Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

The hustle and bustle of our fast-paced lives leaves little time for us to rest. While college students are perhaps among the most sleep-deprived, more and more people are failing to get enough sleep. And for Muslims, living in a society that does not revolve around prayer timings, they have to face an additional challenge.

Despite it being such a crucial part of our 24-hour day, we pay little attention to this often taken-for-granted activity. How many of us have seriously contemplated questions such as, "How much sleep do I need?" "What can I do who about insomnia?" "Can I really catch up on sleep?"

Believe it or not, there is actually an organization called the National Sleep Foundation which is dedicated to "improving the quality of life for the millions of Americans who suffer from sleep disorders, and to the prevention of catastrophic accidents related to sleep deprivation or sleep disorders."

Sleep has been mentioned by Allah (SWT) in Surat An-Naba 78:9:

(…And We have appointed your sleep for repose)

And indeed, Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) himself emphasized that our bodies have a right over us. The carefully recorded biographies of the Prophet inform us that he spent most of the day in service of his community and most of his night in prayer to Allah. It is said that the Prophet slept very little during the night, but encouraged a short nap between the Zhuhr and 'Asr prayers.

One wonders how it was possible for the Prophet to function with such little sleep; however, having had the prophet-hood bestowed upon him, he was commanded by Allah to prepare and train himself for that tremendous mission.

In today's society, people devote little effort to monitoring their sleep patterns. Indeed, most of us do not know what actually happens during sleep (refer to diagram). We do know, however, that if we do not get enough sleep, we can feel irritable and drowsy. Consider a typical summer day when daylight hours are long, and nights are short. In North America, the beginning time for Fajr prayer can be as early as 4:30 am while the time for 'Isha prayer can be as late as 10 pm.

By the time we wrap up the day and go to bed, it may be after midnight technically, the next day. Waking up for Fajr prayer under these circumstances can be a struggle, to say the least.

And then, what does one do after performing the prayer? This can actually be the real dilemma. Consider this scenario: if you complete Fajr prayer at 5 am, yet you do not have to prepare for work (which starts at 9 am) until 7:30, what would you do during those 2-1/2 hours? Chances are you haven't had enough sleep so you'd like to return to bed; however, you feel uneasy, recalling that the Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) frowned on the habit of sleeping after the Fajr prayer.

Try, though, as we may to follow the Prophet's Sunnah, for many of us, those extra hours of sleep in the morning have become a source of revitalization. If you are fortunate enough to be able to fall asleep again, you may feel more rested and ready to take on a full day of work. If, however, it takes you a half hour or more to fall back to sleep, you may actually find yourself getting up later feeling groggy.

This scenario is just one of many, and addresses the individual who doesn't make it to bed until late but still wakes up for prayer. What about the individual who does not get up for prayer? The fact is that many of us, for a combination of reasons, rarely get a good night's sleep.

That brings us back to our discussion of the dangers of sleep deprivation, recommendations for sleep management, and the wisdom behind the habits of the Prophet Muhammad. Please visit us again for Part II of this series on the topic of sleep.

Altaf Husainis a social worker in the United States and has been a contributing writer to IslamOnline since its inception.