Fasting 'makes Muslims healthier, happier'
JAKARTA (JP): More than one billion Muslims around the globe start their month-long Ramadhan fasting today as prescribed by the holy Koran.
From now until mid-January, Muslims will refrain from food, drink and sex between dawn and sunset. They are also obliged to control their emotions and conquer their inner-storms. With the words of Prophet Muhammad, "Fast, you will be healthier," every Muslim not only expects to pass the ordeal successfully, but also to be physically and mentally healthier.
Many physicians have discussed the discipline and advantages of Ramadhan in various forums, and on Wednesday The Jakarta Post spoke with Dr. Hembing Wijayakusuma, a noted acupuncturist and former lecturer at the North Sumatra University School of Medicine, who wrote a book titled Puasa itu Sehat, (Fasting is Healthy), which was published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama in 1997. In the domain of alternative therapies, Hembing, a graduate from Hong Kong's Chinese Medicine Institute and Chinese Acupuncture Institute, has received several international awards. The following are excerpts from the interview:
Question: Many people outside the Muslim world -- especially those living in the West -- see the Ramadhan fast as a weird kind of ritual through which a people torture themselves in order to be near to God. What is you opinion?
Answer: That is completely not true. Muslims do not suffer during the month of Ramadhan, because the religious obligations, if practiced with the spirit of faith, will bring happiness. Muslims during Ramadhan express their sense of gratitude that God Almighty has granted them another year so that they can meet again in Ramadhan.
Secondly, they also feel healthier and happier that after they break their fast at sunset every day they still have the time and joy to go to the mosque to attend the tarawih prayer service in which they glorify the name of Allah. Besides this, they also feel so close to getting God's blessing during the first 10 days of Ramadhan, and in the next 10 days of Ramadhan they get absolution from God for the sins they may have committed. During the final part of the holy month, Muslims receive a divine guarantee that they will be saved from Hell in the hereafter.
Another joy comes before the end of Ramadhan, when Muslims are obliged to pay special alms for the poor to enable them to happily enjoy Idul Fitri, the post-fasting holiday, like others. This is done after the whole month of abstaining from food during the day, so that they tasted the suffering of the less privileged groups of society.
Completing the month-long fast, Muslims feel victorious with God's blessing. This victory is followed by strengthening relationships by asking forgiveness from fellow Muslims during the Idul Fitri post-fasting festivities.
Q: What about this month-long fast, from the point of view of the health of the fasters?
A: The Ramadhan fast also has a positive impact on health. Suffering is of course out of the question, because the human body has natural therapeutic capabilities. Every person has an energy reserve, produced by carbohydrates, and can stand 25 hours without food.
The impacts on one's physical health are comprised of the aspects of protection, prevention and cure. A person who is fasting gives at least six full hours of relaxation to their stomach. This is between noon, after the stomach stops digesting the pre-dawn meal -- or sahur -- and the breaking of the fast dinner.
You know that we need at least eight hours to digest food; four hours in the stomach and another four hours in the pylorus.
Don't forget that our body is also full of dangerous wastes, such as feces, urine, carbon-dioxide and sweat. By fasting one not only stops food consumption, but also the piling up of the dangerous things inside of us.
Islam especially stresses the importance of this facet of living, and Prophet Muhammad always advised his followers not to eat if they did not feel hungry, and to stop eating before they felt full.
During the fast, a person also burns away all the energy in their body, relieving all the organs that store this energy. This is called the regeneration of cells.
According to research conducted in 1963 by a poultry institute in the United States on 864 hens whose productivity had seriously declined, 75 percent of the hens resumed their productivity after they were given fasting therapy for 10 days.
Q: Many Muslims have claimed that during Ramadhan they feel more relaxed and they see some mental health problems disappear. Do you agree with this statement?
A: During Ramadhan, Muslims are successful in their fight to subdue the inner-storms of biological and emotional demands, while practicing the virtues of patience and social solidarity.
A great positive impact of this is that it helps overcome stress and depression, and makes them generous, caring and loving. In short, their fasting helps improve their personal quality and gives them peace of heart. At the same time, they improve their mental health because all of their triumphs have the power to better their Emotional Quotient.
Q: How about the impact of good mental health on physical health during Ramadhan?
A: Many phenomena have shown that physical health problems can be caused by mental disturbances; such as headaches, insomnia, stomach problems and hypertension, which are caused by stress.
Q: Many people believe that by restraining from food, people who fast have the ability to control their temper. While others believe that hungry people are angry people...
A: The Ramadhan fast is a religious duty which is also called jihad akbar, or a great holy war, because the enemies are not those who are confronting the believers, but the perilous foes inside themselves. Experiencing hunger during Ramadhan is based on a deep faith and the full-hearted submission to God's will. This quality helps calm the nerve center, makes it balanced, composed and peaceful.
I think that fasting, like that practiced by Muslims during Ramadhan, is essentially a spiritual and physical practice.
Q: Many chain-smokers who claim that they cannot stop smoking even for a few minutes, are able to refrain from the habit during Ramadhan. How does this work?
A: True believers, with their willingness to accept a religious obligation, have a strong motivation to stop their bad habits. This willingness has a great effect on the functions of the body's organs. It helps enhance their physiological functions, whether enzyme metabolism in general, or hormonal metabolism in particular.
Q: Does this success work for those who have drinking or drug habits?
A: The habits cannot be separated from the failure to control one's destructive biological demands. One should stick to the rule that one should only consume religiously permitted foods and drinks. It all depends on one's personality.
Q: During the fasting month, Muslims eat only twice a day. Does it affect the their nutritious balance?
A: No, as long as they don't neglect the nutrient quality during these two meals. Don't forget that in the pre-dawn meal, Muslims are expected to meet the energy demand for the day's routine activities. While at the breaking of the fast meal, they are advised to first take sweet drinks and nourishments, which will be immediately absorbed by the body to replace the energy lost during the day.
So, if they care enough about the nutritious balance of the pre-dawn meal and the breaking of the fast meal, they should not worry about the condition of the nerve center and the body's biochemistry. (tis)