My intention was to keep an updated blog about my experience with Ramadan. My only excuse for failing to do so was…dehydration? Low blood sugar? Sleep deprivation? Inability to think clearly and operate heavy machinery?
I imagine it was probably a mild combination of all of the above. For a full month, I did not get more than 5 hours of sleep in a stretch. On mornings that I could, I’d go back to sleep after breakfast and grab another hour or two before I had to get going. If I couldn’t do that, I might sneak in 30 minutes to an hour nap during the day. I suppose that somewhat helped, but it was really nice to finally get 8 hours of sleep at a time once Ramadan had ended.
Dehydration wasn’t really a huge factor for me, since I made sure to drink at least 30 ounces of water before sunrise and another 40 after sunset. The only problem with this is that I discovered I have really efficient kidneys. Much of the water I drank would probably be out of my system within 3 hours. On the early mornings we would go rowing, I would go to the bathroom 3 times at the boathouse before we even got on the water. The one time I only went twice, the actual technique of rowing was hard to execute as my bladder became more full.
One thing I did notice was depending on the time of day, my brain function would just slow down. Sometimes words became hard to find or I’d lose track of my thought process entirely. This was irritating to me.
Working out was a challenge. The couple times I would hop on the treadmill during the middle of the day really left my mouth dry, so I opted not to do that a whole lot during Ramadan. My workouts basically consisted of rowing, karate, and my own workout once a week at home.
It was an interesting experience overall, from a health perspective. I dropped about 2 pounds during the course of the month, which is a good amount for me since I wasn’t looking to really lose weight at all. On the mornings where I didn’t get in as much protein as I should have, I became hungrier earlier and my energy levels were all over the place. If I didn’t get that right mix of carbs and proteins, I could really feel it.
I was thrilled for the end of it to come about and happy when I could sleep through the night and wake up after the sun had risen. It did take me about 2 or 3 days after it was over to get used to the idea of eating or drinking during the day. It is a great exercise in discipline and self control, and I’m glad I was able to finish it.
