start cutting down food to prepare your body is the same way fasting sparingly will help you. It will be more of a seamless transition that your body system will enjoy. It is also a way to help you cut down on food, just in case you were struggling with that. A little two day fasts will cut down your meal portions by a lot.
Regulate your sleeping pattern
A lot of people complain about having a messed up sleeping pattern during Ramadan. I say it is not messed up, if you have a plan. You need to start sleeping as you would, if it were Ramadan in order to have a proper sleeping pattern. You wake up really early for sahur during Ramadan, you may want to sleep earlier, so you can wake up early and not feel tired. Even with plans to wake up for tahajjud, this can still work. Sleep early, so you wake an hour or two hours to fajr and then stay up the rest of the day. You can even schedule a little afternoon nap if you need to, but whatever it is, you need to start adjusting your sleep pattern from right now.
Stock up on groceries
During Ramadan, you don’t want to be focus daily on what to eat for iftar or sahur. Therefore, being able to stock up on food before hand is probably a great idea. It will save you some time on trying to figure out what to eat for iftar and sahur. You can make a plan to shop for the entire month or just a week. You don’t have to just shop for the month and forget about food, but you need to have some sort of plan at least weekly. Make a list of foods you may want to eat through the week and go get the ingredients for the foods. Health is very important and just because you are eating less does not mean you shouldn’t have healthy meals. Give yourself and your body system the nutrients and vitamins it requires. Without planning on that you may just end up eating junk, because that’s what the body does in panic mode. You don’t want to be unprepared, so plan.
See a doctor
Okay, this last point is for those who feel like they cannot fast for whatever medical reason. You can visit your doctor, to see if you are allowed to fast, or if you can come up with a system for fasting. I used to be those people who would fast five days and skip two days because of health reasons. And if you find that you may not be able to fast at all, then you probably want to have a plan. You can read about that here, what you to do if you cannot fast for Ramadan.
I really do hope we get the best out of this Ramadan and may Allah bless you and your family abundantly. Pray for the ummah and the world, we need it right now.
