Assalamu alaikum!
Ramadan Mubarak!
Friday is the first day of Ramadan 2012, insh'Allah.
Fajr around 4:30 am.
Maghrib around 8:30.
That's 16 hours fasting at the beginning of the month and closer to 15 hours towards the end as dawn and dusk get closer together. I'm not worried about it.
Isha around 10 pm. In effect, that means less than 6.5 hours to sleep. Unless I do the extra night prayers, then it is less. I've had bad sleep habits and it has caught up with me. This makes it an especially tough time to have sleep periods broken up.
There are blessings in suhoor and I don't want to miss any this year, so I'm concerned about waking up in time. It is a good month to practice being up in time for fajr prayers. It takes about a month to build a habit and this is a habit that needs to continue, not end when Ramadan does. I need to wake up for suhoor so I am fully awake for fajr.
I have trouble eating so early in the morning, so I'm trying to drink instead. Smoothies.
Here is my first one:
1 scoop casein powder, chocolate supreme flavor
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
1 cup milk
1/2 bananna
1 tsp flax seed oil
Casein is a form of protein that is slow digesting and flax seed oil helps you feel full longer, too. We'll see.
Some people try to sleep all day and be up at night so they can eat and not feel hungry. They cheat themselves out of the full benefits of the month. Some people gorge at iftar, which does not fit the spirit of the month either. Then they gain weight and wonder why. For more on this topic, I recommend a lecture such as Eating Habits in Ramadan by Kamal El-Mekki. Try searching for it on youtube.
Nora
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